Category Archives: Equality

Motions for Wednesday’s extraordinary general meeting + other news

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Text of email sent to all members 5 July. (Agenda not published on the website; if you’re a member and haven’t received the agenda please email ucu@leeds.ac.uk) Extraordinary general meeting 12pm Wednesday 10 July The committee called this ‘EGM’ for all members because of a load of urgent issues going on now which they think members should have the opportunity to take a collective position on. It’s 12pm – 1pm on Wednesday 10 July in Michael Sadler seminar room LG15 The attached agenda includes all motions on those subjects for members to decide if they agree these should be branch policies/strategies. The meeting was called to discuss: USS pensions disputePay and Equality disputeHead of School appointmentsMisuse of lecture capture by the universityUniForum (another round of collecting benchmarking data on “the efficiency and effectiveness of administration and support services”)Discussion boards for in-course feedbackTimetabling (which includes a motion on workloads negotiating principles)Centralisation of admissions Please update your details before the strike ballots If you’re moving institution or changing jobs, or if you’re a postgraduate student who will start doing paid teaching so be eligible for full (free) voting membership, or you want to get your post or your emails to a different … continue reading

Council of Europe LGBTI survey / Enquête de l’EU sur les LGBTI

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From UCU’s nation Equality and Participation Unit: The EU Fundamental Rights Agency is undertaking a survey to look at experiences of LGBT+ people across Europe. The survey takes around 20 minutes to complete and you cannot skip questions. Some of the questions that are asked vary from UCU practice / policy for expressing LGBT+ identities and experiences. There is a free text box at the end of the survey should you want to leave any comment about your experience that may not have been fully reflected in the survey. One thing to be aware of is that in the drop down boxes the United Kingdom does not appear under U and is located somewhere near the middle of European countries. The survey is looking for responses from anyone who considers themselves to be LGBTI, who is aged 15 years and above and lives in the European Union, Serbia or North Macedonia as candidate countries.  The survey can be found on www.lgbtisurvey.eu The survey asks respondents about their experiences of discrimination and hate crime or harassment, as well as about their daily lives, problems and challenges they face in having their rights respected, protected and promoted. The results will feed into … continue reading

All members: extraordinary general meeting 10 July

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All members of UCU University of Leeds Branch are invited to attend an Extraordinary General Meeting: Wednesday 10 July 12 noon – 1pmMichael Sadler seminar room LG.15 The meeting will discuss a number of issues that the branch needs to take a position on or plan for before next semester: USS pensions disputePay and Equality disputeHead of School appointmentsMisuse of lecture capture by the universityUniForum (another round of collecting benchmarking data on “the efficiency and effectiveness of administration and support services”)Discussion boards for in-course feedbackTimetablingCentralisation of admissions A full agenda will be circulated soon including motions submitted by members on these issues. The deadline for submitting motions (by email to ucu@leeds.ac.uk) is noon on Tuesday 2 July. If you want to submit a motion, perhaps with other colleagues, you can discuss it with any branch committee members beforehand if that would be helpful. All members are very welcome to the meeting. We hope to see lots of you there! (To new members: General Meetings are for all UCU members at the university. They are where we make decisions as a local union, so are fundamental to our democracy. They are hopefully also useful for finding out what’s going on across the university and … continue reading

Why UCU needs a migrant members equality strand

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UCU University of Leeds UCU is one of several branches with motions calling for a migrant members equality strand in UCU. We urge branches and delegates to UCU Congress to support our motions. Why is it so important? Three in every ten staff in UK universities aren’t British (29 per cent). Half of research-only staff (mostly postdocs) are from overseas (47 per cent). Migrants constitute a large demography within British academia (both in FE and HE) – and even while we make up a considerable proportion of UCU’s membership, our voice is not always heard. During the strikes, we were on the front lines with our colleagues, but our solidarity came at a price: migrant staff who took ‘unlawful’ absence from work for more than 10 days were eligible for having their contracts ended – in other words, if migrants took strike action for more than 10 days, they were at risk of deportation. It took considerable pressure, and very loudly voiced anxieties, from University of Leeds branch and others to bring this to the attention of UCU national officers who thankfully took this matter seriously. The right to strike is a human right, but the Home Office – until … continue reading

Our motions to UCU Congress 2019

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These are the motions proposed by members of UCU University of Leeds branch and agreed by all members at our general meetings which are on the agenda to be debated by all branches at UCU Congress 2019. Composite motions are composited by the congress business committee from two or more similar motions proposed by different branch, so these may not reflect the exact wording agreed by members of this branch but ought to reflect the intent. Motion 9 – Composite: Representation of migrants in UCU structures (University of Leeds, The University of Manchester) Congress notes: 1.     migrants, defined as non-U.K citizens, constitute a large demography within UCU’s membership 2.     UCU’s structures currently do not represent migrants, thereby leaving them vulnerable to discrimination, harassment, surveillance and other forms of oppression Congress believes: a.     all workers should be treated equally independent of immigration status b.   racist and anti-migrant sentiments are fuelled by policies such as Hostile Environment and discourses surrounding Brexit c.   there should be no place for targeted racism and legal discrimination within our sector d.   only direct migrant representation can advance UCU policy and organising strategies on matters specific to migrant members such as mobility rights, visa fees, NHS surcharge, social security. Congress resolves to:                    i.       recognise migrant … continue reading