Author Archives:

October 2018 Leeds UCU newsletter

Posted on by

Here’s the latest Leeds UCU newsletter for your enjoyment, including (of course!) articles about pay & equality and USS pensions.  Also with news of the upcoming anti-casualisation roadshow kick-off, our concerns about IT, progress with our gender pay claim and an update on the volume of individual casework this branch is doing. Download the October 2018 Leeds UCU newsletter (PDF format, 255kb).  Please share the newsletter with your colleagues, hopefully they will find something of interest whether they are a union member or not. If you have any suggestions for content for the next edition of our newsletter, please email ucu@leeds.ac.uk and we’ll get back to you.  Thanks. … continue reading

Open Meeting on USS pensions 11 October

Posted on by

Come to this meeting, open to all, to discuss our progress towards saving the USS defined-benefit pension scheme, what the next steps are and how scheme members might respond to the current USS consultation. Thursday 11 October, 2 – 3 pmDental Lecture Theatre (level 6, Worsley building) A key outcome of the historic 14-day strike by UCU members in February and March this year was the creation of a joint expert panel to review the controversial valuation of USS which had led to USS trying to close the defined-benefit scheme. The panel’s report should now totally change the landscape of the pension negotiations and may affect how scheme members want to respond to the current USS consultation. In this meeting we’ll discuss the Joint Expert Panel report and what happens next.  The meeting will be chaired by Mark Taylor-Batty, our resident pensions expert, with an appearance by Sam Marsh, Sheffield mathematician and national UCU pensions negotiator.  Members may remember Sam visiting us in February to give a wonderfully clear explanation of the USS pensions situation – see video of that talk. Bring your questions and comments.All welcome! … continue reading

Leeds UCU summer newsletter

Posted on by

Our latest branch newsletter is out now.  Printed copies should appear in your school or department, or you can download it in PDF format here. Read about  The pay and equality claim/disputeProgress on pensionsThe anti-casualisation roadshow (coming to Leeds on 26/27 October)Our gender pay claimIssues for international staffReorganisationsWorkloadHardship Fund We hope you find it interesting.  More information on all of these issues is on this website, but hopefully the newsletter is an easily digestible read! Please share this newsletter with friends and colleagues – thanks. … continue reading

Anti-casualisation update

Posted on by

PGR open meeting Monday 9 April, 9–11am, 28 University Rd, LT G.23 This meeting is for all postgraduates (members and non-members) and is an important step in building the campaign for fair pay, terms and conditions for all postgraduates who teach or who work in paid research and related roles at the university. It will cover three main areas: Focus on postgrad elements of the Uni of Leeds UCU branch anticasualisation claim: what do postgrads want and need? Building on the energy of the recent strikes (and what the strikes tell us about casualisation!) Recruitment and the free postgrad membership (reminder: www.ucu.org.uk/free) There will be vegan cake too! Members are asked to let all postgrads know about this meeting and the free postgraduate membership offer. Please email with suggestions for agenda items/questions about the meeting (k.l.zezulka@leeds.ac.uk) and please share with PGRs in your school. Anticasualisation campaign and roadshow planning As part of the open meeting on 9 April, we will be discussing organising a UCU anticasualisation roadshow. We will be organising a local event to discuss, debate and explore issues related to casualisation and precarity in HE and FE. There is lots of information on the UCU Stamp Out webpages … continue reading

Open Letter on USS pensions to University of Leeds VC

Posted on by

This petition is the result of a unanimous decision taken at a Leeds UCU General Meeting on 15th March 2018. Everyone is welcome to sign, whether a member of UCU or not, e.g. staff, students, alumni, prospective students, parents and other members of civil society. We the undersigned ask the Vice Chancellor, Alan Langlands, to commit to the following: To argue for the need for a fair and just defined benefit pension scheme for all University of Leeds staff currently in the USS scheme. 1 To write to UUK stating that Leeds now supports the retention of a defined benefit USS scheme, is willing to pay higher employer contributions and supports a rethink of the recent USS valuation. 1 To write to UUK and USS to demand a fully independent review of the valuation methodology applied to assessments of the USS scheme (as supported for example by Vice Chancellors of Sheffield and Kent) and to call on the Pensions Regulator to reassess its restrictions on “acceptable methodology” in light of this. 1 To work with Leeds UCU in order to pressure UUK and USS to retain our defined benefits pension scheme noting that the VC is on the UUK Board … continue reading