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Summary of members meeting 2nd June 2025

A very well attended and active members meeting was held yesterday afternoon, Monday 2nd June. Many thanks to everyone who made the time to attend. The meeting discussed Branch Committee updates and members questions, comments and views on: 

Phase 1 of Future Nottingham

The release last week of flawed and incomplete ‘pooling’ information for APM colleagues, and Branch Committee participation in consultations to date with updates from Lopa Leach as President, Nick Clare as Secretary, and Andrew Armstrong as APM Officer were discussed.

The Branch Committee was categorical that the large size of some pools was not at the request of trade unions, despite statements suggesting or stating otherwise in university communications.  

The widespread and well-founded frustration of members was evident throughout the meeting, with members highlighting the need to translate frustration into solidarity across job families within the Union and across the University as a whole. 

Apparent inconsistencies and poor communications from the University were highlighted, including the failure to publish FAQs with ‘pooling’ information last week, the seemingly changing and ambiguous position of School-based APM staff between phases 1 and 2, that concerns about UniCore data used to inform this process have been raised repeatedly, and the inclusion of externally funded roles in the ‘pools’. 

The ballot for strike action and action short of a strike

Andreas, as Vice President, underlined that as this is a local dispute we are in a position to decide our own strategy and develop tactics tailored to how our workplace functions that are as hard-hitting as possible, thus heightening our chances of success. 

The importance of a strong ballot turnout and the key role of ASOS were emphasised by several speakers and in the chat discussion. 

Recent wins at Sheffield, Dundee and Cardiff were noted as examples where high ballot turnouts and commitment to taking action protected jobs. 

That our goal in balloting for – and potentially taking – strike action is to prevent compulsory redundancies was underlined. The need to challenge the University to adopt a more sustainable financial model in the longer term, as articulated in the Alternate Financial Strategy 2.0, was also underscored. 

Next steps and actions

The key next step for all members is to vote then let your department rep know when you have posted your ballot! 

Any member who wishes to join the ‘get out the vote’ work, especially in an area without a UCU representative, is invited to email the branch: uonucubranch@gmail.com.

The meeting also heard a call from Tony Padilla as Treasurer for proposals of fundraising activities to support the branch solidarity and hardship fund. As with prior disputes, the fund will be used to support members in the event of industrial action. If you have a proposal for fundraising activities, please contact the branch.

If you wish to make a one-off or recurring donation to the fund, please use the details here.

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Update and invite to member’s meeting Monday 2nd June 1-2pm

Email sent to members Tuesday 27th May 2025

Dear members,

I hope you were able to have some much needed time off over the bank holiday? We are just writing with some key updates to events happening both here and nationally, so apologies for the amount of information but we have tried to keep it as clear as we can!

Member’s meeting – Monday 2nd June, 1-2pm

We have called this meeting to provide you all with more updates on our dispute with the University. After the excellent response to the indicative ballot, UCU has now formally sent our ballot information to the VC Jane Norman and the full ballot will open for a month from the 30th of May. As ever it is crucial we have a strong turnout in this ballot, in order to respond to both Phase 1 and Phase 2, and so you will be hearing from our wonderful reps as they help get the vote out.

This meeting is a chance to hear from the committee about all the meetings we have been having with management, ask questions about the dispute and ballot, and provide feedback on potential industrial action plans as we move into summer, next academic year, and even Phase 2. The meeting link can be found below:

UCU UoN is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: UCU UoN’s Member Meeting

Time: Jun 2, 2025 13:00 London

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87172097595?pwd=uAFTwas32QouWEmBibmEJtFQCVzaz1.1

Meeting ID: 871 7209 7595

Passcode: 918987

Phase 1 update

Lopa, Andreas, and Andrew recently sent you a detailed update on Phase 1 of Future Nottingham. Since then the deadline for VR applications has been extended to the 9th of June and we have continued to meet with University management and have submitted and discussed a range of questions and queries about the process. These questions reflect the fact that we have still not received proper and meaningful information about Phase 1 and therefore we still dispute that we are in a proper period of collective consultation which would enable us to give counter-proposals.  

As you can see from the many comments on the staff sharepoint, there is a strong response from staff that communication from the University has been unclear and confusing, and that the way pooling and redundancies have been handled has been rushed. This has been disastrous for staff wellbeing, and is why it is so important we have a strong turnout in the upcoming ballot. 

You received emails from our APM officer Andrew Armstrong on Friday 23rd about area-specific member meetings for APM staff so please do come along to these, and we will be continuing to roll out faculty-wide, all staff meetings over the coming weeks to help provide all UoN staff with as much clarity as we possibly can. We are also working with our sister unions so that all staff can push back together.

Phase 2 information

While officially we are being told that Phase 2 is yet to start, as we flagged with the situation in American and Canadian Studies, academic restructuring decisions are already being taken without proper stakeholder consultation. An increased focus on ‘performance management’ through unprecedented use of protected conversations and potential changes to the ADC process is also underway. 

Recently the short-sighted decision to shut down the important (and surplus-generating) evening classes and some inter-faculty programmes at the language centre, with the potential cost of over 20 jobs, shows exactly why we need a strong turnout in the ballot. We must hold the University to account in both Phases 1 and 2. 

As soon as we have any more concrete information on Phase 2 we will of course share it with you, especially as we know that Faculty level discussions have begun.

National picture updates

Finally, just some wider information on the national picture following the UCU congress at the weekend. Our fantastic delegates (Lisa, Gertjan, and Alan) will provide a fuller report in time, but the key thing to note is that the ‘Trade Dispute’ motion that we overwhelmingly supported as a branch was passed at congress. This Times Higher article gives a bit more detail on what this could mean, but we feel this is a positive step for exploring other avenues at a national level – something crucial given the derisory 1.4% pay offer from UCEA.

In solidarity,


Nick (Branch secretary)