We wanted to let you know that after asking for stress prevention documentation for several months, the UCU Branch Committee made the decision to report UoN to HSE for workload and stress breaches. Below is the summary of what we told HSE:
Already over 30 requests for caseworker support this year, a sharp increase to the comparative time period in previous years.
High levels of “stress and worry regarding work” identified in the 2023-4 Specialist Wellbeing Services report.
Failure to produce stress risk assessment and business unit level stress risk assessments despite repeated requests from September 2024.
A sloppy and hastily completed Institution Level Risk Assessment finally shared last week, without any dialogue with UCU. It is inadequate as it needs to be supported by Business Unit Stress Risk Assessments, which are not in place. It includes Future Nottingham as a stress mitigating factor.
UCU workload reps were told that risk assessments have been delayed due to workload issues amongst administrative and professional staff
Most academic staff have a “workload model” which in many cases is calculated as over 100% i.e. a staff member contracted to work full time is required to complete more work than can be expected within their contracted hours. Within university policy, workload up to 120% is considered within normal range, with no rationale for this, despite numerous requests.
There is no evidence of equality impact assessment for workload models and no mitigations put in place for disabled colleagues, exacerbating increased vulnerability to stress.
The UCU branch considers that there is substantial unmitigated risk to workload-related health. The branch is also concerned by an anticipated increase in the number and severity of cases of work-related stress, stress-related ill health and serious mental health problems among employees.
We will keep you posted on developments with HSE. In the meantime, if you are struggling with work-related stress, ask your line manager for an Individual Stress Risk Assessment. Please come to the weekly workload support drop-ins, for advice and guidance on just saying ‘no!’ to unsustainable workloads. Check the weekly branch newsletter for dates and times of these. We will be in touch soon to ask for testimonials on your workload and stress experiences. You are not on your own with this.
This newsletter is coming out slightly late due to Scott and Will being on leave. We will resume the regular Tuesday mailings from next week.
At UoN UCU, we are determined to fight management’s cuts, especially when they put the job security of our members at risk. In order to prepare for any future redundancies we are keen to find out more about what sort of cuts or suspicious changes are happening across the University. We’ve set up a google form for you to share this information with us.
Read on for the following topics:
Members strike back!
Solidarity with casual workers! SIGN the Open Letter in support of Language Centre staff
Know your rights – are you an “Employee” or a “Worker”?
Branch Committee meeting summary
Departmental Reps meeting summary
Local and national campaigning
Solidarity with Palestine
Focus on Equality
Joining link and further information
Members strike back!
As reported by email from Lopa Leach (branch President), the last members meeting on Wednesday 12th March sent a resounding message that UoN UCU will not accept compulsory redundancies. As a result of the approved motion means that we have now formally declared an industrial dispute and can prepare for industrial action if necessary.
The dispute has also been reported in the Nottingham Post, alongside details of the University’s financial management. See the AFS 2.0 for the branch’s proposals on how the University could manage its finances to prevent job losses and save the University.
No compulsory redundancies!
Solidarity with casual workers! SIGN the Open Letter in support of Language Centre staff
Casual staff at the Language Centre convene, deliver, and assess undergraduate modules and/or teach evening classes. Some have worked full-time equivalent hours for years. Yet, like casual workers across the University, casual staff at the Centre face serious challenges, including late and incorrect payments, poor communication, and cumbersome administrative processes. Casual engagements also offer lower pay, fewer benefits, and less job security compared to fixed-term or permanent contracts. The introduction of Unicore has made a bad situation worse, leading some staff to borrow money for essential bills due to delayed wages. The resulting stress has been immense.
Please sign the open letter to support casual workers at the Language Centre in their call for more secure contracts and a robust system to ensure timely payment for their work.
Know your rights – are you an “Employee” or a “Worker”?
Staff at UoN can have two types of employment statusin line with UK labour law. They may be ‘employees’, meaning that they are directly employed by the University on fixed-term or permanent contracts. Alternatively, they are ‘workers’ and casually engaged. Workers have fewer rights than employees, and at UoN, their pay is generally lower and administered differently (i.e. through the more cumbersome and error-prone submission of time-sheets).
The UCU-affiliated Anti-Casualisation (Anti-Cas) Network has long campaigned for the elimination of casual engagements at UoN. In 2023, as a direct consequence of the 2022 MAB, UCU and UoN jointly agreed Principles for Casual Engagements, which should see many casual workers moved onto more secure employment contracts. As of December 2024, the Principles were extended to all job families at UoN.
Despite these gains, implementation of the Principles is still lagging.
Report! If you are yourself a casual worker and believe the Principles entitle you to a direct employment contract, get in touch with Anti-Cas: anticasuon@gmail.com
Branch Committee meeting summary
The Branch Committee met on Wednesday 12th March. After hearing an update from the Workload Campaign Group. We also discussed;
A draft open letter to the University concerning implementation of policies for casual engagement,
Solidarity between our branch and UK institutions facing redundancies,
Arrangements for the Agnes Flues Lecture,
Contingency plans for delivery of this newsletter in the absence of communications officers,
Gathering information on Redundancies at UoN.
The Branch Committee meets weekly. If you would like Committee to discuss a particular topic please email the details to: uonucubranch@gmail.com
Departmental Reps meeting summary
Your Departmental Reps met on Tuesday 11th March and discussed;
The nature and implications of protected conversations,
Getting involved in formal meetings in our areas as Departmental Reps,
There was also a call by Gertjan Lucas (Equalities Officer, Business School Rep) for nominations for delegates to the annual UCU congress.
The Departmental Reps meeting occurs approximately monthly to provide space for Reps to feed back comments and concerns from members in their areas.
The Reps network extends across most academic Schools and professional services, however there are a number of academic and professional services departments still needing Reps. If your department has no Rep, and this role interests you please email uonucubranch@gmail.com. New Reps are well supported by the Branch Committee and the rest of the Reps network.
Local and national campaigning
Workload group drop ins The Workload Group is organising drop-in sessions to support members to fight against unsustainable workloads. The next session will take place online tomorrowThursday 20th March 1:30-2:30 pm. Meeting Link
Call for delegates to congress Lisa Rull and Gertjan Lucas, Equality Officers, had been nominated as delegates to the annual UCU congress. With four positions available, they have been elected unopposed. Nominations will remain open until a sufficient number of delegates is reached, so if you are still interested do get in touch by emailing the branch.
Climate lecture Join us for the third and final ‘Democracy at the Crossroads’ lecture with Alan Simpson. Today, 19 March Alan will speak on “Rebuilding from the base: the ‘me’ and the ‘we’ of democratic renewal” in A39 in the Sir Clive Granger Building, University Park from 2 to 4 pm.
Policy of Deceit: Britain and Palestine 1914-1939 Tonight, Wednesday 19th March at 7:30 pm Peter Shambrook will discuss his book on the betrayal of the Palestinian people by the British state. The talk will take place in the Mary Seacole Room, Queen’s Walk Community Centre, Nottingham NG2 2DF. No booking necessary. Hosted by Nottingham PSC and Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Labour History Society.
Silent March for Palestine On Saturday 22nd March at 3:30 pmNottingham PSC is organising a silent march starting from Forest Recreation Ground. If attending, please wear black. The march will finish by 5:00 pm to allow those observing Ramadan to return home for iftar. More details here.
Save-the-Date – UoN complicity in genocide in Gaza On Wednesday 26 March, 4:00 to 5.30 pm UCU will organise a public Zoom seminar on UoN complicity in genocide in Gaza. Our main speaker will be from the student encampment, presenting key findings of their research report on UoN complicity. A UCU representative will speak about our own BDS campaign here at UoN, leaving us with ample time to discuss what we can do at our own workplace to stop the genocide. Zoom details will follow in due course.
Focus on Equality
International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade Tuesday 25th March marks the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and UCU will be hosting a special webinar that day, 6:00-7:00 pm entitled “Education, reparations and justice: the legacy of slavery in post-16 learning”. Keynote speech will be given by Dr Leona Vaughn, academic and researcher in the field of equalities and social justice, and the webinar is hosted by UCU president Maxine Looby. Please click here to register
Pride and Prejudice in Education 2025 UCU is updating the Pride and Prejudice in Education report about LGBT+ experiences in FE and HE (2016). They are inviting you to complete a survey by the deadline of Friday 21st March. Please do share the survey as it is for all LGBT+ FE and HE staff and students/learners. The chief investigator is Dr Kieran Higgins based at Ulster University.
‘Green Futures’ newsletter UCU’s Climate Ecological Emergency Committee are now releasing a quarterly newsletter. Read all about them and their work. Interested in this topic? Please email the branch at uonucubranch@gmail.com so we can direct you to more information on UCU’s Climate and Ecological Emergency work.
Happy Holi to all those celebrating this Friday! Remember the all members’ meeting on tomorrow Wednesday12th March at 1:00 pm to discuss and vote on declaration of dispute with our employer, in order to defend jobs at UoN. In addition we will be making preparations for the 2025 UCU national congress.
Read on for the following topics:
Alternative Financial Strategy 2.0
Know your rights – workload
TUC Women’s Conference report – Lisa Rull
Branch Committee meeting summary
Local and national campaigning
Focus on equality
Joining link and further information
Alternative Financial Strategy 2.0
As the Vice Chancellor has refused to rule out compulsory redundancies during the current and next academic year and there is talk about a 20 per cent cut in activities across the university, the branch has released the second version of the Alternative Financial Strategy (AFS 2.0). Undoubtedly, there are sector-wide financial pressures and UoN is not alone in facing redundancies. However, there has also been drastic UoN specific financial mismanagement especially around the Castle Meadow Campus, which significantly aggravates our local situation.
In the AFS 2.0, we specify what can and should be done in order to continue performing the educational and research role of the University. This includes an urgent review of all planned infrastructure investments as well as the establishment of better accountability procedures for management decisions.
Know your rights – workload
There are two main pieces of health and safety law which cover work-related stress:
Taken together, this means that by law employers must:
Identify any risks to their employees’ health, for example by carrying out a risk assessment,
Take steps to prevent or reduce work-related stress
Employers must also make sure they’re following the law on working time rules (for more information see Working Time Regulations 1998). This is because working long hours without regular breaks can be a cause of work-related stress.
TUC Women’s Conference report – Lisa Rull
UCU sends a delegation to the TUC Women’s Conference each year, of which our own Lisa Rull (UCU UoN Equality Officer) formed part of the delegation. This year she spoke on Composite 8: Menopause, highlighting the need for both employer and union support and policies for those experiencing menopause (including premature, peri- and post- symptoms).
The Committee also heard updates from the Redundancy and Palestine Solidarity Working Groups.
The Branch Committee meets weekly. If you would like Committee to discuss a particular topic please email the details to: uonucubranch@gmail.com
Local and national campaigning
Workload group drop ins The Workload Group is organising drop-in sessions to support members to fight against unsustainable workloads. The next session will take place online on Thursday 20th March 1:30-2:30 pm. Meeting Link
Climate lecture Join us for the third and final ‘Democracy at the Crossroads’ lecture with Alan Simpson. On Wednesday 19th March Alan will speak on “Rebuilding from the base: the ‘me’ and the ‘we’ of democratic renewal” in A39 in the Sir Clive Granger Building, University Park from 2:00 to 4:00 pm.
Focus on equality
Pride and Prejudice in Education 2025 UCU is updating the Pride and Prejudice in Education report about LGBT+ experiences in FE and HE (2016). They are inviting you to complete a survey by the deadline of Friday 21st March. Please do share the survey as it is for all LGBT+ FE and HE staff and students/learners. The chief investigator is Dr Kieran Higgins based at Ulster University.
International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade Tuesday 25th March marks the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and UCU will be hosting a special webinar that day, 6:00-7:00 pm entitled “Education, reparations and justice: the legacy of slavery in post-16 learning”. Keynote speech will be given by Dr Leona Vaughn, academic and researcher in the field of equalities and social justice, and the webinar is hosted by UCU president Maxine Looby. Please click here to register
As promised I am emailing with further information about our branch meeting on Wednesday 12th March. This will take place online from 1-2pm using the following zoom link.
[Please see email dated Wednesday 3rd March from Nick Clare for Zoom details]
As well as important updates on the state of play here at UoN, the meeting has two main topics to cover.
No compulsory redundancies motion
The first is to debate and vote on a new motion (attached) that builds on one that we as a branch passed in late 2023 which made a commitment to defending jobs. Given the Vice Chancellor’s refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies this new motion makes our commitment to this clear and would begin the process moving towards a mandate for industrial action.
Congress preparation
The second is about our branch’s involvement with the 2025 UCU national congress. The motions proposed for the branch to submit can be found at this link. A total of three motions have been received which we will debate and vote on.
Members are invited to submit any amendments by 12.00 noon Friday 7 March. You can make proposals to add to or change the wording of these motions. Please ensure you clearly identify which motion you are proposing amendments for. Note that any amendments cannot change regular motions to exceed the word limits of 10 for the title and 150 for the motion text. Rule change motions have no word limits, meaning amendments to them do not either.
Please also remember the deadline for Congress delegate nominations. We have received one nomination so far, meaning there are still three open delegate spots. Please submit your nomination by email to uonucubranch@gmail.com by Monday 10 March at 12 noon, indicating whether you would wish to attend on site in Liverpool (UCU will provide accommodation and reimburse reasonable travel expenses) or online, as well whether you are willing to be on the reserve list as an alternate (should one of the delegates elected on 12 March become unavailable unexpectedly).
Welcome to your weekly newsletter. Please don’t forget to attend the general meeting on Wednesday12th March at 1:00 pm to discuss and vote on declaration of dispute with our employer, in order to defend jobs at UoN. In addition we will be making preparations for the 2025 UCU national congress. Further details (including the text of the motions) can be found in the email from Nick Clare (Branch Secretary) on 3rd March.
Read on for the following topics:
Been called in for a “protected conversation”?
Know your rights – redundancy
Branch Committee meeting summary
Local and national campaigning
Focus on equality
Joining link and further information
Been called in for a “protected conversation”?
Many members have been called in for “protected conversations”. The prospect of this can be frightening and intimidating, but your Branch will support you if you are an eligible member. Please submit a casework request here using the blue tab at the right of the screen.
There is growing concern about compulsory redundancy at UoN affecting permanent members of staff. However, many staff on fixed-term contracts or with fixed-term underlying funding routinely face redundancy as their contracts approach their end date. Staff also take these redundancies as inevitable.
Never assume redundancy is inevitable or fair simply because your contract is expiring. This is especially true for staff with permanent contracts subject to fixed-term underlying funding. As of autumn 2024, HR has conceded that this contract type should not exist. You are permanent, period.
An employer who has provisionally selected an employee for redundancy must write to them warning of the risk of redundancy and invite them to an individual consultation meeting. You have a right to be accompanied to this meeting by a union caseworker. Make sure to take advantage of this! Contact the casework team and ask to discuss the circumstances of your redundancy.
Branch Committee meeting summary
Your Branch Committee met on Wednesday 26th February and discussed
Recommendations from the UCU East Midlands Regional Office on potential dispute and industrial action.
The details of the motion to be voted on at the members’ meeting on 12th March
Motions for UCU congress
“Protected Conversations” as they pertain to Administrative, Professional and Managerial (APM) colleagues.
The Branch Committee meets weekly. If you would like Committee to discuss a particular topic please email the details to: uonucubranch@gmail.com
This week’s meeting was followed by a meeting with the Redundancy Working Group and Branch Committee to discuss strategy to oppose redundancies.
Local and national campaigning
Workload group drop ins The Workload Group is organising drop-in sessions to support members to fight against unsustainable workloads. The next two sessions will take place online:
Wednesday 5th March, 2:00-3:00 pm. REDACTED
Tuesday 11th March 9:30-10:30 am. REDACTED
Focus on equality
International Women’s Day Join UCU in celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD) this Saturday 8th March. This year’s campaign theme is Accelerate Action and UCU has produced a new wall chart depicting women’s fight for equality since the first International Women’s Day.
Pride and Prejudice in Education 2025 UCU is updating the Pride and Prejudice in Education report about LGBT+ experiences in FE and HE (2016). They are inviting you to complete a survey by the deadline of Friday 21st March. Please do share the survey as it is for all LGBT+ FE and HE staff and students/learners. The chief investigator is Dr Kieran Higgins based at Ulster University.
International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade Tuesday 25th March marks the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and UCU will be hosting a special webinar that day, 6:00-7:00 pm entitled “Education, reparations and justice: the legacy of slavery in post-16 learning”. Keynote speech will be given by Dr Leona Vaughn, academic and researcher in the field of equalities and social justice, and the webinar is hosted by UCU president Maxine Looby. Please click here to register
