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Branch agrees donation to UCU national fighting fund

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At today’s emergency general meeting (23 July 2020) the branch passed the following motions: Donation to the UCU Fighting Fund This branch agrees to: donate £15,000 from the branch to the national UCU Fighting Fund call on the UCU National Executive Committee to meet urgently to reconsider the interpretation of rules regarding the use of UCU reserves, in order to transfer an appropriate amount to the Fighting Fund call on the UCU NEC to agree a donation of 20% of national reserves to the Fighting Fund. Supporting lower paid members in the UCU levy If UCU does not raise enough money through branch and other donations and transfers to replenish the national Fighting Fund, a levy on members will go ahead, with the lowest paid members probably exempt.This branch agrees: that if a levy is imposed on any members earning under £30,000 per annum, or who are in particular difficulty, we will draw on our local Hardship Fund to pay the levy on behalf of those members who request it, through an appropriate mechanism determined by the local branch committee following discussion with HQ. to amend the rules of our local Hardship Fund (http://www.leedsucu.org.uk/local-hardship-fund/) to enable the Hardship Fund to … continue reading

Emergency meeting: branch donation to fighting fund

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When members of the branch met on 9 July we agreed to hold a further emergency general meeting to decide on making a donation to the national UCU fighting fund. The meeting will be: Thursday 23 July, 1pm – 2pm (video meeting – link in email from Ben Plumpton sent 14 July) Two motions from the branch committee have been circulated to members, along with the meeting link, in an email from branch president Ben Plumpton sent 14 July (4pm). One motion proposes a donation to the national fighting fund and the calling of a national executive committee to enable consideration of further donations from the union’s national reserves. The second proposes additional support for members of the branch. Context: You’ll be aware that the general secretary announced a levy of £15 per member to replenish the UCU fighting fund. There was a motion from committee to the branch general meeting on 9 July to propose that the branch should pay the levy for members earning under £30,000 per annum, and make representations to national UCU that the levy should be graduated according to income. Since that motion was written, the general secretary has sent out an appeal to members … continue reading

Carrying annual leave

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We’ve had several members contact us with concerns about messages they have received from managers related to annual leave.  UCU raised these matters most strongly with HR and a clarification has now been issued to managers, but we’re still receiving examples of erroneous emails being sent by managers.  While the UCU officers agree people should generally take their leave during the year (and in many cases the university should reduce our workloads to allow us to take our leave), it is quite normal to be allowed to carry 5 days. It does need to be agreed by the head of school or service but members should expect a good reason if there is an objection; there should not be an unreasonable objection. The policy for academic and academic-related (professional and managerial) staff is: Unused leave entitlement may not normally be carried over from one year to another except that up to one week’s leave (pro-rata) may be carried forward for up to 3 months after the end of the leave year by agreement with the Dean of Faculty/Head of School. (Policy downloadable from the page on academic and academic related (professional and managerial) staff annual leave entitlement) HR managers have recently been … continue reading

UCU levy, and job losses

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Text of email from branch president Ben Plumpton to members on 26 June 2020 Dear members, UCU levy You will have seen the email today from Jo Grady, our General Secretary, about UCU taking a levy from members of £15 (in two instalments) for the Fighting Fund, so that the union can continue to support members taking industrial action. Obviously it’s important that the union can help members in this way: many members in our branch have been supported by the Fighting Fund over the recent strikes, and the union has prioritised low-paid and casualised staff in disbursing strike pay.  However, your branch committee is concerned about the lack of consultation on this, and that it wasn’t possible, according to the UCU rule book, to make this a progressive levy dependent on salary. We know many hourly paid, part time and low paid members will find this levy difficult to afford. (Note: members on the full free membership are excluded from the levy).  Some members have already offered to contribute to cover the levy for low paid members of this branch (thank you!), and we would be glad to hear from any other members who feel able to do the same. … continue reading

General meeting change of date: Thursday 9th July

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Text from email from branch honorary secretary Tim Goodall to all branch members Thursday 25 June 2020 Our next General Meeting is on Thurs 9th July 12pm – 1pm and will be held online.  Please note the change of date from that given at the start of the year. We’ll send details of how to join the meeting in a later email.   Agenda items and motions should be submitted by 12 midday, Tuesday 30 June, by email to ucu@leeds.ac.uk  If you need any help or advice to submit a motion, please email ucu@leeds.ac.uk  I’ve included a few guidance notes below: The meetings are for all members of this branch. They are the primary means for collective decision making. If you think the local UCU branch should take a particular position on an issue or should carry out a particular action you can submit a motion* to the meeting by the deadline**, your motion will be circulated to all members with the agenda, then all members who attend the meeting can vote on whether they agree. Please do come to as many general meetings as you can attend – the more people participate in our collective decision making the more effective the … continue reading