Tag: Branch Meeting

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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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Motion for this Friday 101225 meeting

Email sent to member’s by Lopa 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,

 Lopa (Branch President) on behalf of branch committee

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Update of members meeting

Email sent on Friday 31st October 2025

Dear members,

Thanks so much to all of you who could make the meeting yesterday – it has been lovely to see so many people, and to get all your input. As this was a teaching week, we know a number of people were unable to attend. So we wanted to recap on some of the key topics covered.

Meetings with management

In the last week we have had multiple meetings with management. These have included ‘lessons learned from phase 1’ and several Joint Negotiation and Consultation Committee meetings on a range of issues. Next week we will also have a new workstream meeting to discuss Phase 2. Beyond this we are finalising the date for our next dispute resolution meeting with the VC. So we just want to emphasise we are doing all we can to find a resolution, including meeting with local MPs and the Student Union.

Pressure is working

The dispute resolution meeting is only possible because of you. Both your overwhelming rejection of the previous ‘offer’ from management and your continued action. We now know that the pressure is starting to bite and the reality of such significant disruption this semester is worrying them. In particular we are starting to see increasingly underhand and unprecedented methods to ‘mitigate’ the impacts of your action. This includes forms asking us to fill in which days we will be taking action in the future. Under no circumstances should you fill these in. Make no mistake this is all testament to the fact that our strategy is working.

Assessments and marking

In particular this attempted mitigation is around assessments and  we will be issuing updated FAQs on how to respond to requests from line managers, so do keep an eye out for this. Similarly, as marking starts to come in remember we are also on ASOS and look after yourself. Only mark within working hours, and if you receive a request to turn around specific marking more quickly ask explicitly what other tasks you should de-prioritise in order to get this done. Again, we will be updating our FAQs with specific marking advice soon.

Pay deductions and financial support

Pay deductions have now started to come through. Following incorrect deductions from the July action we have made sure these are now corrected, but do check your payslip just in case. We have also requested clear FAQs on how calculations are made and presented on pay slips as they can be quite confusing, and we will be seeking clarity on pension contributions. But again, if you have any concerns let us know. 

You can now claim from the national fighting fund, and you received info on our  local hardship support yesterday in an email from our Treasurer Tony Padilla.

National picture

The ballot is open for the national dispute. Do please vote in this and let your rep know when you have done so. If you have any photos of you posting your vote (ideally with dogs or/and babies included) send them our way! Following on from Jo Grady’s visit to our rally last week we have also been receiving more national coverage, and our wonderful Lopa and Jenny spoke last night at a UCU event ( https://www.youtube.com/live/NynAXduQCC8) with over 1300 attendees. Finally there is a national demo on the 12th November starting from Leicester train station at 11am. Members of the branch will be getting the train at 10.12 from town (or 10.18 from Beeston) so do please come along.

Strike plans

Finally, while we remain hopeful negotiations will be successful we need to be ready to carry out the next round of action in order to get the best deal we can. So to recap, we have the following strike action coming up.

10-14th November

17-21st November

24-25th November – Council days and mass pickets

1-5th December

8-12th December

The 24th and 25th of November are especially important as they are when Council will be signing off the Strategic Case for Change and other decisions for the Phase 2 restructure. So these are days where we expect all members to strike and attend picket lines and rallies. We will have the media and other speakers present. On the other weeks, we of course encourage you to strike on as many days as you can afford, but do continue to prioritise days where your absence will be disruptive. It remains important to threaten taking out whole modules wherever possible. 

Following feedback from members we will also be having weekly pickets to build solidarity and maintain collective morale. We will start with one of these on the 10th of November to get our action off with a bang. More details will follow soon.

As always, look after yourself and please do let us know if you have any questions or concerns about anything.

In solidarity as always,

Nick (on behalf of branch Committee)

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Members meeting 30 October!

Original email sent to members on Wednesday 22nd October. Please see original email for Zoom link.

Dear members,

Thank you for your continued action, support, and solidarity. We are writing with a few key updates which are below, but also wanted to mention that last week we met with Alex Norris the MP for Nottingham North and Kimberley to discuss the dispute. Alex was due to speak at an event on campus but cancelled when we approached him, and he was shocked to hear about the proposed restructuring and the loss of jobs so far – he was also saddened to hear how much things have changed since he was taught by Andreas as an undergraduate in 2003! Alex has promised to speak with the Vice Chancellor about this, and while we will continue to lobby other local MPs, please consider writing to your MP mentioning the scale of potential redundancies.

Rally with the UCU General Secretary Thursday 23rd

We are ending this round of rallies with a bang. We have a great lineup of speakers including Jo Grady, the UCU general secretary, tomorrow. She is coming to show her solidarity to us and to speak about the National dispute. As usual we will be meeting in the Trent Courtyard at 12.40 before marching to Portland Steps for the speeches. Do please come along, in your numbers and show your anger.

Submission of next block of industrial action to the VC

Notification of our next block of industrial action was served to the VC this morning by our regional officer. Following your overwhelming rejection management’s opening offer, and the clear majority support for prioritising action this term the University has been notified of strike action on the following dates:

Monday 10th November – Friday 14th November

Monday 17th November – Friday 21st November

Monday 24th November , Tuesday 25th November

Monday 1st December – Friday 5th December

Monday 8th December – Friday 12th December

On Monday 24th and Tuesday 25th of November we will have big pickets in major entrances, Rallies in the Courtyard, Invited external guests, and a media presence. These particular dates have been chosen with key council meetings on Phase 2 in mind. All of these actions gives us the capacity to exert significant pressure on management, from without and within. 

Having served management the notice of the action today,  we will be writing to them to discuss the implications of it for students and staff and to explore resolutions that can avoid the damage this action has the potential to create, to rethink shrinking size and shape ideology. 

Members’ meeting Thursday 30th October 3-4pm

To discuss this second phase of action, including additional picket line days in November and December and to inform on any potential negotiations with management we have called a members’ meeting for next Thursday at 3pm (link in original email). It has been fantastic to hear from so many of you in recent meetings, so do please come along.

Finally,  some of you will have started to receive your ballots for the national dispute. Please vote in this, and please let your rep know once you have. 

In solidarity,

Lopa

(on behalf of branch committee).

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Today’s Emergency UCU Meeting 4.00

Email sent to members on Tuesday 22nd July 2025. The text has been slightly modified for flow on this website.


Dear members,

Don’t forget todays Emergency Members Meeting at 4:00 today. Zoom link below.


It was a pleasure to see so many of you yesterday afternoon at our joint rally with Unison and Unite in the Trent Courtyard in opposition to compulsory redundancies.  As we listened to our colleagues from UCU and our sister unions, and local supporters speak, the University Council met to decide whether or not Phase 1 of Future Nottingham would involve compulsory redundancies. This afternoon, the Vice Chancellor has written to UCU, Unison and Unite as the three campus unions to summarise yesterday’s decision by Council. Information has now also been put on the staff intranet about this.
In short, we have been informed that more staff have applied for, been offered and accepted voluntary redundancy settlements than the target stated in April.

This is in itself a significant loss to the University community in terms of knowledge, expertise, and experience – not to mention the loss of friends and comrades. Made all the more impactful following the hundreds of colleagues departing through MARS last year. 

However, there is also sufficient vagueness in the VC’s email about the status of compulsory redundancies in Phase 1 that we, and other campus unions, have asked for clarification on this vital point and others. 

Any clarification that is received prior to our meeting at 4pm will, of course, be something that we as a branch we must take into consideration. It is worth emphasising again that, as at every stage of our dispute, it is within the University’s power to de-escalate this situation.
Our Extraordinary Brach meeting at 4pm (Zoom link below) has three agenda items:

  • [1] Our campaign against compulsory redundancies, discussing the implication of Council’s decision for our strategy.

We have a strike day scheduled this Thursday and action short of a strike (ASOS) beginning on Friday. In the meeting, we will share the updates from management on the status of compulsory redundancies in Phase 1 and discuss as a collective  our next steps.  Part of this discussion will be summarising a planned approach to organising picket lines, so that we can ensure maximum visibility of our dispute to graduation related traffic arriving/exiting campus. We also want to hear your ideas for action, ASOS and for raising money for our local solidarity fund. (Details for donations:  UCU Nottingham LA63 Hardship Fund, Account number: 20346359, Sort code: 60-83-01)

  • [2] The updated Grievance Procedure. 

This updated procedure was negotiated with the University through a Joint Negotiation and Consultation Committee (JNCC) sub group which Branch Committee members attend For this procedure to be adopted by the University as a whole, it must be approved by UCU UoN members, so please do read this document with care.

  • [3] Motion to further the campaign for a formal dispute with the Secretary of State for Education over funding of HE. 

The text of the motion is available on the University Rank and File webpages. This follows on from a motion approved at our AGM on 30th April ahead of the UCU National Congress. We will take this follow-up motion if time permits.
Zoom details:

Topic: Emergency members meeting

Time: Jul 22, 2025 16:00 London

Join Zoom Meeting.

Meeting ID: 856 3593 9225

Passcode: 210176


In solidarity,

Kitty on behalf of Branch Committee