Category: UCU

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Promotion consultation form and update on Friday’s meeting

Email sent to members on Monday 26th January 2026.


Dear members,

It was fantastic to see and hear from so many of you on Friday. For those unable to make it, the main topics we covered were as follows:

Vote in the indicative ballot

Make sure you vote in this if you haven’t already. Reminder emails for non-voters will be coming this week (do check your spam and it is sent from: ‘UoN UCU Branch Committee’/yoursay@ucu.org.uk). It takes 30 seconds and a strong turnout is vital.

Update on Future Nottingham Phase 2 and new dispute

We have had our first dispute meeting with management, as well as a series of other meetings around Phase 2. As you will probably have seen, the timeline for Phase 2 has been pushed back slightly, with formal consultation on the draft business case to start on May the 6th. 

We continue to push back on the disastrous proposals, especially those around staff student ratio, and have a series of more detailed meetings with management over the coming weeks. Given the wide-ranging nature of the proposed changes – course closures, SSR, reduction in research time, the threat to technical staff etc – it is clear that our new and more encompassing dispute is crucial.

Promotion ‘consultation’

We also discussed the regrettable way in which the university has paused the promotion process while they decide on next steps. To be clear once more, we were not consulted about this pause despite the way it has seemingly been framed. As part of pushing back against their proposal not to run the promotion process this round we have been gathering feedback from members, and had a really productive meeting on Friday. If you want to provide your input to the consultation – either due to your own promotion being paused or because you spent time supporting other people developing theirs – please consider filling in this anonymous form.

In solidarity

Nick (on behalf of the branch committee) 

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Call for members meeting

Email sent to members on Monday 19th January. Please see original email for Zoom link.

Dear UCUmembers,

   Despite our agreement of 13 November 2025, it is now clear that alternative proposals to management’s restructuring Future Nottingham – Phase 2 will not be considered, until it is too late. It is for this reason that today, the indicative ballot of all members on whether we are prepared to take strike action and/or action short of strike if management continues to reject our demands, has been launched. Please look out for the email from yoursay@ucu.org.uk with the subject heading ‘UoN UCU: Oppose job losses – protect your workload!’ It should have arrived this morning.

   Please participate in this indicative ballot, which if successful will allow us to move towards a formal ballot in March 2026. This indicative ballot is open from 19 January to 6 February. A strong result in the ballot will in itself increase pressure on management, as it will indicate the strength of potential future action.

   Moreover, please note that we will hold a general members meeting on Friday, 23 January at 1 p.m. Zoom link below.  This will allow us to discuss our industrial action strategy and the indicative ballot as well as update you on our dispute meetings, the parallel collective actions we are currently working on including the drafting of an alternative proposal and contestation of management’s decision to pause this year’s promotion round.

In solidarity,

Lopa Leach, on behalf of branch committee. 

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Welcome back! Dispute update, ASOS info, and promotion ‘consultation’

Email sent to members on Monday 12th January

Dear members,

Welcome back, we hope you have had a restful festive season to gain some strength. And strength we will need for the tasks ahead. In this email, we want to update you on our first dispute resolution meeting with management on 9 January as well as provide further information re management’s request to provide information on ASOS and the pause to promotions.

Report from first dispute meeting

Following your overwhelming support for launching a new dispute, we have now held the first dispute meeting with the University. We expect to receive more information this week regarding the timetable for the restructure. As soon as we have this, we will share it with members.

Alongside this, we are continuing our work on preparing the indicative ballot to start on 19 January as part of the new dispute. Further information on this will follow shortly. While there is benefit in a newly framed dispute, it is also evident from our first resolution meeting that the continued threat of industrial action will be necessary to move matters forward. So far, management has rejected all our demands outright.

Reporting of ASOS

We are aware that the University of Nottingham intranet contains a form for staff to report any Action Short of a Strike (ASOS) they have participated in. We are currently seeking further clarification, as it is not yet clear exactly how the University intends to treat ASOS or what actions they will take.

If you are considering confirming participation in ASOS to the University, we strongly advise that before completing the form you:

• Ask your manager what they believe the potential impact of your actions will be, and what deductions (if any) may be made.

• Speak to your local union representative for advice.

We will update members once we have received clarification from the University. Further guidance on ASOS is also available on our website.

Promotion ‘consultation’

As we are sure you have seen, the University has taken the decision to pause the promotion process in order to ‘consult’ with the Unions about whether it should run this year while they develop their restructuring plans. We were not told of this in advance of the pause, and we made it clear that we opposed the move. We have since had two meetings to discuss it and have two more to come before the end of the consultation period on the 10th of February.

Thanks to all of you impacted by this who have submitted your feedback on the proposal, seeing it all anonymised today was very powerful and showed not just how much anger and disappointment there is, but also how united people are in their feelings. We are exploring collective ways to push back against this beyond the formal meetings, so please be in touch with your rep or the branch if you are keen to contribute.

In solidarity,

Your branch committee

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Motion for this Friday 101225 meeting

Email sent to member on Wednesday 10th December 2025

Dear members,

    Please find attached the motion on Moving towards a new industrial action mandate, to be voted on at Friday’s members meeting. The most important part is the last four bullet points, in which we specify the terms of the new mandate. As we argued when we accepted management’s offer in November, this was also because of the limits within the terms of our previous mandate for industrial action around no compulsory redundancies until 31 December 2026.

   The proposed new mandate significantly strengthens our position in that it 1) extends the mandate to 31 December 2027 (first bullet point); 2) allows us to respond to recent developments around new staff-student ratios and a reduction in research time and the related threat of job cuts (second bullet point); 3) targets specifically the suspension and threatened closure of programmes including the related job cuts (third bullet point); and 4) points out that management has already broken the November agreement (fourth bullet point).

   This motion was discussed with your UCU reps and revised in line with their suggestions. For immediate questions, please contact your reps. Otherwise, we are looking forward to listening to your thoughts on Friday at the members meeting.

In solidarity,

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Fight backs and picket line info

Email sent to members on Thursday 6th November 2025

Dear Members

I am sure you are all reeling with the list of degree suspensions announced yesterday (5 Nov) in staff intranet and puzzling on the rationale given, the lack of stake holder engagements (us or Heads of Schools) and the choices of degrees that makes us who we are: a global comprehensive higher education institution of excellence. We were called to a FN2 Workstreams meeting JNCC on Tuesday 4 Nov, where the Pro-VCs gave us the list of ear-marked degrees for suspension/closures from each Faculty. We were aghast at the choices, which included Music, Languages, Mental Health Nursing Programmes , ACS, Biosciences degrees, to name but a few. UEB will send this off to OFS (?) on Monday, and also will present to Council to approve, along with the Case for Strategic change (which will address reduction in  staff numbers) on November 24 and 25.  For the latter, please find below a link to an Open Letter from all staff that we will send to Council. Please Do sign. There has been significant interest by the media in the closure of degree programmes at UoN. Below is an article on the BBC and the Times Higher as well as BBC East Midlands Today have also been in touch. Watch that space.

BTW The business case for FN2 still is not ready we were told. It will be sent to us in Feb 2026. (So we have time yet to oppose). 

Meanwhile, we have been invited to a Dispute resolution Meeting next week, on 11 November 2025.  We will report back straight after, should management make an offer to settle the dispute. In any case, we will have a members meeting next Thursday, 13 November at 1 p.m. We will send the respective Zoom details closer to the time. 

In the meantime, we have scheduled a picket line on West Entrance on Monday 10th November, 8:30 to 11:30 am. Please do come, in large numbers, show our strength, our solidarity and our opposition to the proposed changes: both the suspensions and the planned shrinkage of schools from 26 to 10, including the speed of all this, given UEB wants it done and dusted by September 2026. There may be press, given the interest shown. The remainder of the fortnight for November has the normal IA. 

We also have a picket line on Tuesday 18 November, South Entrance.  We have already written to you about the picket line and rallies on 24 and 25 November, when Council will deliberate.  We will have external guests then, which will include the President of UCU.  

Until then, solidarity, do feed us your views via reps or branch email, so we can compile our own alternative business case.

Solidarity, 

Lopa (on behalf of branch committee).

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSemWcHUUGk36TNaSeT5nEY2z-HINgZhFBycV_imAj3-YUgqTA/viewform     Open letter for signing. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly9zwqvn53o

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/major-universities-facing-weeks-long-strikes-job-cuts-deepen