Tag: members emails

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update on VONC

Email sent to members on 23rd February 2026.

Dear Members,

Ref: Vote of No Confidence in the Vice Chancellor, Chair of Council and University Executive Board

Apologies for a second email from us today, we decided to send 2 separate emails today as both items are so significant.

I am happy to inform you that the VONC Motion, which was approved overwhelmingly by our members at the meeting held on 18 February 2026, was sent to Jason Carter, Chief Governance Officer, and Jane Norman (VC) at 5pm on Friday, 20 Feb, 2026 . We asked it to be forwarded to all the relevant roles, including President of Uni, Council and Senate.  Our sister unions: Unison and Unite also did the same, at the same time.  

We are now in the process of contacting the press.

Many thanks again and full solidarity. 

Lopa

(on behalf of branch committee). 

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Formal ballot to open on 2 March!

Email sent to members on Monday 23rd February 2026. Very minor edit made.

Dear UCU members,

   After our overwhelming result in the indicative ballot, when more than 73 per cent of you voted with large majorities in favour of strike action and action short of strike, the national UCU granted us the right to move towards a formal ballot. I herewith confirm that we informed management last Friday that the ballot will open on Monday, 2 March. Please make every effort to participate in the ballot and talk to your colleagues to ensure that they do so too. A strong ballot will put significant pressure on management and provide us with the necessary tools to defend our jobs and working conditions.

   For the duration of the ballot and potential subsequent industrial action, we have established a campaign group, which is open to all members. If you want to participate, please contact me from non-workplace email accounts at [email removed for privacy].

In solidarity,

                                       Andreas (on behalf of the UCU committee)

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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%

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Last days to vote in the indicative ballot! Members meeting

Email sent to members on Thursday 5th February 2026. Please see your emails for zoom link and text of motion at members meeting.

Dear members,

Just a quick email with a couple of key bits of information to reinforce what was covered in our excellent newsletter yesterday.

Indicative ballot

This closes on Friday, and takes less than 30 seconds to complete. The stronger the turnout in this ballot the stronger our hand is in negotiation with the University, so please do vote. Thanks to everyone who has voted so far, and do check in with your colleagues to make sure they have too.

A reminder, the original email with the link to ballot (subject line ‘UoN UCU: Oppose job losses – protect your workload!’) was sent on 19th January from yoursay@ucu.org.uk. Please check your spam if you can’t find it in your inbox.

Members meeting

Just to inform you that we will have our next members meeting at 12 noon on Wednesday 18th February.

We have received a member motion. The meeting will provide a chance to discuss and vote on this motion. There will also be time to give feedback on how the dispute meetings are going with management, keep you updated on our consultation on the promotion pause, and answer any other questions you may have.

Nick, on behalf of the branch committee

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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)