Author Archives: Alan Smith

Members vote to oppose Leeds City Council’s airport expansion decision

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

UCU University of Leeds Branch voted to oppose Leeds City Council’s decision to approve the Leeds Bradford Airport expansions in a general meeting of members on Wednesday 10 March 2021. The Branch President has subsequently written to the Secretary of State, Robert Jenrick MP, to ask him to call in this planning application for a public enquiry. This branch notes: The recent dismal decision of Leeds City Council (LCC) City Plans Panel to provisionally approve the expansion of Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA) to build a new terminal, leading to a substantial increase in flights and therefore carbon emissions. Following this provisional approval, the University of Leeds’s UCU Climate and Ecological Emergency working group and University of Leeds climate and sustainability experts drafted a letter to the Secretary of State, Robert Jenrick MP, asking the Government to ‘call in’ (review) the planning application for the expansion of Leeds Bradford Airport. The letter was signed by over 100 people. That the UK Climate Change Committee’s  Sixth Carbon Budget published in December 2020 states that (i) there should be no expansion of UK airport capacity unless the sector is on track to sufficiently outperform its net emissions trajectory (Table p8.1, p29) and (ii) … Read more

Senior management have agreed to withdraw new draft Trans Equality Policy

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

Following pressure from UCU, Unite, Unison, and the LGBT+ staff network and LUU students’ LGBT+ society, University of Leeds senior management have announced that the detrimental draft new Trans Equality Policy will be withdrawn. (For background see Unions oppose detrimental changes to university trans equality policy) The draft document, which UCU and the other staff unions have fiercely opposed since it was tabled in late January, will be completely removed from consultation. The university will now seek to make improvements from a place of respect and the solid foundation of the existing 2017 Trans Equality Policy. We are looking forward to working with university senior management and the Equality Policy Unit to make any refinements for the benefit of trans, non-binary and intersex staff and students at the University of Leeds. Lorraine YoudsEquality Officer

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Unions oppose detrimental changes to university Trans Equality Policy

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

Staff unions UCU, Unison and Unite, alongside the LGBT+ staff network and LUU students’ LGBT+ society have jointly written to University of Leeds management asking them to withdraw the draft replacement for the 2017 Trans Equality Policy. UCU, with Unison and Unite, have made clear in early consultations that the proposed replacement policy should be scrapped and any consultations on improvement should be based on the agreed 2017 policy. 10/03/2021 RE: Draft Trans Equality Policy Dear Members of the Equality Policy Unit, and Members of the Equality and Inclusion Board at the University of Leeds, We write to you to provide our views on the proposed new Draft Trans Equality Policy provided for our review in January and February 2021. In summary, this is a regressive policy: key, supportive points have been removed, and statements have been weakened. We believe it lies outside of relevant laws, including the Equality Act (inc. Public Sector Equality Duty), GDPR, and the Gender Recognition Act: Much of the language and terms used are inconsistent and not in line with best practice (i.e. are offensive). Much of the wording has changed from “we will do” to “we will strive to” – which in practice means … Read more