Author Archives: editor1

VLS in FBS and Medicine

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Members who attended our General Meeting on 22nd October will recall that we passed by an overwhelming majority a motion instructing officers and committees to mobilise to stop proposed redundancies in the Faculty of Biological Sciences and the School of Medicine. We understand that both areas either have announced, or will shortly announce, to their staff that a voluntary redundancy scheme, known as a Voluntary Leavers Scheme (VLS), has been opened, with a final date of application of 7th December and an earliest leave date of 28th February for those who may choose to leave the University under this scheme. The campus trade unions – UCU, Unison and Unite – are opposed to the launching of this scheme at this time, and have not agreed it. We do not believe that the unions have been meaningfully consulted on this, in accordance with the University’s Organisational Restructure Policy, Meaningful consultation, in our view, requires consultation to happen before a decision has been reached, that sufficient evidence and explanation of the decision be given and that sufficient time be taken so that that explanation can be interrogated and alternatives explored. In this instance, we were presented, with a few days notice of … continue reading

Motions passed at General Meeting on 22 October 2020

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Members of the branch agreed the following motions at the General Meeting on 22 October 2020. Redundancies This branch instructs its officers and committee to organise the necessary steps to mobilise the branch to stop any proposed redundancies in the Faculties of Medicine and Health and Biological Sciences. Motion to UCU LGBT+ members’ conference – Campaign for GRA reforms and against asylum seeker persecution Conference notes that the rise of the alt right and political scapegoating has led to a very significant rise in LGBT+ hate crime and a consequent rise in LGBT+ asylum seekers. Conference further notes the failure of the Government to implement the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) reforms. Conference resolves: To raise the profile of the UCU campaign for reform of the GRA. To campaign for an end to the persecution of asylum seekers. Motion to UCU Women members’ conference – Caring responsibilities during the pandemic Conference notes that: Many members, often women, have caring responsibilities for children or for family members who are older, ill or disabled. COVID-19 has particularly impacted carers’ ability to work their full contracted hours, due for example to children being home because of nursery/school outbreaks, difficulty in arranging tests, and needing … continue reading

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