Tag: Dispute

Posted on

Indicative ballot results

Email sent to members on 9th February 2026

Dear UCU members, 

   We have now been informed about the outcome of our indicative ballot to take industrial action over Future Nottingham Phase 2 restructuring, see below underneath this email. Over the years, our branch has regularly delivered some of the highest turnouts in the country. The 73.3% turnout in this indicative ballot are the highest turnout yet. This result is a strong indication about our collective commitment to defending jobs, research time and working conditions at UoN. 

   I can confirm that I have now written to national UCU requesting that our branch is given permission to open a formal ballot. The committee will be in touch about next steps in due course. 

Solidarity and thank you, 

                            Lopa (Branch President)

Indicative ballot result:

Turnout: 73.3% 

1. If the vice-chancellor continues to refuse ruling out compulsory redundancies until 31 December 2027 and worsening workloads, are you willing to take strike action? 

YES : 71.8%

NO: 28.2%

2. If the vice-chancellor continues to refuse ruling out compulsory redundancies until 31 December 2027 and worsening workloads, are you willing to take action short of strike (ASOS)? This type of action can be things like working to contract, not doing specific tasks. No decision has been made yet on what type; this will be part of the discussions with members.    

YES: 83.6%

NO: 16.4%

Posted on

Promotion consultation form and update on Friday’s meeting

Email sent to members on Monday 26th January 2026.


Dear members,

It was fantastic to see and hear from so many of you on Friday. For those unable to make it, the main topics we covered were as follows:

Vote in the indicative ballot

Make sure you vote in this if you haven’t already. Reminder emails for non-voters will be coming this week (do check your spam and it is sent from: ‘UoN UCU Branch Committee’/yoursay@ucu.org.uk). It takes 30 seconds and a strong turnout is vital.

Update on Future Nottingham Phase 2 and new dispute

We have had our first dispute meeting with management, as well as a series of other meetings around Phase 2. As you will probably have seen, the timeline for Phase 2 has been pushed back slightly, with formal consultation on the draft business case to start on May the 6th. 

We continue to push back on the disastrous proposals, especially those around staff student ratio, and have a series of more detailed meetings with management over the coming weeks. Given the wide-ranging nature of the proposed changes – course closures, SSR, reduction in research time, the threat to technical staff etc – it is clear that our new and more encompassing dispute is crucial.

Promotion ‘consultation’

We also discussed the regrettable way in which the university has paused the promotion process while they decide on next steps. To be clear once more, we were not consulted about this pause despite the way it has seemingly been framed. As part of pushing back against their proposal not to run the promotion process this round we have been gathering feedback from members, and had a really productive meeting on Friday. If you want to provide your input to the consultation – either due to your own promotion being paused or because you spent time supporting other people developing theirs – please consider filling in this anonymous form.

In solidarity

Nick (on behalf of the branch committee) 

Posted on

Vote in the indicative ballot and meeting reminders

Email sent to members on Thursday 22nd January 2026. Zoom links have been removed, please find in the original email.

Dear members,

Just a quick email with three bits of information.

  1. Do make sure you vote in the indicative ballot! The email was sent first thing on the 19th of January and some people have found it went to a junk/other folder. It was sent by ‘UoN UCU Branch Committee’ from the yoursay@ucu.org.uk email if that helps you find it. It takes 30 seconds to vote, and a strong message now will help us in our new dispute
  1. A reminder of our members meeting tomorrow (Friday 23rd) at 1pm. We will give you an update on the rapidly changing nature of Future Nottingham and all the branch has been doing to fight the restructure.
  1. Promotion pause response. If this has impacted you and you want to help shape our response to it, we will be having a promotions-specific meeting straight after the members meeting at 2pm on the 23rd. Or else please contact the secretary Nick (nickpclare@gmail.com) to provide your input.

In solidarity,

Nick (on behalf of the committee) 

Posted on

Fight backs and picket line info

Email sent to members on Thursday 6th November 2025

Dear Members

I am sure you are all reeling with the list of degree suspensions announced yesterday (5 Nov) in staff intranet and puzzling on the rationale given, the lack of stake holder engagements (us or Heads of Schools) and the choices of degrees that makes us who we are: a global comprehensive higher education institution of excellence. We were called to a FN2 Workstreams meeting JNCC on Tuesday 4 Nov, where the Pro-VCs gave us the list of ear-marked degrees for suspension/closures from each Faculty. We were aghast at the choices, which included Music, Languages, Mental Health Nursing Programmes , ACS, Biosciences degrees, to name but a few. UEB will send this off to OFS (?) on Monday, and also will present to Council to approve, along with the Case for Strategic change (which will address reduction in  staff numbers) on November 24 and 25.  For the latter, please find below a link to an Open Letter from all staff that we will send to Council. Please Do sign. There has been significant interest by the media in the closure of degree programmes at UoN. Below is an article on the BBC and the Times Higher as well as BBC East Midlands Today have also been in touch. Watch that space.

BTW The business case for FN2 still is not ready we were told. It will be sent to us in Feb 2026. (So we have time yet to oppose). 

Meanwhile, we have been invited to a Dispute resolution Meeting next week, on 11 November 2025.  We will report back straight after, should management make an offer to settle the dispute. In any case, we will have a members meeting next Thursday, 13 November at 1 p.m. We will send the respective Zoom details closer to the time. 

In the meantime, we have scheduled a picket line on West Entrance on Monday 10th November, 8:30 to 11:30 am. Please do come, in large numbers, show our strength, our solidarity and our opposition to the proposed changes: both the suspensions and the planned shrinkage of schools from 26 to 10, including the speed of all this, given UEB wants it done and dusted by September 2026. There may be press, given the interest shown. The remainder of the fortnight for November has the normal IA. 

We also have a picket line on Tuesday 18 November, South Entrance.  We have already written to you about the picket line and rallies on 24 and 25 November, when Council will deliberate.  We will have external guests then, which will include the President of UCU.  

Until then, solidarity, do feed us your views via reps or branch email, so we can compile our own alternative business case.

Solidarity, 

Lopa (on behalf of branch committee).

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSemWcHUUGk36TNaSeT5nEY2z-HINgZhFBycV_imAj3-YUgqTA/viewform     Open letter for signing. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly9zwqvn53o

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/major-universities-facing-weeks-long-strikes-job-cuts-deepen

Posted on

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)