Tag: Branch Meeting

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Members’ meeting next Wednesday 9th July at 1pm

Email sent to members on Wednesday 2nd July

Dear all,

I am writing to invite you to a members’ meeting next Wednesday 9th July at 1pm. You will have received the fantastic news from Lopa earlier this week that we sailed past the 50% threshold for industrial action. 63% of you voted, so thanks to all of you who did, and as always to our reps, committee members, and branch administrator for helping get the vote out once more. Thanks also to those who came to the open meetings in very large numbers, and to the Faculty Meetings for faculty specific Q and As. The successful results have been sent to the VC and already now reported in the BBC.

We are meeting with the University Team (VC, DVC, CPO et al), on the 7th of July where they will update us on the outcome of Phase 1 in relation to compulsory redundancies. We will use this members’ meeting to feed back on that and discuss our next steps in light of that outcome.

We are also close to finalising our Phase 1 ‘counterproposal’ as part of the consultation process. Thanks to everyone who has fed into this and those who have helped pull it together. It is a really impressive document that we will share with you all on Friday once we have submitted it to the University. Again, we can discuss this in more detail on the 9th.

The Zoom link for the meeting is below.

In solidarity as always

Nick (branch secretary)

UCU UoN is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: UoN UCU member meeting

Time: Jul 9, 2025 13:00 London

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81876860467?pwd=v07GkuDfetb3dAANmqABSYBTjDiPBa.1

Meeting ID: 818 7686 0467

Passcode: 104007

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Summary of members meeting 2nd June 2025

A very well attended and active members meeting was held yesterday afternoon, Monday 2nd June. Many thanks to everyone who made the time to attend. The meeting discussed Branch Committee updates and members questions, comments and views on: 

Phase 1 of Future Nottingham

The release last week of flawed and incomplete ‘pooling’ information for APM colleagues, and Branch Committee participation in consultations to date with updates from Lopa Leach as President, Nick Clare as Secretary, and Andrew Armstrong as APM Officer were discussed.

The Branch Committee was categorical that the large size of some pools was not at the request of trade unions, despite statements suggesting or stating otherwise in university communications.  

The widespread and well-founded frustration of members was evident throughout the meeting, with members highlighting the need to translate frustration into solidarity across job families within the Union and across the University as a whole. 

Apparent inconsistencies and poor communications from the University were highlighted, including the failure to publish FAQs with ‘pooling’ information last week, the seemingly changing and ambiguous position of School-based APM staff between phases 1 and 2, that concerns about UniCore data used to inform this process have been raised repeatedly, and the inclusion of externally funded roles in the ‘pools’. 

The ballot for strike action and action short of a strike

Andreas, as Vice President, underlined that as this is a local dispute we are in a position to decide our own strategy and develop tactics tailored to how our workplace functions that are as hard-hitting as possible, thus heightening our chances of success. 

The importance of a strong ballot turnout and the key role of ASOS were emphasised by several speakers and in the chat discussion. 

Recent wins at Sheffield, Dundee and Cardiff were noted as examples where high ballot turnouts and commitment to taking action protected jobs. 

That our goal in balloting for – and potentially taking – strike action is to prevent compulsory redundancies was underlined. The need to challenge the University to adopt a more sustainable financial model in the longer term, as articulated in the Alternate Financial Strategy 2.0, was also underscored. 

Next steps and actions

The key next step for all members is to vote then let your department rep know when you have posted your ballot! 

Any member who wishes to join the ‘get out the vote’ work, especially in an area without a UCU representative, is invited to email the branch: uonucubranch@gmail.com.

The meeting also heard a call from Tony Padilla as Treasurer for proposals of fundraising activities to support the branch solidarity and hardship fund. As with prior disputes, the fund will be used to support members in the event of industrial action. If you have a proposal for fundraising activities, please contact the branch.

If you wish to make a one-off or recurring donation to the fund, please use the details here.

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Update and invite to member’s meeting Monday 2nd June 1-2pm

Email sent to members Tuesday 27th May 2025

Dear members,

I hope you were able to have some much needed time off over the bank holiday? We are just writing with some key updates to events happening both here and nationally, so apologies for the amount of information but we have tried to keep it as clear as we can!

Member’s meeting – Monday 2nd June, 1-2pm

We have called this meeting to provide you all with more updates on our dispute with the University. After the excellent response to the indicative ballot, UCU has now formally sent our ballot information to the VC Jane Norman and the full ballot will open for a month from the 30th of May. As ever it is crucial we have a strong turnout in this ballot, in order to respond to both Phase 1 and Phase 2, and so you will be hearing from our wonderful reps as they help get the vote out.

This meeting is a chance to hear from the committee about all the meetings we have been having with management, ask questions about the dispute and ballot, and provide feedback on potential industrial action plans as we move into summer, next academic year, and even Phase 2. The meeting link can be found below:

UCU UoN is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: UCU UoN’s Member Meeting

Time: Jun 2, 2025 13:00 London

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87172097595?pwd=uAFTwas32QouWEmBibmEJtFQCVzaz1.1

Meeting ID: 871 7209 7595

Passcode: 918987

Phase 1 update

Lopa, Andreas, and Andrew recently sent you a detailed update on Phase 1 of Future Nottingham. Since then the deadline for VR applications has been extended to the 9th of June and we have continued to meet with University management and have submitted and discussed a range of questions and queries about the process. These questions reflect the fact that we have still not received proper and meaningful information about Phase 1 and therefore we still dispute that we are in a proper period of collective consultation which would enable us to give counter-proposals.  

As you can see from the many comments on the staff sharepoint, there is a strong response from staff that communication from the University has been unclear and confusing, and that the way pooling and redundancies have been handled has been rushed. This has been disastrous for staff wellbeing, and is why it is so important we have a strong turnout in the upcoming ballot. 

You received emails from our APM officer Andrew Armstrong on Friday 23rd about area-specific member meetings for APM staff so please do come along to these, and we will be continuing to roll out faculty-wide, all staff meetings over the coming weeks to help provide all UoN staff with as much clarity as we possibly can. We are also working with our sister unions so that all staff can push back together.

Phase 2 information

While officially we are being told that Phase 2 is yet to start, as we flagged with the situation in American and Canadian Studies, academic restructuring decisions are already being taken without proper stakeholder consultation. An increased focus on ‘performance management’ through unprecedented use of protected conversations and potential changes to the ADC process is also underway. 

Recently the short-sighted decision to shut down the important (and surplus-generating) evening classes and some inter-faculty programmes at the language centre, with the potential cost of over 20 jobs, shows exactly why we need a strong turnout in the ballot. We must hold the University to account in both Phases 1 and 2. 

As soon as we have any more concrete information on Phase 2 we will of course share it with you, especially as we know that Faculty level discussions have begun.

National picture updates

Finally, just some wider information on the national picture following the UCU congress at the weekend. Our fantastic delegates (Lisa, Gertjan, and Alan) will provide a fuller report in time, but the key thing to note is that the ‘Trade Dispute’ motion that we overwhelmingly supported as a branch was passed at congress. This Times Higher article gives a bit more detail on what this could mean, but we feel this is a positive step for exploring other avenues at a national level – something crucial given the derisory 1.4% pay offer from UCEA.

In solidarity,


Nick (Branch secretary) 

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Notice of General Meeting 20th November 2024 1-2pm.

The University of Nottingham UCU Branch is calling a General Meeting on Wednesday 20 November,  1-2pm on Zoom.*

The meeting agenda is as follows:

  1. Update on the Alternate Financial Strategy 2.0 (AFS2) [circulated to members on 4th November] and the University’s Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP).
  2. Motion on the American and Canadian Studies (ACS) programme 
  3. Motion on Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) pledge

The motions will be circulated to members by email prior to the meeting along with a Zoom link for the meeting.

*Original notice was circulated to members by email on 6th November.

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Agenda for branch meeting 24th September

Dear members,

Hope you have had as nice a summer break as you could. The branch meeting tomorrow will be our first 24/25 meeting of the year. Please find below the agenda for tomorrow’s meeting and the Zoom link again. The meeting will start promptly at 12:30 pm.

We will update you about the beautiful ceremony held last week, which so many of you attended in person or by live stream. The Eulogies were given by Manuel, Olympia (Head of Law) and myself (on behalf of UoNUCU), there were readings by two other friends. The celebrant Louise Savage, was brilliant. The huge role that Agnes played for us was beautifully elucidated by her, Manuel and us. Manuel put together a slideshow of Agnes, which of course had so many images of her at our rallies, picket lines etc. The Regional committee also had a dedicated session this Saturday where Andreas Bieler spoke for our branch.

We have been updated verbally on latest MARS by HR. There were 515 applications, 293 approved, 222 declined and 2 withdrawals. We were told that 69 will leave in August, 13 in September, 8 in October, 1 in November, 183 in December. We have yet to receive numerical data at school level from HR. Thanks to our Reps for letting us have, where available, individual school data. They report inconsistencies and the picture is still incomplete. This makes the Workload as a Health & Safety issue even more important. Please see attached an important document written by Jenny Elliot et al (UCU Workload Group). We have sent this document to HR as well.

Regarding MARS, many of our UCU colleagues have availed themselves of this. We thank them for their amazing loyalty to us and the ways they have always supported workers rights.

And finally, and importantly, we need your thoughts about the UCEA pay offer/pay elements and future UCU strategies which Gertjan Lucas and I can take to the Branch Delegate Meeting and voice your decisions there after our Branch meeting.

See you tomorrow,

Lopa.

General Meeting 24 September, 2024, 12:30 -1:30 pm. Agenda:

  • Update on Agnes.
    • Celebration of the life of Agnes Flues.
    • Annual Agnes Flues Lecture.
    • Tree in UP and Obituary.
  • Workload as a Health & Safety Issue.
  • Pay negotiations and the next steps (voting).