Anticasualisation

Report from UCU higher education sector conferences 7 November

Posted on 15 November 2018 by Alan Smith16 November 2018

Last Wednesday our elected Leeds delegates had a double dose of special Higher Education Sector Conferences (HESCs) which had been called to decide the next steps for UCU in two higher education disputes: Quick summary 1. The Pay and Equality dispute (Wednesday morning) It was decided to have a UK-wide re-ballot in the new year, highlighting the casualisation, equality, and workload aspects of the dispute alongside pay. See more detailed Pay & Equality report below. 2. The Pensions dispute (specifically what next after the JEP report on USS) (Wednesday afternoon) After the Joint Expert Panel Report and recent revelations about USS valuation methods, the conference advised UCU to negotiate for no increase in our USS contributions and and end to so-called “de-risking”. See more detailed Pensions dispute report below. The Higher Education Committee of UCU and our union negotiators will take forward these decisions and advice. 1. Pay and Equality dispute The first HESC, on the Pay and Equality dispute, was quorate, which means that its decisions complement, confirm, or supersede those taken by the Higher Education Committee (HEC) the previous week. Decisions taken at the meeting (including amendments) can be downloaded via this link: https://www.ucu.org.uk/media/9939/HESC-1118-pay-decisions/doc/UCU9057Nov18_-_Decisions.doc All the original motion texts can be seen … continue reading

New branch anti-casualisation officer

Posted on 12 November 2018 by Alan Smith12 November 2018

Arumina Bhattacharya has been elected (unopposed) as the branch anti-casualisation officer. The full list of members elected to the committee this year is at leedsucu.org.uk/about-us/committee-members-2018-2019 The list of department reps, including department anti casualisation, workload, postgraduate and health and safety reps is at leedsucu.org.uk/about-us/departmental-representatives If your department doesn’t yet have a UCU anti-casualisation rep, and you’d like to volunteer or nominate a colleague, contact ucu@leeds.ac.uk … continue reading

UCU committee postgraduate and anti-casualisation vacancies

Posted on 25 October 2018 by Alan Smith6 November 2018

We’re seeking another member on a non-permanent contract and another postgraduate member to join the UCU University of Leeds branch committee, to fill two vacancies. Anticasualisation officer This is a branch officer position, so the university will usually allocate funds up to 10% of your time to your department to allow them to back-fill 10% of your time. Postgraduate rep This is a vacancy for an ordinary committee member (i.e. not an branch officer) who will lead on postgraduate issues, working closely with the anticasualisation officer. (There is no back-fill time for ordinary committee members.) If you would like to volunteer for either of these roles please ask two colleagues who are union members to email ucu@leeds.ac.uk by 11am Friday 9 November to nominate you. Nominations for women and black members particularly welcome as white men are currently over-represented on the committee … continue reading

Pay + Equality: what next locally + nationally

Posted on 22 October 2018 by Alan Smith29 October 2018

Text of email from Branch President Vicky Blake Dear Members, Thank you to everyone who voted in the Pay and Equality Ballot, and all who helped us to get the vote out. As you will see from Matt Waddup’s email that has just gone out to members nationally, our historically high turnout in this postal ballot on pay and equality was not quite enough to break the 50% threshold set by the (anti-)Trade Union Act 2016. In this email: • Our result • What next in the pay and equality dispute • Local campaigning and action on gender pay and casualisation Our result Prior to 2016, we would be celebrating this turnout, and this result. At Leeds, members voted strongly for strike action (69.8%) and action short of a strike (77.7%). This government’s anti-trade union legislation has denied us our right to withdraw our labour despite our turnout of 49.2%. We only needed 15 more votes to break the threshold. (You may wish to note that, while advocating the 50% threshold’s introduction, Boris Johnson was in post as London Mayor having achieved… 31.8% turnout in his election.) What next? We remain in dispute over the joint unions’ pay and equality claim. … continue reading