It was great to see you at the meeting yesterday (9/7/25). Unfortunately I could not tell you about ASOS plans or the date of a possible strike, until UCU had informed the VC. This has now happened. Paraphrasing from the letter sent:
“The industrial action will consist of:
* discontinuous strike action on 24 July 2025
* continuous action short of strike consisting of:
Not working beyond contractual obligations;
Not covering for absent colleagues or unfilled posts;
Not rescheduling or sharing materials from strike-affected sessions;
Not performing voluntary or out-of-grade duties;
Not using personal devices for university work;
Not participating in graduation related activities;
No admin work related to REF, Course reviews, Future Nottingham, University rankings, Timetabling, Financial year end.
Actions short of strike (as listed above) will begin on a continuous basis from 24 July 2025.
For the avoidance of doubt, this dispute will continue until such time as the dispute and any matters arising from the dispute… have been resolved to UCU’s satisfaction. In the event the dispute is not resolved to UCU’s satisfaction at the conclusion of the action identified in this letter, the union may notify you of further industrial action.”
Note, as discussed in our meeting yesterday, as a concession we will not be using ASOS for student recruitment events.
The multiple meetings with management have made it abundantly clear that the only way to shift their position is to show our collective strength through industrial action. The power of a union lies in its unity, and we expect every member to take part. If you will be on holiday or on research leave during the strike period, we encourage you to donate to the hardship fund to support your colleagues.
We will be holding another members’ meeting shortly to discuss all of this in detail. We are preparing a set of FAQs to help members navigate Action Short of a Strike (ASOS), we will share soon. BC is planning ASOS Q&A sessions too.
We will circulate information about hardship support in due course.
And finally, we need to send a clear message to management: We will not accept compulsory redundancies. So, join us at the rally on 21 July, and most importantly, join our collective fight by striking on 24 July, followed by ASOS.
Please remember to attend the branch meeting tomorrow,Wednesday 9th July at 1 pm to discuss our next steps in the fight against redundancies. Full details were communicated by the Branch Secretary by email.
Last week we took a break from the newsletter as we wanted the focus of our communications to be on the branch’s ballot win, which has been covered well in the media. Our struggle against job losses has also gained the attention and support of some prominent MPs, communicated privately to branch officers.
Over the summer period, depending upon the amount of information there is to communicate with members, as well as the capacity of the Branch Committee in general and Communications Officers specifically, these newsletters may be sent fortnightly rather than weekly.
Read on for the following topics:
A credible alternative to job cuts
Casework update
HSE takes action on our workload and work-related stress concerns
Know your rights: The Right to Protest
Branch Committee meeting summary
Protect University jobs here and across the country
The counterproposal sets out a clear and credible set of financial and strategic alternatives to compulsory job losses. It is grounded in robust evidence, sector norms, the University’s own financial data, and insights from staff working within units affected by management’s plans under Phase One.
The counterproposal demonstrates that viable alternatives to mass redundancies exist. What is needed is not more cuts, but the courage to change direction. Download and read the full counterproposal here. The Executive Summary (pp. 4-8) sets out the key, practical alternatives to the University’s destructive plans.
This was a collaborative and consultative effort with the whole membership – thank you to all who contributed!
Casework update
It’s been a busy year so far for the casework team! Our team has dealt with twice the number of support requests compared to normal. This increase has mostly been down to members needing help with redundancy and protected conversations, but we’ve also seen many more payroll issues. Branch members who volunteer as caseworkers have helped members achieve some significant wins, including:
Getting a statutory flexible working request actioned that was being disregarded,
Getting reasonable adjustments put in place that had stalled,
Securing redundancy pay that hadn’t been forthcoming,
Challenging an employment contract that wasn’t actually ‘subject to underlying funding’ as was stated by management.
Two of our caseworkers are unfortunately moving on from UoN over the summer, so we are looking for volunteers who want to contribute to providing practical solidarity to members. Please do get in contact with the branch at uonucubranch@gmail.com if you are interested. – Andrew Renault (Casework coordinator)
HSE takes action on our workload and work-related stress concerns
As yesterday’s email to members from the UCU Workload Group explained, following our formal report to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) regarding the University’s failure to meet its legal duties on work-related stress prevention, the HSE has issued a letter to the Vice-Chancellor confirming that our concerns warrant further scrutiny. This calls into question how the current redundancy programme fits into Health and Safety law.
Know your rights: The Right to Protest
Despite the recent proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, your right to protest is still protected by law. Proscription applies to membership and active support for a listed group—not to expressing political opinions, attending protests, or showing solidarity with causes like Palestinian rights.
You have the right to protest peacefully, as protected under the Human Rights Act 1998 (Article 10: Freedom of Expression and Article 11: Freedom of Assembly).
You can legally attend protests supporting Palestinian rights, provided they are not organised by a proscribed group and you do not carry out acts that could be seen as ‘support’ for the group as defined under the Terrorism Act 2000.
Trade union activity is protected by law—we have a proud history of standing in solidarity against injustice.
If you’re unsure about what is and isn’t allowed, get informed before attending a protest. Civil liberties organisations like Liberty, Bindmans LLP, Netpol and Green & Black Cross offer helpful guidance. And if you’re ever questioned or contacted by police about protest activity, you have the right to remain silent and the right to legal advice—use them.
UCU stands for academic freedom, free speech, and the right to protest.
Branch Committee meeting summary
Your Branch Committee met on Wednesday 25th June and Tuesday 1st July and discussed:
Membership of the Joint Negotiation and Consultation Committees,
Upcoming University Council elections,
Industrial action strategy,
The July 9th branch meeting,
The ongoing campaign to protect the language centre.
The Committee also heard an update from the Casework Coordinator, Andy Renault.
The Branch Committee meets weekly. If you would like Committee to discuss a particular topic please email the details to: uonucubranch@gmail.com
Protect University jobs here and across the country
Our dispute is about workers at the University of Nottingham being threatened with redundancies, our Alternate Financial Strategy 2.0 lays out how decisions by management have led to this. We can also see the threat of redundancy is commonplace for many workers in Universities across the UK. Our strength here as a Union is in our collective solidarity within our branch and in extending it to other UCU branches and HE workers.
Please find details and petitions/letters to sign to support staff at UoN and across the country using the links below:
As the dispute continues, the branch committee has agreed to share with members and ask them to sign this open letter, which calls on UCU Trustees and elected members of the National Executive Committee to examine the handling of this dispute.
Call on Nottinghamshire County Council to divest from apartheid Nottingham Palestine Solidarity Campaign is leading a movement to demand Nottinghamshire County Council (NCC) divests its Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) from companies and organisations complicit in the genocide in Palestine. Currently the LGPS holds £170 million in shares in genocide-complicit companies. In line with the branch’s BDS motion and solidarity with Palestine motion the branch has given official support to the campaign.
We encourage all members resident in Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire County to sign the petition here.
60 Years of the Tricontinental Conference: Context, Impact, Legacy, and Future Parvathi Kumaraswami, an academic at the University is crowdfunding for travel grants for scholars, artists and activists from the Global South to attend the above January 2026 conference at the University of Havana. This will celebrate the original event and prioritize contributions from the Global South and stimulate important debates about the original event and its relevance to anti-colonialism, anti-imperialism, and decolonisation.
Report anti-trans discrimination Have you been questioned, stopped or challenged using a single-sex space? Fill in this form to help TransActual advocate on this issue at a national level.
Need to talk to your Departmental Rep? Find the full list of UoN UCU reps here. If you are interested in becoming a departmental rep, get in touch!
Struggling with your mental health or wellbeing? UCU members get free access to confidential support service educationsupport.org.uk who can be called 24/7 on 08000 562 561.
Yours sincerely,
L Scott Blankenship and Will Paterson-Bassett, Branch Communications Officers, on behalf of UoN UCU Branch Committee
The HSE has requested a formal response from the University by 8 August 2025, asking them to demonstrate:
That suitable and sufficient stress risk assessments have been carried out;
That effective control measures are in place and being monitored;
That there has been appropriate consultation with staff.
This intervention by the HSE is a significant milestone. It confirms that our evidence of excessive workloads, under-resourcing, lack of consultation, and failure to comply with legal duties is being taken seriously at a national level. This is particularly timely, as Future Nottingham redundancies will inevitably lead to even higher, unsustainable workloads
Please find the HSE’s letter attached for your information.
We will continue to push for meaningful changes that support the health, safety, and dignity of all staff. Thank you for your support in making this possible.
We are pleased to share our detailed counterproposal to the Future Nottingham Phase One cuts, formally delivered to university management this morning on the final day of the consultation period. Management is now legally obliged to consider this document in full before proceeding with any compulsory redundancies. A series of meetings with management is already being planned to discuss the University’s response.
Unlike the University’s proposals — driven by senior managers relying on spreadsheets and arbitrary targets, without essential granular knowledge — our counterproposal is informed by you: the staff on the front line. It reflects the realities of your work, the essential role of APM colleagues in supporting teaching, research, the needs of our students, and the long-term health of the University.
This 70-page document is the culmination of an immense amount of hard work by members of the branch committee and the redundancy working group, with input from members, lay experts, and many of our APM colleagues who have sadly been pooled during Phase 1. Thanks also to everyone who attended any of the specific chapter/business unit meetings during the consultation period as well as our sister unions.
While management must read and respond to the entire proposal, we know members are busy; we encourage you at the very least to read the executive summary, where we set out the key, practical alternatives to the University’s destructive plans.
This is a critical moment. We have just secured a mandate for industrial action, and it is important to remember that industrial action is our most powerful tool to stop job cuts. This approach has already worked at Dundee, Cardiff, and Newcastle, where compulsory redundancies were withdrawn under pressure.
We must stand together to protect jobs, defend our colleagues, and fight for the future of our university. Hopefully see you all on Wednesday 9th at 1pm for the members’ meeting.In solidarity,
I am writing to invite you to a members’ meeting next Wednesday 9th Julyat 1pm. You will have received the fantastic news from Lopa earlier this week that we sailed past the 50% threshold for industrial action. 63% of you voted, so thanks to all of you who did, and as always to our reps, committee members, and branch administrator for helping get the vote out once more. Thanks also to those who came to the open meetings in very large numbers, and to the Faculty Meetings for faculty specific Q and As. The successful results have been sent to the VC and already now reported in the BBC.
We are meeting with the University Team (VC, DVC, CPO et al), on the 7th of July where they will update us on the outcome of Phase 1 in relation to compulsory redundancies. We will use this members’ meeting to feed back on that and discuss our next steps in light of that outcome.
We are also close to finalising our Phase 1 ‘counterproposal’ as part of the consultation process. Thanks to everyone who has fed into this and those who have helped pull it together. It is a really impressive document that we will share with you all on Friday once we have submitted it to the University. Again, we can discuss this in more detail on the 9th.
The Zoom link for the meeting is below.
In solidarity as always
Nick (branch secretary)
UCU UoN is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
