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Annual leave update

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Text of email sent to branch members by branch secretary Tim Goodall on 21 August 2020 Management at the University of Leeds continue to be unnecessarily harsh about annual leave – saying that the normal carry forward arrangements can only happen in ‘exceptional circumstances’ this year (up to 5 days is usual custom and practice). We believe this is contrary to law – the government’s Working Time (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 state that unused leave can be carried into the next 2 leave years where the impact of coronavirus means that it has not been reasonably practicable to take it in the leave year “as a result of the effects of coronavirus (including on the worker, the employer or the wider economy or society)”. The recent announcement that staff who are obliged to quarantine after holidays abroad and can’t work from home are liable to have to use holiday from next year or unpaid leave (see https://coronavirus.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/108/2020/07/Travel-overseas-for-personal-or-recreational-reasons-all-staff-email-sent-30-July-2020.docx) is also unfair and unacceptable. We know that many of you are understandably angry about these edicts, particularly when they add to the stress of work and personal situations which are already difficult. We cannot understand why our management fails to be more … continue reading

Latest news from Leeds UCU

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Text of email sent to branch members by branch president Ben Plumpton on 20 August 2020 Dear members, I hope you are coping OK in these difficult times and that you and your families and friends are well.  There’s a lot to update you on  – so read on!  Also look out for a separate email with news about annual leave.   Contents:1. Redundancies and ending of fixed term contracts2. Health and safety update3. New university organisational change and redundancy policies4. Return to campus questionnaire5. Working from home costs6. Could you offer to become a caseworker?7. UCU levy8. Elections to Senate9. Fund the Future10. Next Vice President of UCU11. What next on our Four Fights dispute?12. UCU webinars, and how to get involved 1. Redundancies and ending of fixed term contracts Management told us they were intending to make 28 redundancies of staff employed for more than 4 years by the end of October, and a further 10 by the end of February.  Some of these have now been averted after extensions and redeployments, but we are urgently asking for discussions with management about the individuals remaining under threat in order to avoid redundancies.  In addition large numbers of staff on … continue reading

BLM support, next steps for UCU committee, and letter to the VC

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Leeds UCU committee want to express our complete solidarity at the events that are taking place around the world. We are sorry to our Black students, colleagues and members who are having to collectively relive trauma to mobilise people to stand up to racism, in particular to anti blackness violence. It should not take these types of situations to show our support and uplift our Black students, colleagues and members. We know our solidarity means nothing if it does not translate into real action. As a committee we are committed to the following: 1.   Donate £200 to local anti-racist organisation Racial Justice Network and £200 to University of Leeds alumni Melz’s project Free Black University. In our next General Meeting, we will be proposing larger amounts be donated. 2.   Tackle racism and in particular anti blackness in our local branch by:a.   Taking an unlearning racism course for committee members, case workers and departmental reps.b.   Improving our internal mechanisms to report incidents of racism in our union branch.c.   Offering better support to our BIPOC members. We know these are very small steps we can take but they will not be the last. We have sent the following letter to the University of Leeds Vice Chancellor on 5th June 2020. … continue reading

Union survey – online and home working in HE at the time of the Covic-19 pandemic

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(Update 30th April – the university survey closed on 29th April) Our branch has put together a survey aiming to collect evidence to inform trade union policies and to shape a collective response to the enforced fast move to working online and remotely.  We want to find out more about your experiences and concerns, including Health and Safety, work intensification and a sustainable work/life balance, the responses and adjustments by management, the differential impacts on different groups of workers (eg by contractual (in)security, gender, age, care duties, disability, access to equipment) and longer term implications. This survey is for all staff and is being sent out by the three campus trade unions.  We would be most grateful if you could fill it in and share it with colleagues as widely as possible.  The survey will close on 12th May and we will report on it to the Leeds UCU AGM. We are aware that the university has recently circulated a (much shorter!) survey about working from home and we would ask members to fill that in as well (there is a free text box at the end where you can give detailed views and we would encourage you to do so).  Our survey is intended … continue reading

Teachouts 2020

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While staff are on strike, we are educating for free While lectures are cancelled, come and join striking University staff for public talks and workshops. Everyone is wlecome. The events listed here take place in the Quaker Meeting House, 188 Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2 9DX. unless otherwise stated (rooms are disabled-accessible). This programme of events may be added to – for the full and definitive list see https://tinyurl.com/vn7ot7t. February Teachouts Thursday 20th Olfactory Empire: Smell and the Other in Imperial India and the Philippines (1300-1400) The Climate Crisis as Driver of Financial Subordination? (1400-1500) Friday 21st Venezuela in Crisis: Political Stalemate, Civilian Resilience (1300-1400) Gambling with Power: How Electricity Markets work and who pays when they don’t (1400-1500) Monday 24th Re-imagining Youth Futures and Education: Critical (Visual) Insights from the UK and Brazil (1300- 1500) Tuesday 25th Building a UCU Disability Working Group: Kick-off Meeting (1300-1400) Making our own History: The Great 1971 Stepney Words Schoolkids’ Strike in Context (1400-1500) Wednesday 26th Birds on Campus and the Politics of Birdwatching (1300-1400) Current Climate-Change ‘Solutions’ and their Unintended Consequences (1400-1500)

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