Email sent to members on Friday 4th July 2025
Dear members,
We are pleased to share our detailed counterproposal to the Future Nottingham Phase One cuts, formally delivered to university management this morning on the final day of the consultation period. Management is now legally obliged to consider this document in full before proceeding with any compulsory redundancies. A series of meetings with management is already being planned to discuss the University’s response.
Unlike the University’s proposals — driven by senior managers relying on spreadsheets and arbitrary targets, without essential granular knowledge — our counterproposal is informed by you: the staff on the front line. It reflects the realities of your work, the essential role of APM colleagues in supporting teaching, research, the needs of our students, and the long-term health of the University.
This 70-page document is the culmination of an immense amount of hard work by members of the branch committee and the redundancy working group, with input from members, lay experts, and many of our APM colleagues who have sadly been pooled during Phase 1. Thanks also to everyone who attended any of the specific chapter/business unit meetings during the consultation period as well as our sister unions.
While management must read and respond to the entire proposal, we know members are busy; we encourage you at the very least to read the executive summary, where we set out the key, practical alternatives to the University’s destructive plans.
This is a critical moment. We have just secured a mandate for industrial action, and it is important to remember that industrial action is our most powerful tool to stop job cuts. This approach has already worked at Dundee, Cardiff, and Newcastle, where compulsory redundancies were withdrawn under pressure.
We must stand together to protect jobs, defend our colleagues, and fight for the future of our university. Hopefully see you all on Wednesday 9th at 1pm for the members’ meeting.In solidarity,
Your UCU Branch Committee