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Introducing new branch officer, Vice President Chloe Wallace

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Tell us a bit about yourself: I’m an Associate Professor in the Law School, on a teaching and scholarship contract, specialising in legal education. This year, I am also a project leader in LITE (Leeds Institute of Teaching Excellence), working on study abroad.  I live in Leeds, walk everywhere (this summer I finished off the Offa’s Dyke Path Walk, along the English/Welsh border), and use all my annual leave to travel! Why did you decide to take an officer role in the union? 2018-19 was my 20th year in post in the University. I’m incredibly proud of working at Leeds and very committed to seeing the university, and the higher education sector, thrive. The amazing solidarity and connections we made during the 2018 USS strike made me realise that UCU has a huge role to play in this, by bringing us together and making our voices and our experience and expertise heard, so I decided to join the committee, and realised that I had skills which might be of use as Vice-President. What does it involve? I’ve only just started, so we’ll see! At the moment, there are a lot of meetings: with each other, with other unions and with … continue reading

Leeds UCU are instrumental in changing UCU rules regarding migrant representation

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In May we posted about why Leeds UCU committee believes it is crucial that migrant members have representation within the national UCU structure. At the UCU annual conference later than month, Leeds University UCU, along with UEA UCU, Manchester University UCU, Cambridge University UCU, Sheffield University UCU and the Black Members Standing Committee, moved and seconded the motions that made this happen. We are very proud to have been involved at this significant moment in UCU history and particularly want to thank our equality officer Dima Barakat Chami and committee member Laura Loyola-Hernandez for their hard work and passion in campaigning for this and introducing the motions at congress. Details of the motions passed by congress can be read here but in brief, congress resolves to: recognise migrant status as a protected characteristic under UCU equality structuresimplement rule changes necessary to ensure the representational gap is closedensure protection of migrant members is a priority for UCU The newly set up committee will be dedicated to addressing issues faced by migrant members. These issues can range from unfair visa fees (as of yet, not reimbursed by universities) to discriminatory practices which abound in the everyday life of migrants as they negotiate … continue reading