In recent months, many of us have felt the weight of increased pressures, whether due to staff reductions, new systems (Unicore), or unrealistic demands. We know the toll this takes, not only on our professional lives, but also on our health and well-being.
This campaign is about more than workloads—it’s about demanding respect for staff and ensuring safe, fair conditions for all. Your input and engagement are crucial as we move forward.
Please see attached documents for more information on what your union is doing to combat excessive workloads and how to effectively resist being asked to do more. Also below are the slides from the presentation at our branch meeting on the 5th of February.
Dear UoN UCU members, We would like to invite you to our first UoN UCU branch meeting of the year. We will present and discuss our two campaigns for sustainable workloads and the incoming national ballot.
This meeting is a chance to come together, share experiences, and take collective steps toward addressing the challenges we face, linking our local activity into wider national campaigns. Links with information about the sustainable workload campaign are attached.
Date: 5 February
Time: 1-2 pm
Location: Hybrid meeting.*
In solidarity,
Nick
Nick Clare (new UoN UCU branch secretary)
*Please see newsletter dated 27th January for zoom link and location.
Happy New Year from University of Nottingham UCU Branch. In this email, we are trialing a newsletter format that we anticipate will make some of the work of UCU reps, caseworkers, and committee members more visible to members, and our email communications more concise. The newsletter also serves to highlight how any members can get more involved with current UoN UCU work.
Future Nottingham
Branch Committee, in particular the Branch Committee Executive (Lopa Leach as President, Andreas Bieler as Vice-President, Nick Clare as Branch Secretary and Tony Padilla as Branch Treasurer), continue to scrutinise the details of plans relating to Future Nottingham, as these are made available. This includes confidential material, the details of which we will share with members when we are able to.
In the meantime we encourage all members to continue paying close attention to information relating to Future Nottingham as it becomes available, and to write to Lopa (REDACTED) or Andreas (REDACTED) if you have particular concerns or comments here.
The Workload Health & Safety campaign: 95 so we can thrive
The workload campaign continues, with the members of the ‘95 so we can thrive’ campaign group meeting in the week starting 6th January. At the time of writing, the University has yet to complete the legally required Business Unit Stress Risk Assessments (see November email to members re ‘UCU Workload Group Campaign’). Until these risk assessments are completed, any workload exceeding 100% constitutes a Stress Health and Safety Hazard.
Discussions are ongoing with HR on this matter, but in the meantime, members are encouraged to refuse any additional work if it takes their workload above 100% and to request an individual stress risk assessment if it is the case.
Further information and support for members will follow in the upcoming weeks. In the meantime, the working group is always looking for new members so if you are interested, please email Mel Bhend (REDACTED) or Jenny Elliot (REDACTED)
UoN UCU Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) pledge
With Israel’s relentless onslaught on Gaza continuing, please remember to sign the UoN UCU Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) pledge. As well as committing signatories to the academic boycott, this pledge asks the University to cut all ties with Israeli Higher Education institutions and to divest from arms manufacturing companies.
If you would like to join the work of members in the Palestine Solidarity Group, please email uonucubranch@gmail.com.
Branch Committee meeting summary
Finally, our first Branch Committee meeting of the year on Thursday 9th January welcomed Nick Clare as the new Branch Secretary, taking over from Tony Simmonds. The meeting covered a range of topics including some of the above, the agenda included updates about and discussions of:
The impact of MARS and Future Nottingham,
The rollout of Unicore (and the unnecessary workload implications therein),
The Workload Health & Safety campaign,
The work of the Alternate Finance Strategy Group,
Joint Negotiation and Consultation Committee (JNCC) subcommittees,
A quarterly meeting of the three campus unions (UCU, Unite and Unison),
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Pledge.
The committee also heard updates from the Branch Executive and various Branch Officers, including the APM Officer, the Anti-Cas Officer, and the Communications Officer.
The Branch Committee meets most weeks, if you would like Committee to discuss a particular topic please email the details to: uonucubranch@gmail.com
On Saturday 9 November 2024, colleagues and friends of Agnes Flues were joined by her partner Manuel Peña Prieto at Wollaton Hall parkrun to celebrate her life and social justice, within UCU and beyond.
Photo credit Chris Tregnza https://tregenza.com/ucu-uon-parkrun-for-agnes/
Agnes was a regular runner, and Wollaton was her local parkrun. We were honoured that Manuel could join us and see our show of love and respect for Agnes.
Manuel leading the way with a UCU flag in hand – Photo credit Chris Tregnza https://tregenza.com/ucu-uon-parkrun-for-agnes/
Agnes was a tireless activist taking a number of roles on the UoN UCU branch committee, as well as having been elected to UCU’s National Executive Committee. In memory of all that she did, UoN UCU hope to gather in future years at Wollaton Hall parkrun on the nearest Saturday to her birthday. We therefore invited runners and their supporters to contribute to branch fundraising, which remains open.
A post-run collection – Manuel Peña Prieto photo credit
Participants and supporters wore UCU colours (pink and purple) and we also had a number of handheld UCU flags that caught the attention of fellow parkrun participants (642 finishers). The results are available on the Wollaton Hall parkrun website.
On 24th October UCU UoN President Lopa Leach represented UCU UoN at the signing of a new joint recognition agreement between the University of Nottingham, represented by Vice Chancellor Shearer West, and all three campus unions, with Vicki Morris representing UNISON and Declan Brady representing Unite.
