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Category Archives: Newsletter

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Newsletter – September 2019

Posted on 10 September 2019 by editor123 October 2019

Four Fights One Voice ballot UCU members are being balloted now on whether to take industrial action on inequality, casualisation, workload and pay. In our sector there are significant disability, gender and ethnicity pay gaps, over 170 000 colleagues on casualised contracts, and increasing workloads, despite the value of university salaries having fallen against inflation by over 20% since 2009. A successful vote for action would further strengthen UCU’s mandate to negotiate nationally with our employers and demand they commit to tackle these issues. See: ucu.org.uk/he2019 As Jo Grady, our new UCU General Secretary, said: “By standing up for pensions, pay, equality and job security, we are defending not just ourselves but our profession. The sector’s income has increased by a third since the beginning of the financial crisis, and that is thanks to our hard work in an incredibly difficult environment. How have employers rewarded us? With intensifying casualisation, wage suppression, and pension cuts. Some of us may not feel the effects of cuts and inequalities directly, but we can all appreciate what they do to our colleagues. Securing national agreements on these things is the most efficient way to make the sector fairer, more inclusive, and more appealing … continue reading

Posted in Newsletter

Newsletter – summer 2019

Posted on 2 July 2019 by Alan Smith2 July 2019

University of Leeds University & College Union USS Pensions There seems to be no comfortable end in sight for the USS dispute. USS have proposed three options as solutions to the ongoing valuation, all of which mean members and employers paying more, and none of which implement the Joint Expert Panel’s recommendations. Employers prefer option 3 which would increase member contributions to 9.6% with possible imposed additional increases after later valuations. It has recently been revealed, after whistleblowing from a USS trustee, that USS misled employers and members about the 2018 valuation, claiming wrongly that The Pensions Regulator had said the JEP recommendations would be too risky. UCU believes we can’t trust these people any longer, has called for the resignation of USS CEO Bill Galvin, and is exploring the possibility of legal action against the USS Trustee Board. We reject any members’ contribution increases, we call on UUK to pick up any imposed extra costs, and we plan to ballot on industrial action in September if they do not agree. See leedsucu.org.uk/pensions What’s happening on pay? 2019 pay negotiations with the employers began in early May and the Universities & Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) offered 1.8% (increased to 3.65% … continue reading

Posted in Campaigns, Migration and refugees, Newsletter, Pay, Pensions, REF, UCU democracy, Workload

Leeds UCU newsletter February 2019

Posted on 11 February 2019 by editor113 February 2019

(Printed newsletters should be appearing round campus, or you can download it in PDF form here.) Use your vote! We’re balloting again in the dispute over Dispute over casualisation, equal pay, workload and fair pay. It’s vital for our union democracy that you use your vote. Last October Leeds members voted clearly to strike – 70% in favour – on a turnout of 49%. It was the highest national turnout on a pay ballot in UCU’s history. The new anti-trade union law (requiring a 50% turnout) stopped us from striking. We think members should decide, not the government, so we’re re-balloting so that your decision counts. This ballot is an opportunity to show the employers that we are still strong, which will have ramifications for pensions and current and future local issues, disputes and negotiations. We urge all members to vote Yes to strike and Yes to action short of a strike including a marking boycott. We need to know what the whole membership thinks about taking action, so please vote whatever your view. We’re asking the employers to work with us nationally to: Tackle the scandal of casualisation (e.g. 65% of Leeds research staff and 36% of teaching only … continue reading

Posted in Newsletter, Uncategorized

October 2018 Leeds UCU newsletter

Posted on 9 October 2018 by editor19 October 2018

Here’s the latest Leeds UCU newsletter for your enjoyment, including (of course!) articles about pay & equality and USS pensions.  Also with news of the upcoming anti-casualisation roadshow kick-off, our concerns about IT, progress with our gender pay claim and an update on the volume of individual casework this branch is doing. Download the October 2018 Leeds UCU newsletter (PDF format, 255kb).   Please share the newsletter with your colleagues, hopefully they will find something of interest whether they are a union member or not. If you have any suggestions for content for the next edition of our newsletter, please email ucu@leeds.ac.uk and we’ll get back to you.  Thanks.

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Posted in Newsletter, Uncategorized

Leeds UCU summer newsletter

Posted on 16 August 2018 by editor116 August 2018

Our latest branch newsletter is out now.  Printed copies should appear in your school or department, or you can download it in PDF format here. Read about  The pay and equality claim/dispute Progress on pensions The anti-casualisation roadshow (coming to Leeds on 26/27 October) Our gender pay claim Issues for international staff Reorganisations Workload Hardship Fund We hope you find it interesting.  More information on all of these issues is on this website, but hopefully the newsletter is an easily digestible read! Please share this newsletter with friends and colleagues – thanks.

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Posted in Newsletter, Uncategorized

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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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