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Dear members,
We hope you had some time to rest over this bank holiday weekend. Don’t forget to check out the “Local and national campaigning” section of this newsletter for campaigns which intersect with the aims and goals of our union and branch.
Read on for the following topics:
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- Save Language Centre casuals and language learning in Nottingham!
- Open faculty level meetings
- Workplace safety
- Wins for the Workload Campaign
- UCU Congress 2025: Highlights
- Branch Committee meeting summary
- Notts Trans Pride
- Local and national campaigning
- Joining link and further information
Save Language Centre casuals and language learning in Nottingham!
Casualised Language Centre staff at UoN have been demanding the basic dignity of direct employment, including through a recent letter to management signed by over one hundred staff members. However, management has ignored this request (contradicting their own Principles for Casual Engagement) and instead announced plans to let go all Language Centre casual workers, and end all their teaching. This is an incredibly damaging decision; it hurts the University (the Language Centre generates a surplus!), it hurts staff, it hurts students, and it hurts the wider Nottingham community, for whom there remain very few language learning opportunities.
Please sign this new open letter to demand the University reverse its decision! This letter will form part of a broader, community oriented campaign.
Open faculty level meetings
On Tuesday 20th May, representatives from UCU as well as sister campus unions UNISON and Unite held an open meeting for the faculty of Science to discuss Future Nottingham from a Trade Union perspective. Between online and in-person attendees there were over 200 staff members present for a rather lively discussion.
Following this success, we will be holding further similar meetings for other faculties as well as for APM staff. Please look out for information about these meetings in coming weeks.
Workplace safety
Safety is everyone’s right and everyone’s responsibility. If you have reported safety issues in your building or area that have not thereafter been dealt with by management, then please report them to your branch. The best way to do this is to email our Health and Safety Officer, Cyril Rauch (REDACTED) and copy in your Departmental Rep.
Wins for the Workload Campaign
We wanted to let you know of some of our successes this year so far;
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- We’re changing the narrative around acceptable workloads with our ‘95 so we can thrive campaign’. Health Sciences has now adopted a 100% maximum workload model and is piloting new workload plans.
- We’ve reported the university to HSE for failing legally required stress prevention measures.
- We’ve established a Workload/Work-Related Stress Task and Finish Group via JNCC channels, which Alex Lancaster (National UCU Workload Health and Safety Officer) will be joining.
- We’ve challenged the institution-wide lack of Business Unit Stress Risk Assessments.
- The University has now developed an (albeit flawed and incomplete) Organisational Stress Risk Assessment, which we are now working to improve.
There’s still lots to do, and as such we’re planning a workload campaign strategy development morning soon. Please email any suggestions for this planning meeting to REDACTED. In particular, we will be focusing on:
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- Supporting members with their right to confidently push back on the inevitable increase in workload due to redundancies via our ‘Just Say No!’ campaign
- Embedding the 100% maximum workload commitment across all schools
- Ensuring the university meets its legal requirements in terms of stress prevention
UCU Congress 2025: Highlights
UoN UCU delegates attended Congress and the HE Sector Congress over the bank holiday weekend. A full report will follow; all motions referred to can be found here.
Congress took many important decisions to support members in time of cuts and redundancies as well as all those facing marginalisation. A novel strategy to take the fight over HE funding (motion HE14 – which our AGM endorsed) to the government was passed. Another motion (35 Rule Change Motion – Recall of Congress and/or Sector Conferences) our branch supported did not attain the two-thirds majority required.
Our amendment (24A.1) to request a fulsome review of the model branch rules passed. The other motions (31 & 37) we submitted fell off the agenda due to a lack of time.
Branch Committee meeting summary
Your Branch Committee met on Wednesday 21st May and discussed;
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- The success of the Science open meeting, and hopes to replicate across other faculties
- Industrial action strategy
- Planning for an upcoming general meeting
- The threats to the Language Center
The Branch Committee meets weekly. If you would like Committee to discuss a particular topic please email the details to: uonucubranch@gmail.com
Notts Trans Pride
The second ever Notts Trans Pride will take place on Saturday 21st June, with the march starting from Broadway Cinema. With the current political climate, it is essential that we have maximum visible Trade Union support for trans rights so please save the date. In addition, if you are interested in helping to contribute to the running of the event please sign up here.
Local and national campaigning
Sign UNISON UoN’s petition to oppose job cuts
In Phase 1 of Future Nottingham, staff represented by UNISON will be most affected. Please sign their petition to oppose cuts and show solidarity with your fellow workers.
Stop the redundancies at the University of Derby
Up to 35 Professors and Associate Professors are facing a compulsory redundancy process at the University of Derby. UCU Derby have written an open letter you are invited to sign, opposing these cuts at Derbyshire’s only University and critiquing the poor engagement with the Union as it has unfolded.
60 Years of the Tricontinental Conference: Context, Impact, Legacy, and Future
Parvathi Kumaraswami, an academic at the University is crowdfunding for travel grants for scholars, artists and activists from the Global South to attend the above January 2026 conference at the University of Havana. This will celebrate the original event and prioritize contributions from the Global South and stimulate important debates about the original event and its relevance to anti-colonialism, anti-imperialism, and decolonisation.
Please consider making a donation if you’re able. More information and donation link here.
Call on Nottinghamshire County Council to divest from apartheid
Nottingham Palestine Solidarity Campaign is leading a movement to demand Nottinghamshire County Council (NCC) divests its Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) from companies and organisations complicit in the genocide in Palestine. Currently the LGPS holds £170 million in shares in genocide-complicit companies. In line with the branch’s BDS motion and solidarity with Palestine motion the branch has given official support to the campaign.
We encourage all members resident in Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire County to sign the petition here.
Report anti-trans discrimination
Have you been questioned, stopped or challenged using a single-sex space? Fill in this form to help Transactual advocate on this issue at a national level.
Joining link and further information
Remember to pass on the online joining link to your colleagues.
Having trouble at work? Please log a case with our large, competent casework team!
Need to talk to your Departmental Rep? Find the full list of UoN UCU reps here. If you are interested in becoming a departmental rep, get in touch!
Struggling with your mental health or wellbeing? UCU members get free access to confidential support service educationsupport.org.uk who can be called 24/7 on 08000 562 561.
Yours sincerely,
L Scott Blankenship and Will Paterson-Bassett, Branch Communications Officers, on behalf of UoN UCU Branch Committee
Branch website: https://uonucu.org/