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Who should be the UCU department rep / UCU anti-casualisation rep / UCU postgrad rep where you work?

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In preparation for the next academic year the UCU committee is looking to fill department rep vacancies, including anti-casualisation reps, postgraduate reps and workload reps, and also for some more members to be trained to support colleagues with individual casework. The roles are: Department rep To raise local issues affecting members with the UCU officers/committee and to feed back to members, and to welcome new staff and let them know about UCU. (Monthly meetings but not required to attend them all.) Department anti-casualisation rep To raise local issues affecting members on casualised contracts (such as fixed-term or hourly paid) with the UCU branch’s anti-casualisation working group and to work with that group to help tackle casualisation across the university. Department postgraduate rep To raise local issues affecting postgraduate with the branch committee’s postgraduate rep and the anti-casualisation working group. Department workload rep To raise local workload issues at the branch workloads working group and to work with that group to help tackle excessive workloads across the university Caseworker To support and discuss options with members having problems at work. Training and mentoring provided. This isn’t a department role – caseworkers don’t usually represent members in their own school or service. … continue reading

Heads of School recruitment and the spurious use of ‘equality and inclusion’

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Many of you have expressed your discontent at the recent blanket policy of Head of School positions automatically going out to external advertisement, and in some cases the use of headhunters in the recruitment process. The committee shares these concerns and the strength of feeling against this policy. Our wider opposition to this policy and motions passed by the branch on the issue are laid out here. In this email, we wish to draw attention to a particularly pernicious element of management’s justification for the imposition of this policy: the spurious deployment of the equality and inclusion agenda. In negotiations on this issue representatives of the university executive group have argued that the blanket policy of external recruitment was justified because it would bring about a greater diversity in senior management. While in some specific areas of the university the external recruitment of Heads of Schools may have led to greater diversity in the senior management team, the notion that a blanket policy will achieve this aim is not credible. In many disciplines the wider pool of likely candidates within the sector is highly skewed towards white men. In addition, in some schools external recruitment represents a marked change in … continue reading

USS update

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USS caught misrepresenting the views of the pensions regulator + the pensions regulator itself is being investigated by a Parliamentary committee for its handling of whistleblowing from a USS trustee Our pension scheme is under unnecessary threat.  The 2018 pension strikes successfully challenged concerted efforts to fundamentally undermine our healthy defined benefit pension scheme and transfer it into a substandard defined contribution scheme. Our actions changed the debate, and the report of the Joint Expert Panel (JEP) vindicated UCU’s position.  UCU and the employers’ body UUK signed up to the JEP’s recommendations. This was a positive route forwards and out of dispute. Since then, the USS executive has put forward three ‘options’ to proceed, all of which fall short of the JEP recommendations and all of which would cost members more to get less in their retirement (see our recent [newsletter]).  USS has also been caught out misrepresenting the Pension Regulator’s position and neglecting to correct it while a consultation on these substandard options was being presented to employers. The employers’ body UUK will soon decide which option (if at all) it formally supports. All indications so far are such that UCU sadly expects our employers to side with USS, and … continue reading

Motions for Wednesday’s extraordinary general meeting + other news

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Text of email sent to all members 5 July. (Agenda not published on the website; if you’re a member and haven’t received the agenda please email ucu@leeds.ac.uk) Extraordinary general meeting 12pm Wednesday 10 July The committee called this ‘EGM’ for all members because of a load of urgent issues going on now which they think members should have the opportunity to take a collective position on. It’s 12pm – 1pm on Wednesday 10 July in Michael Sadler seminar room LG15 The attached agenda includes all motions on those subjects for members to decide if they agree these should be branch policies/strategies. The meeting was called to discuss: USS pensions disputePay and Equality disputeHead of School appointmentsMisuse of lecture capture by the universityUniForum (another round of collecting benchmarking data on “the efficiency and effectiveness of administration and support services”)Discussion boards for in-course feedbackTimetabling (which includes a motion on workloads negotiating principles)Centralisation of admissions Please update your details before the strike ballots If you’re moving institution or changing jobs, or if you’re a postgraduate student who will start doing paid teaching so be eligible for full (free) voting membership, or you want to get your post or your emails to a different … continue reading

Casework drop-in, Bradford College strikes, Environment Working group and more

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Text from all-members email sent 3 July 2019 Casework drop-in Weds 2 July, 12.30 – 2:30, 7.52 EC Stoner If there’s something you think you might need UCU support for, but aren’t sure, drop in for a chat with a caseworker. Our casework drop-ins are usually on the first Wednesday of each month. For serious matters where you will definitely need your own caseworker, don’t wait for a drop-in session, email ucu@leeds.ac.uk.  More about UCU support at  http://www.leedsucu.org.uk/support-and-benefits/  Supporting Bradford College UCU strikes Weds 3 – Fri 5 July Bradford College UCU are striking over job cuts and pay. The college intends to cut 131 jobs, and staff have had only one 1% pay rise in the last 11 years, which means their pay has declined by 25% in real terms. If you can support their picket line on your way to work that would be fantastic solidarity – look out for the Leeds UCU banner.  See  https://ucu.org.uk/article/10189/Three-day-walkout-at-Bradford-College-from-Wednesday?list=1676  Extraordinary General Meeting  Weds 10 July, 12 noon, Michael Sadler LG15 Concerned about any or all of: pensions, pay and equality, Head of School appointments, lecture capture, UniForum, discussion boards for in-course feedback, timetabling, or centralisation of admissions? Come and have your say at this … continue reading