Message from branch president Ben Plumpton sent to members Tuesday 5 January 2020 Happy New Year, and here’s hoping it is a better one than 2020… I’m writing to let you know that Leeds UCU is working hard on your behalf related to the current lockdown and with regard to the seriousness of the increasing pandemic. In particular, we have asked the VC to: Move everything possible (most teaching, research, support and administration) online again until Easter, i.e. going beyond the (current) Government guidance.  This would be the safest thing we could do for our students, our staff, and the wider community.  This university can do better than the government guidance, particularly considering how poor the government have been at taking on board scientific advice. And constantly changing arrangements are difficult for both students and staff.  Review the university provision to support parents and carers, to be more radical and generous in what is on offer, not expecting staff to care full time and work full time, and recognising that it should be OK for carers to do fewer hours and fewer things that they would normally do. (Full detail of our email on this copied below the email to members). We know that … continue reading

Text of members email sent 16 March 2020 at 5.32pm. Dear members, I mentioned in my email on Friday that we were writing to the VC and asking for an urgent meeting about coronavirus. The letter we sent is below, and an equivalent  statement is on our website.  Along with the other campus trade unions, we met the VC and some of the senior management team at lunchtime today. We argued strongly that the university should close down, as far as possible and as soon as possible (ideally straightaway), both for the safety of staff and students and for public health reasons (the nature of a university means that infected people could spread the virus considerably).  This is the national position of UCU also. We recognise of course that some students will need to stay on campus, and some staff will still need to come to work to support them and to run essential services. But the fewer people on campus, the lower the probability of infection, and the more likely the university is to be able to protect those staff. Chloe, Vicky and I represented UCU at this meeting, and were told we were being emotional over the public … continue reading