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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) continue reading

Strikes starting Thursday (what you need to know)

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Text from Branch President’s email to members 17th February 2020 As you know, we will be striking again soon, starting this Thursday, 20th February, over our two disputes. This means you should not do any work on strike days (including working from home or anywhere else, and including anything you do because you work for the university). Don’t inform management in advance that you will be striking, and don’t rearrange things to avoid the strike days. Every member who strikes increases our leverage in these disputes. Every member who pickets helps to show our strength and determination. YOU are needed to make this action successful!  Remember, the union has financial support if the strike deductions cause you hardship. Together we can win these disputes! What’s happened with negotiations? Negotiations since the November/December strikes have made a little progress but not enough.  Our investment of 8 days action and loss of pay must not be wasted, we need to keep the action going to get solid sector wide settlements on casualisation, workload and equality, and to achieve fair pay and pension contributions. Check out this excellent summary from the #FourFights negotiators.  For a short USS update read this Twitter thread from UCU pensions … continue reading

Union emails during strikes

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We know many of you don’t check your university email when you are on strike, which is sensible to avoid getting drawn into work-related things. However, this can mean that you miss important emails from UCU. The union nationally and the Leeds branch  want to be able to let you know what’s going on – updates on negotiations, local rallies and teach outs, meetings to discuss any offers that come from the employer bodies, etc. So we recommend that you change your preferred email for the union to a personal address which you would look at whilst we are on strike.  To do this, log on to myUCU at https://ucu.org.uk/myucu and edit your email address on the Personal tab. If you haven’t used myUCU before you will need to register first, which is fairly straightforward.  Whilst you are in myUCU, please check your other details are correct (address, employment details, and your income band on the Payment tab so that you are paying the correct subscription). Thanks! continue reading

To our students, from Leeds University UCU

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We want to start by saying how grateful we are for all the support we have received from University of Leeds students. Every supportive email or kind word to striking staff; every signature on open letters or email to the Vice-Chancellor; every student joining us at rallies, speaking out on Twitter or coming to speak to us in person, supports us in our action. We stand firm because of you and your support and we are determined to win this dispute in order to provide you with the learning environment you deserve. We regret that, whilst negotiations have moved forward as a result of our action in November and December, we are not yet close enough to that win to call off action. As a result we have called strike action in February and March, on these dates: Week one – Thursday 20 & Friday 21 February Week two – Monday 24, Tuesday 25 & Wednesday 26 February Week three – Monday 2, Tuesday 3, Wednesday 4 & Thursday 5 March Week four – Monday 9, Tuesday 10, Wednesday 11, Thursday 12 & Friday 13 March We very much hope that the employers will continue negotiating with our national negotiators … continue reading