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Letter to senior management about unnecessary face to face teaching and student services during covid-19 pandemic

Posted on 18 September 2020 by Alan Smith18 September 2020 
Email sent 2.15pm Friday 18 September 2020 on behalf of UCU University of Leeds Branch to the University of Leeds deputy vice-chancellor for student education, copied to the university secretary and to the director of Human Resources.

Dear [deputy vice-chancellor]

We are writing to you in relation to the increasing pressure which is being experienced by staff to provide face to face teaching on campus over this academic year. Over the summer, staff involved in teaching and student support have worked incredibly hard to produce teaching materials, and design teaching and student support and community building processes that operate online in order to provide student education in safe circumstances. A number of Schools and Faculties had had plans approved to provide student education wholly online in Semester 1, because of their judgment that teaching and student support can not only be effectively provided online but, in many cases, can be better provided online given social distancing rules that will impact how we work face to face. We now understand that those Schools are being required to provide face to face activity where none was previously planned, requiring changes in planning, staff to teach face to face and in many cases provision to be less good than it would have been online given the requirements of social distancing.

We are deeply concerned about this. Any face to face activity constitutes a risk of COVID-19 spread; measures can be taken to mitigate that risk, but the only way that University activity can be COVID safe is by conducting it online. The fact that some Schools had not planned for face to face activity means that such activity cannot reasonably be considered as necessary. Consequently, the University is asking staff and students to run the unnecessary risk of contracting and spreading COVID-19, impacting not only our University communities but the wider communities of which we are a part. Given the rising transmission rates both locally and nationally, this is irresponsible. In addition, we note that staff have been asked at the last minute to develop new activities which may or may not go ahead depending on the local and national situation. This creates huge uncertainty for both students and staff, and exacerbates the workload problem which we have spoken to you about on a number of occasions.

Whilst we all wish that we were able to start the new academic year as we usually would, that is simply not possible. Our position both nationally and, following a General Meeting on 15th September, of the local branch, is that there should be no face to face teaching or student support at least over Semester 1, unless there is genuinely no other alternative (such as some practical classes). The amount of work that staff have put in to developing an online student experience over the summer has been exceptional, particularly given difficult working conditions, and the University should be confident, and speak confidently, about the quality of provision we can offer, whilst protecting the health and safety of our wider community. We request, therefore, that the requirements on Schools to provide face to face teaching and student support be lifted, and that the University adopt a policy of all teaching and student support being provided online over Semester 1 at least, unless there is no alternative. We further request a review of the situation in December 2020 with a view to considering provision in Semester 2, and that the campus trades unions be fully involved in that review.

With best wishes

Chloe Wallace
Vice-president, on behalf of Leeds University UCU branch committee

Posted in Covid19, Safety and health

Motions passed at general meeting 15 September

Posted on 15 September 2020 by Alan Smith15 September 2020

At a general meeting on 15 September 2020 members voted to support the following motions:

Emergency motion 1 – On-line teaching: health & safety and jobs

This meeting notes:

  1. the call by our GS and iSAGE for all teaching to be held online
  2. UCU’s five tests
  3. pressures on all staff for face-to-face teaching
  4. that iSAGE/WHO believe social distancing, test, track and isolate and PPE are central in controlling pandemics
  5. a potential second wave of Covid-19 with high R-rates in Yorkshire/Humberside
  6. lives, health, safety and jobs should take priority over the financial ‘bottom line’
  7. The University sits on over £70 million of reserves which must be utilised if necessary to meet demands during this period.

This meeting requests:

Leeds UCU to campaign for and negotiate agreements on:

  1. no face-to-face teaching and student support in at least the first semester of 2020/21 and continued into the second semester (to be reviewed in December 2020) other than where there are no other options, e.g. some practical work
  2. all on-line teaching to be accessible
  3. provision of IT and safe quiet study spaces for all students and staff as required
  4. continuing with high levels of support and training for staff in online teaching, and ensuring that workload allocation models and other means of allocating work recognise the time needed to undertake this training
  5. no staff, casualised or permanent, to risk losing jobs if they do not deliver face-to-face teaching or support
  6. additional government funding to cover shortfalls and additional costs.

Emergency motion 3 – Local organising on return to campus in the context of Covid-19

This branch notes:

  • That the rates of Covid contagion are rising steadily across the Europe, the UK and Leeds
  • That there are currently problems and delays accessing tests and test results
  • That at this rate  of contagion and without mass testing, the WHO predicts a rise in the deaths in October and November 2020
  • That health and safety guidance has been developed on our campus in dialogue with the unions on improving existing measures, but inconsitency of approach as emerged across faculties, with some opting almost entirely for online teaching and others for a hybrid approach
  • That institutional pressure to offer some face to face teaching on the basis of a commercial argument affects different colleagues differently with regard to their teaching
  • That students’ experience will also be unequal as a result, especially for those unable to come back to campus
  • That the ‘Return to campus’ survey does not include individual health and safety measures
  • That local H&S reps are not consistently consulted on local arrangements for reopening building “in good time” as required by the law
  • That organising and negotiating in favour of online teaching have provided arguments to successfully retain fixed term staff in some faculties

This branch resolves:

  • that nobody should be forced to deliver teaching and other non-essential activities on campus in semester 1, and that this should be reviewed in semester 2.
  • that the union has clear messages and support especially for colleagues most isolated and precarious who may be coerced to teaching
  • to develop out our own conditions for f2f teaching at the branch level (e.g. conditions attached to the local r-number; room cleaning between classes; wearing of masks; availability of testing)
  • that the branch faciliates ongoing dialogue between local reps and the committee that is effective in influencing negotiation with management
  • that the branch actively contributes to the UCU developing of a national strategy such as walk outs or sick outs in the case COVID-19 rates increase and the University campus continues with the current plans of face to face teaching delivery

Emergency motion 2 – to submit to UCU special higher education sector conference 30 September

On-line teaching: health & safety and jobs

HESC notes:

  1. the call by our GS and iSAGE for all teaching to be held online
  2. UCU’s five tests
  3. pressures on all staff for face-to-face teaching
  4. that iSAGE/WHO believe social distancing, test, track and isolate and PPE are central in controlling pandemics
  5. a potential second wave of Covid-19

HESC requests:

branches and the national union campaign for and negotiate agreements on:

  1. no face-to-face teaching and student support in 2020/21 (reviewed in December) other than where there are no other options, e.g. some practical work
  2. all on-line teaching to be accessible
  3. provision of IT and safe quiet study spaces for all students and staff as required
  4. support and training for staff in online teaching
  5. no staff, casualised or permanent, to risk losing jobs if they do not teach face-to-face
  6. additional government funding to cover shortfalls and additional costs.

(150 words)

Posted in Covid19, General Meetings, Safety and health

General meeting will decide branch response to covid-19 increase

Posted on 15 September 2020 by Alan Smith15 September 2020

Emergency motions have been submitted to today’s general meeting in light of the increased covid-19 levels nationally and locally.

The motions suggest how we should respond as a branch locally, and how the union should respond nationally.

The meeting, which is for all members of the UCU University of Leeds branch, is 1pm – 2pm Tuesday 15 September.

Meeting link and updated agenda including the emergency motions is in an email sent to all members by branch administrator Alan Smith today.

[Edited 11.44 15 September as more than one motion now received]

Posted in Covid19, General Meetings

Scheduled general meetings for 2020-2021

Posted on 3 September 2020 by Alan Smith3 September 2020

These are the meetings for all members of the UCU University of Leeds branch. These are our meetings where we make collective decisions as a branch. All members are entitled to submit motions to these meetings. Meeting link / location will be notified by email nearer the time. There may be additional extraordinary or emergency general meetings during the year at the request of members / committee / officers. For more about how to make branch policy and how to make general meetings work for everyone see ‘making UCU general meetings work better’

Motions should be sent to ucu@leeds.ac.uk.

Tuesday 15 September 2020, 1pm – 2pm

The deadline to submit motions to this meeting is 12pm on Tuesday 8 September.

This meeting would be the last scheduled opportunity for the branch to agree:

  • Any motions from the branch to the UCU special higher education sector conference on 30 September
  • Any emergency motions or amendments to the motions from the branch to the postponed UCU Congress 2020 provisionally being held 28-30 October.

Thursday 22 October, 12pm – 1pm

The deadline to submit motions to this meeting is 12pm on Tuesday 6 October.

This meeting would be the last scheduled opportunity for a branch general meeting to agree any motions from the branch to the UCU equality conferences.

Tuesday 8 December, 1pm – 2pm

The deadline to submit motions to this meeting is 12pm on Tuesday 1 December.

This meeting would be the last scheduled opportunity for a branch general meeting to agree any motions from the branch to the:

  • UCU annual meeting for staff on casualised contracts
  • UCU academic-related, professional staff annual meeting

Wednesday 10 March, 12pm – 1pm

The deadline to submit motions to this meeting is 12pm on Tuesday 2 March.

This meeting would be the last scheduled opportunity to agree any motions from the branch to the UCU Congress 2021.

Thursday 22 April, 1pm – 2pm

The deadline to submit motions to this meeting is 12pm on Tuesday 13 April.

This meeting would be the last scheduled opportunity for the branch to decide on amendments to propose to motions on the UCU Congress 2021 agenda.

Thursday 13 May, 3.45pm – 5pm (3.30pm for tea and cake)

The deadline to submit motions to this meeting is 12pm on Tuesday 27 April.

The deadline for nominations for the branch committee is Wednesday 12 May.

Monday 5 July, 12pm – 1pm

The deadline to submit motions to this meeting is 12pm on Tuesday 22 June.

Posted in General Meetings

Annual leave update

Posted on 21 August 2020 by editor126 August 2020 
Text of email sent to branch members by branch secretary Tim Goodall on 21 August 2020

Management at the University of Leeds continue to be unnecessarily harsh about annual leave – saying that the normal carry forward arrangements can only happen in ‘exceptional circumstances’ this year (up to 5 days is usual custom and practice). We believe this is contrary to law – the government’s Working Time (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 state that unused leave can be carried into the next 2 leave years where the impact of coronavirus means that it has not been reasonably practicable to take it in the leave year “as a result of the effects of coronavirus (including on the worker, the employer or the wider economy or society)”.

The recent announcement that staff who are obliged to quarantine after holidays abroad and can’t work from home are liable to have to use holiday from next year or unpaid leave (see https://coronavirus.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/108/2020/07/Travel-overseas-for-personal-or-recreational-reasons-all-staff-email-sent-30-July-2020.docx) is also unfair and unacceptable.

We know that many of you are understandably angry about these edicts, particularly when they add to the stress of work and personal situations which are already difficult. We cannot understand why our management fails to be more supportive to staff on these matters, when it wouldn’t even cost them anything. The three campus trade unions have submitted a collective grievance on these issues and we will keep you posted about the response. See text of the collective grievance here.

We believe that the University has made a material change to our conditions and thus we are currently seeking legal advice on how to progress this further.

Get in touch with ucu@leeds.ac.uk if you feel you are being unreasonably refused carry over of leave, or if you are told you must take unpaid leave to cover quarantining. In the meantime, if you feel able, please keep the pressure up on your managers and local HR. Keep requesting to carry over leave and make sure they understand the pressures their decisions put on your home life.

Posted in Uncategorized
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  • Letter to senior management about unnecessary face to face teaching and student services during covid-19 pandemic
  • Motions passed at general meeting 15 September
  • General meeting will decide branch response to covid-19 increase
  • Scheduled general meetings for 2020-2021
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