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Category Archives: Campaigns

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Lecture capture policy: summary of feedback

Posted on 20 May 2020 by Alan Smith20 May 2020

Summary of informal member feedback on the senior management proposed changes to the lecture capture policy The general policy on recording and the loss of the automatic right to opt out Significant unease about new point 6: using lecture capture material for performance management. This was by far the most common point made in this section. The caveat ‘routinely’ does not reassure staff and the belief that they are under surveillance through lecture capture is making staff far less comfortable with being recorded. A concern frequently raised is that of student complaints that are unreasonable and/or politically motivated, and the implications for academic freedom. Staff warn that this provision could have an inhibiting effect, making them more likely to lecture from a script and less likely to teach in a more interactive, relaxed and personal manner There is some concern about bullet point 5 and the ability to make recordings available outside of the learning and teaching context in which they were made. This causes anxiety about using captured lectures inappropriately, to replace absent staff, striking staff or staff who have left. Staff believe that lectures are and should be captured for the purpose of teaching a particular course of … continue reading

Posted in Consultations and negotiations, Lecture capture

Branch position on lecture capture (and move to online teaching)

Posted on 15 May 2020 by Alan Smith20 May 2020

Members agreed the following motion at the emergency general meeting on 12 May and the annual general meeting 14 May 2020 in response to the changes to the University of Leeds policy on recording of lectures. See also the detailed submission sent to senior management at the start of the consultation This branch notes That at the start of May the University began a consultation of members about the change to the Audio Visual Policy 2014. That the UCU had already passed a motion on lecture capture in the academic year 2019-20 expressing many concerns about its use in teaching and highlighting the inappropriate use of lecture recording by management to carry out disciplinaries against members of staff  by ‘fishing’ for evidence from the recording rather than starting disciplinary following students complaints. That the new policy further expands and legitimises management use of lecture capture to carry out performance management and disciplinaries in breach of the local agreement reached with UCU that audio visual recording will not be used for this scope. The implications of the new policy in terms of increased workload for staff (producing and editing the audio visual material) are missing from the policy which shows little … continue reading

Posted in General Meetings, Lecture capture

Detailed response on proposed changes to lecture capture policy

Posted on 15 May 2020 by Alan Smith20 May 2020

This is the detailed response sent from the branch to University of Leeds senior management at the start of the consultation on the proposed changes by management to the agreed lecture capture policy. (See also the motion passed by the branch at the start of the consultation process.) Proposed new audio-video recording policy Position of Leeds University UCU General The current policy, negotiated with UCU, is generally popular and successful. It maintains a right to opt-out, subject to the existence of a counterveilling legal obligation (e.g. to provide a reasonable adjustment for disabled students) and would therefore seem, if applied properly, to comply with the University’s legal obligations under the Equality Act. If 82% of lectures are currently recorded, that means that over 82% of staff are currently prepared in principle to record their lectures (as some staff record some but not all lectures). Our members’ consultation indicated that more staff would be prepared to record lectures if firmer assurances could be given about use of those lectures outside of their immediate context (i.e. as part of a module or programme of study, in a particular year), if staff were given more control over the use of their lectures such … continue reading

Posted in Consultations and negotiations, Lecture capture

Minutes of general meeting 28 April 2020

Posted on 15 May 2020 by Alan Smith15 May 2020

In the event of difference between the web version and the minutes agreed at the branch general meeting 14 May, the latter is the correct version. (Formatting is the most likely difference.) General meeting Tuesday 28 April 2020, 1pm – 2pmVideo meeting Minutes Chaired by branch president Ben Plumpton Agreed to restrict speeches to 3 minutes for movers and 2 for debate. Minutes of the previous meetings 7 November 2019 EGM. Minutes agreed. 22 January 2020 EGM. Minutes agreed. 2 March general meeting. Minutes agreed. Local update Update on local discussions with university senior management. We are meeting with HR regularly. We’re concerned about how frequently we’re being informed about decisions rather than being consulted on them. We’re not being involved in the decisions of the university executive group (UEG) – we’re being frozen out of decisions about how the university proceeds. Fixed term contracts is a priority – we’ve asked for extensions for all staff. The university made a minor extension to the end of May for most but we are trying to impress upon them the urgency of extensions for all staff as soon as possible particularly while the job market is frozen. There has been confirmation about … continue reading

Posted in Annual leave, Anticasualisation, Campaigns, Covid19, Equality, Gender pay gap, General Meetings, LGBT+, Minutes, Pay, Pensions

Emergency general meeting on plans to change lecture capture policy

Posted on 6 May 2020 by Alan Smith6 May 2020

The branch officers have decided to hold an online Emergency General Meeting about the proposed new lecture capture policy next Tuesday 12 May, 1pm – 2pm. We’ll send out details for how to join the meeting nearer the time. The emergency general meeting will be a single topic discussion meeting about the proposed changes to the lecture capture policy, to inform the UCU negotiating team who will be meeting with senior management on 13 May for consultation on the proposed changes. It would be useful if you could complete the form in the email from branch president Ben Plumpton (sent Thursday 30 April) with your comments about the proposed changes by this Friday 8 May. This is a separate meeting from next week’s Annual General Meeting (Thursday 14 May, 3.30pm – 5pm). All general meetings for all UCU members in the University of Leeds branch.

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Posted in General Meetings, Lecture capture

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Library staff receive no reply from VC about safety concerns

Posted on 27 January 2021 by Alan Smith27 January 2021

On 18 January over 100 library staff at University of Leeds wrote to the vice chancellor about the decision to keep library study spaces open when the risk from covid-19 is so high. Following a weekend which has seen thousands more students return to Leeds, they have still not had a reply, other than: “Thank you for your email.” Email to the vice chancellor Subject: Concerns about keeping study space open in the Libraries Dear Professor Buitendijk, The two unions representing Library staff, UCU and Unison, have jointly written a letter to you setting out our concerns about the use of the Libraries as study space during this national lockdown. We believe Library staff are being put at risk by the decision to keep study spaces in the Libraries open, when there are opportunities to provide safer un-staffed study spaces elsewhere on campus or in halls of residence. The decision to keep the Library study spaces open is putting enormous pressure on Library staff and is taking its toll on staff mental health and wellbeing, due to the stress and worry about being infected with the virus while at work. Over 110 Library staff members have signed this letter, plus … continue reading

Posted in Covid19, Health and safety

Jeremy Toner

Posted on 20 January 2021 by Alan Smith26 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.) Update: Donations in Lieu of flowers to St Gemma’s www.st-gemma.co.uk/in-memory-donation

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Posted in Branch | 30 Replies

Formal dispute lodged over Medicine and Biological Sciences potential redundancies

Posted on 18 January 2021 by Alan Smith25 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 Smith25 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 Smith25 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: 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
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