Email sent to members on Tuesday 22nd July 2025. The text has been slightly modified for flow on this website.
Dear members,
Don’t forget todays Emergency Members Meeting at 4:00 today. Zoom link below.
It was a pleasure to see so many of you yesterday afternoon at our joint rally with Unison and Unite in the Trent Courtyard in opposition to compulsory redundancies. As we listened to our colleagues from UCU and our sister unions, and local supporters speak, the University Council met to decide whether or not Phase 1 of Future Nottingham would involve compulsory redundancies. This afternoon, the Vice Chancellor has written to UCU, Unison and Unite as the three campus unions to summarise yesterday’s decision by Council. Information has now also been put on the staff intranet about this. In short, we have been informed that more staff have applied for, been offered and accepted voluntary redundancy settlements than the target stated in April.
This is in itself a significant loss to the University community in terms of knowledge, expertise, and experience – not to mention the loss of friends and comrades. Made all the more impactful following the hundreds of colleagues departing through MARS last year.
However, there is also sufficient vagueness in the VC’s email about the status of compulsory redundancies in Phase 1 that we, and other campus unions, have asked for clarification on this vital point and others.
Any clarification that is received prior to our meeting at 4pm will, of course, be something that we as a branch we must take into consideration. It is worth emphasising again that, as at every stage of our dispute, it is within the University’s power to de-escalate this situation. Our Extraordinary Brach meeting at 4pm (Zoom link below) has three agenda items:
[1] Our campaign against compulsory redundancies, discussing the implication of Council’s decision for our strategy.
We have a strike day scheduled this Thursday and action short of a strike (ASOS) beginning on Friday. In the meeting, we will share the updates from management on the status of compulsory redundancies in Phase 1 and discuss as a collective our next steps. Part of this discussion will be summarising a planned approach to organising picket lines, so that we can ensure maximum visibility of our dispute to graduation related traffic arriving/exiting campus. We also want to hear your ideas for action, ASOS and for raising money for our local solidarity fund. (Details for donations: UCU Nottingham LA63 Hardship Fund, Account number: 20346359, Sort code: 60-83-01)
[2] The updated Grievance Procedure.
This updated procedure was negotiated with the University through a Joint Negotiation and Consultation Committee (JNCC) sub group which Branch Committee members attend For this procedure to be adopted by the University as a whole, it must be approved by UCU UoN members, so please do read this document with care.
[3] Motion to further the campaign for a formal dispute with the Secretary of State for Education over funding of HE.
The text of the motion is available on the University Rank and File webpages. This follows on from a motion approved at our AGM on 30th April ahead of the UCU National Congress. We will take this follow-up motion if time permits. Zoom details:
I would like to invite you to this extraordinary meeting (link below). Apologies for the timing, but Jane has agreed to let us know on this day rather than end of this month, re withdrawal of CR or not for Phase 1. She is aware of our strike date (24 July) and beginning of ASOS, but one can’t be certain about efficiency and timeliness of their reporting, thus the lateness of the timing of this meeting!
At the meeting we will need your approval on the next steps we take. We will update on picket lines, which entrances, our plans and hear your wonderful ideas for the day.
Please don’t forget to come in force to the rally on Monday the 21st, at Trent Building Courtyard. It times well with a Council meeting, where the sign off or rejection on Phase 1 redundancies will occur. This is a joint rally with Unison against these punitive job cuts. There will be external speakers, banners and lots of noise. Unison is even providing a light lunch!
I have attached a new updated Grievance Procedure, negotiated by our JNCC sub group, we need your approval of that, so do peruse. It is an important document and we do need your sign off.
On Monday 21st Julyfrom 11:45 am in Trent Courtyard, a rally will take place outside Council as they make their decision regarding compulsory redundancies. This is a joint demonstration with the UNISON branch at the University. Please make every effort to attend to oppose compulsory redundancies and stand in solidarity with all workers at the University at risk of redundancy.
Read on for the following topics:
Get ready for action
Local solidarity fund
Workload campaign – keep up the pressure!
Members meeting report
Branch Committee meeting summary
Protect University jobs here and across the country
Local and national campaigning
Joining link and further information
Get ready for action
We have added a Fundamentals of ASOS page to the website which will take you through all of the key information about what taking ASOS involves, what to expect from the university during ASOS and what to expect from the Branch. The page includes examples of what counts as ASOS, recognising variation between job roles. If you feel that there are questions left unanswered by this information, please submit these and we will endeavour to add this to the website.
On Monday 21st July 3-4pm we will be hosting an online drop-in to discuss plans and expectations of ASOS. Click here to join.
Local solidarity fund
As a collective organisation, we act to protect each other’s interests. This is at the heart of our current dispute. To do this as effectively as possible, the branch committee has asked national UCU for support from the Fighting Fund. We are also seeking to bolster our local solidarity fund so that we can weather whatever may come, in terms of management choosing to make salary deductions for participation in industrial action. As a branch, we have an excellent record of supporting members – with thousands of pounds raised and shared locally by members in 2023 in the ‘#target100’ campaign.
We ask then, that all members who can, donate approximately one day’s wage (after tax) to the local solidarity fund and/or start planning fundraising activities.
This money will be used to support members through the dispute. To calculate one day’s pay after tax, multiply your monthly gross pay by 12, then divide by 365. Bank details below;
The Branch Workload Campaign Group is working closely with the UCU National Workload Health and Safety Officer, who has advised us to keep gathering data of unsustainable workloads and work-related stress. This is particularly in light of the HSE taking our concerns very seriously.
You can help by adding your voices to those have already heard via this questionnaire. We will use your voices to keep campaigning for our right to sustainable workloads and a safe and supportive working environment that doesn’t leave us stressed and burnt out. Thank you so much for your help and support.
Members meeting report
The members’ meeting on Wednesday 9th July was well attended. The focus of the meeting was on the current redundancy plans from the University and our response as a branch. As yet, management has not confirmed whether there will be compulsory redundancies. The branch also discussed our counterproposal to managements destructive plans in Phase 1 of Future Nottingham, with particular focus on the inadequacy of the consultation process and the shortsightedness of the University’s financial modelling.
We were unfortunately not legally able to discuss plans for industrial action, consisting of a one day strike on Thursday 24th July, followed by ASOS at this meeting.
Branch Committee meeting summary
Your Branch Committee met on Wednesday 9th July and discussed:
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 We encourage all members to sign Nottingham Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s petition demanding that Nottinghamshire County Council divests from from companies and organisations complicit in the genocide in Palestine
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
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
