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Category Archives: Elections

Enthused by being on the picket line? Want to be a UCU rep?

Posted on 12 December 2019 by Alan Smith12 December 2019

Thank you to everyone who picketed! Some of you are in schools or departments that haven’t elected a UCU department rep, or an anti-casualisation rep, or a postgraduate rep, or a workloads rep, or a health and safety rep. Could you do that role? If you’d like to do any of these roles, or you can think of a colleague who’d be good for the role, please send your nominations to ucu@leeds.ac.uk by the end of Wednesday 15 January. If you want to know more, there’s a bit more detail in this post or you can talk to another UCU rep or email ucu@leeds.ac.uk Unsure if all the roles are covered in your school/department? Here’s the current list of UCU department reps. (There have been a few additions in the busy run-up to the strike – if we’ve missed one off the website please email ucu@leeds.ac.uk!) How to nominate someone to be a UCU department rep Just a quick email is fine, saying something like “I nominate [name of colleague] to be the [UCU department rep / UCU anti-casualisation rep / UCU postgraduate rep / UCU workloads rep / UCU health and safety rep] for [my school/department]. To be a … continue reading

Posted in Elections

New UCU committee elected for 2019-2020 academic year

Posted on 17 May 2019 by Alan Smith17 May 2019

At the UCU University of Leeds branch annual general meeting 16 May 2019 members voted to elect the following members for the branch committee for the academic year 2019-2020. The current committee remains in post until 31 July. The new committee takes over from 1 August. President: Ben Plumpton Vice-president: Chloe Wallace Immediate past president: Vicky Blake Treasurer: Jonathan Saha Honorary secretary: Tim Goodall Membership officer: Alaric Hall Equality officer: Dima Chami Campaigns officer: Lesley McGorrigan Health and safety officer: Neil Maughan Anti-casualisation officer: Arunima Bhattacharya Ordinary committee members: Aisha WalkerAlan RoeAndi RylandsAndrew MallinsonAndy WestBrendon NichollsGabriella AlbertiHugh HubbardKate HardyLata NarayanaswamyLaura Loyola HernandezMark Taylor-BattyMark WalkleyMegan PoveyPaul SteensonRachel WallsSimon Hewitt

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Posted in Branch, Elections, General Meetings

Minutes of general meeting 2 May 2019

Posted on 16 May 2019 by Alan Smith13 August 2019

Thursday 2 May 2019, 1pm – 2pm Roger Stevens lecture theatre 4 (8.04) Minutes Agreed Amendments to motions on the UCU congress agenda Amendment to EQ17 Gender Identity after the 2018 Gender Recognition Act (GRA) consultation Line 3: At the end of the first sentence add ‘and modern evidence indicates that neither are binary’. At the end of the last sentence add ‘and formal recognition of non-binary status for data gathering purposes.’ Motion carried. Amendment to EQ 18 Respectful dialogue on gender/gender diversity in Congress notes 1, delete from ‘potentially … practices’, add after ‘have’; ‘the potential to significantly improve trans people’s lives’. in 3. insert ‘trans and other’ between ‘feminist’ and ‘scholars’. In Congress believes a. add after ‘equality’: ‘under the Equality Act 2010 and other legislation, and supports proposed changes to the 2004 GRA.’ in Congress believes c. delete ‘potential conflicts of’, insert ‘the’ before ‘rights’, and insert ‘of oppressed groups’ after ‘rights’. In ‘Congress calls on UCU to ii; add ‘and trans people’ after ‘academics’. In final sentence, add ‘underpinned by solidarity with all oppressed groups and promote unity in action of women and trans people in the face of attacks on either group.’ Motion carried. Amendment … continue reading

Posted in Elections, Environment, Equality, Gender equality, General Meetings, LGBT+, Minutes, University Democracy, Wider campaigning

General Secretary election

Posted on 12 March 2019 by Alan Smith12 March 2019

On Friday UCU announced the nominations process and timeline for [electing a new General Secretary] after Sally Hunt’s resignation. Nominations are open until 5pm on Monday 8 April 2019. Members and staff of UCU are eligible if they meet requirements and nomination guidance outlined [here]. Once nominations are confirmed, there will be an election by postal ballot which will run between 29 April – 23 May 2019. As with the recent UCU officer and NEC elections, the mechanism will be by Single Transferable Vote, meaning members can vote for more than one candidate in order of preference. The successful candidate will hold the position for 5 years.  This is an incredibly important election for the future of UCU. However, in previous years the turnout in elections for the role has been very low across the membership. We hope to address this democratic deficit at Leeds! It is our hope that every single member eligible to vote will return their ballot! As such, please let us know (ucu@leeds.ac.uk) what you would find useful in making your decision about who to vote for and in which order. We hope to organise a large hustings event at Leeds, and will seek permission from candidates to film this to widen access … continue reading

Posted in Elections

Congratulations to Vicky Blake!

Posted on 6 March 2019 by Alan Smith7 March 2019

UCU University of Leeds branch president Vicky Blake has been elected as national vice-president of UCU. Vicky will take office as UCU vice-president on 27 May, then will automatically become president-elect the following year, and national president of UCU the year after. Congratulations to Vicky! More on the Union News website https://www.union-news.co.uk/ucu-elects-new-president/ Thanks you to everyone who voted in the UCU national officer and executive committee elections. It’s important that lots of members take part in all our elections so our elected executive committees reflect the concerns of UCU members here and across the country. The full election results are at: ucu.org.uk/article/9677/UCU-national-officer-and-national-executive-committee-elections-in-2018-19

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Posted in Elections

Jeremy Toner

Posted on 20 January 2021 by Alan Smith20 January 2021

With great sadness I’m writing to inform you of the awful news that Jeremy Toner has died of cancer after a short illness. Jeremy was our first openly-gay local president, then our treasurer; he was one of the activists who transformed Leeds AUT/UCU into a branch that actively fought back against managerialism, marketisation, casualisation and injustice. Above all, Jeremy was a truly kind and considerate person, loved and respected by many and he will be greatly missed. In sadness, Ben PlumptonBranch PresidentUCU University of Leeds Branch We have opened this post for comments in case you wish to leave a message or memory. (There will be a delay before your comment appears.)

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Posted in Branch | 14 Replies

Formal dispute lodged over Medicine and Biological Sciences potential redundancies

Posted on 18 January 2021 by Alan Smith18 January 2021

UCU has formally lodged a dispute with University of Leeds over potential redundancies in the Faculty of Biological Sciences and the School of Medicine. Full text of the dispute letter: Declaration of dispute Professor Simone BuitendijkVice ChancellorThe University of LeedsLS2 9JT 15th January 2021 Dear Professor Buitendijk Re: Declaration of dispute – Risk of Potential Redundancies in the School of Medicine & Faculty of Biological Sciences I wrote to you on 7th January registering a failure to agree on the following issue(s): Failure to rule out the need for compulsory redundancies. Failure to provide full financial transparency and disclosure regarding the need for financial cuts in the School of Medicine and Faculty of Biological Sciences and opportunities to consult about alternative strategies that could protect jobs. Failure to provide information about roles/areas that may be in scope of redundancy and the proposals that are being considered for the future work and operation of the two areas.   In order to resolve this failure to Agree, UCU are requesting the following immediate action: That the University commits to no compulsory redundancies That after the outcomes of the current VLS exercise are communicated no further action is taken by the University during the … continue reading

Posted in Dispute information, Redundancy

Petition against redundancies in Biological Sciences and Medicine

Posted on 13 January 2021 by Alan Smith18 January 2021

Please sign and share this petition link with your contacts in Leeds and beyond. Anyone can sign – universities are for the whole community. University of Leeds senior management are insisting on reducing staff to cut costs in the School of Medicine and the Faculty of Biological Sciences, and they refuse to rule out compulsory redundancies. UCU reps have argued the widespread belief that the university’s opaque funding allocation model under-funds many STEM* subjects which are more expensive to research and teach, and called upon the senior management to be more open about the funding model and improve its approach, to properly fund all subjects instead of cutting jobs. Update: UCU has sent a formal letter to the VC to register a dispute with the university. You can read the full text of the letter here. More details (*Science, technology, engineering and mathematics)

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Posted in Redundancy

No to all job cuts at the university!

Posted on 13 January 2021 by Alan Smith13 January 2021

Email sent to branch members 11 January 2021 As you are probably aware, the university started a voluntary redundancy scheme in the Faculty of Biological Science and the School of Medicine last semester and the deadline for applications to the scheme has now passed.  For more on the history of this, see the leeds.ucu.org.uk article: http://www.leedsucu.org.uk/vls-in-fbs-and-medicine/    Here is what has happened since we wrote that article:  Our regional UCU officer wrote to the VC to ask that compulsory redundancies are ruled out  The VC replied to say that she was unable to rule out compulsory redundancies   Our regional UCU officer replied with a ‘failure to agree letter’ saying we will not accept compulsory redundancies and asking to pause the consideration of any further voluntary redundancies until we are out of the current COVID crisis and until we’ve been properly consulted with full financial information.  If an assurance cannot be given by the end of Monday, the regional officer will send a letter, entering into dispute with the university.  We’re planning a press release to make public that the university is planning to get rid of staff in some of the areas that might be considered most essential at this time.    We’ve also … continue reading

Posted in Redundancy

Supporting schoolteachers by reducing university workloads

Posted on 12 January 2021 by Alan Smith12 January 2021

The UCU branch committee sends our thanks and support to schoolteachers in the National Education Union whose refusal to work in dangerous conditions forced the government to move more quickly in moving most school teaching online. Their action has made us all more safe. The government has left continuing confusion about who should be working and who should be able to send their children to school, and what should happen when people who shouldn’t send their children to school are required to work. As a result, school attendance has been much higher than during the first lockdown meaning that teachers are less safe and the curb on the spread of the virus will be less effective, placing all our communities at further risk. It is vital that university staff with school-age children can play our part in keeping school attendance low. Therefore, the UCU committee has written to the vice-chancellor and spoken to senior HR managers about the need to reduce workloads and extend the availability of special leave for staff whose role is not critical for the health or wellbeing of students, staff or society. We have impressed upon HR that it is not enough to say, “Do what … continue reading

Posted in Covid19, Solidarity, Workload
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