Category Archives: University operational issues

Senior management’s dismissive response to concerns about unnecessary face to face teaching and services

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The UCU committee wrote to the deputy vice-chancellor for student education on 18 September expressing the serious concerns of UCU members about the pressure, in some cases last-minute, from the university executive group to plan in more face to face teaching than staff in schools felt was necessary in the circumstances. The letter asked that the requirements on Schools to provide face to face teaching and student support be lifted, and that the University adopt a policy of all teaching and student support being provided online over Semester 1 at least, unless there is no alternative. We understand that a clarification we received from the HR team is intended as a response to our letter. It emphasises that management’s approach has been consistent that teaching will be “Hybrid: Large groups online; small groups & practicals [face to face] where safe and practicable” (23 April). The response notes the university executive group ‘affirmation’ in August that the “offer is hybrid, [the] guarantee is online.” And continues: The implementation of this University-wide approach has been determined within each FacultyThis confirms the University position and that it has been consistent throughout.The communications are on-going and an open house Q&A about delivery planning is … continue reading

Annual leave update

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Text of email sent to branch members by branch secretary Tim Goodall on 21 August 2020 Management at the University of Leeds continue to be unnecessarily harsh about annual leave – saying that the normal carry forward arrangements can only happen in ‘exceptional circumstances’ this year (up to 5 days is usual custom and practice). We believe this is contrary to law – the government’s Working Time (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 state that unused leave can be carried into the next 2 leave years where the impact of coronavirus means that it has not been reasonably practicable to take it in the leave year “as a result of the effects of coronavirus (including on the worker, the employer or the wider economy or society)”. The recent announcement that staff who are obliged to quarantine after holidays abroad and can’t work from home are liable to have to use holiday from next year or unpaid leave (see https://coronavirus.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/108/2020/07/Travel-overseas-for-personal-or-recreational-reasons-all-staff-email-sent-30-July-2020.docx) is also unfair and unacceptable. We know that many of you are understandably angry about these edicts, particularly when they add to the stress of work and personal situations which are already difficult. We cannot understand why our management fails to be more … continue reading

Latest news from Leeds UCU

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Text of email sent to branch members by branch president Ben Plumpton on 20 August 2020 Dear members, I hope you are coping OK in these difficult times and that you and your families and friends are well.  There’s a lot to update you on  – so read on!  Also look out for a separate email with news about annual leave.   Contents:1. Redundancies and ending of fixed term contracts2. Health and safety update3. New university organisational change and redundancy policies4. Return to campus questionnaire5. Working from home costs6. Could you offer to become a caseworker?7. UCU levy8. Elections to Senate9. Fund the Future10. Next Vice President of UCU11. What next on our Four Fights dispute?12. UCU webinars, and how to get involved 1. Redundancies and ending of fixed term contracts Management told us they were intending to make 28 redundancies of staff employed for more than 4 years by the end of October, and a further 10 by the end of February.  Some of these have now been averted after extensions and redeployments, but we are urgently asking for discussions with management about the individuals remaining under threat in order to avoid redundancies.  In addition large numbers of staff on … continue reading

University lecture capture policy update

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Text of email sent to branch members by branch vice president Chloe Wallace on 23 July 2020 Dear members I’m writing in relation to the new Audio-Visual policy which was pushed through Senate on 1st July. The policy was presented to Senate and pushed through without a vote, despite a number of senators expressing reservations about it. This is an undemocratic process used by the University’s most important deliberative body about which we have grave concerns. As you know, UCU were consulted on this policy but we remain unable to agree it fully. Nevertheless, as a result of that consultation the University made some important changes to the policy which are welcome insofar as they improve the position and rights of staff in relation to recordings. As such, we wanted to draw your attention to elements of the policy which you can use to protect your work, as well as ones which we are keen to monitor. As far as control of your recordings are concerned, the policy is clear that the person being recorded is to be the content owner of the recording. This means that if your lecture is recorded, you should have control of it on the system and others … continue reading

Carrying annual leave

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We’ve had several members contact us with concerns about messages they have received from managers related to annual leave.  UCU raised these matters most strongly with HR and a clarification has now been issued to managers, but we’re still receiving examples of erroneous emails being sent by managers.  While the UCU officers agree people should generally take their leave during the year (and in many cases the university should reduce our workloads to allow us to take our leave), it is quite normal to be allowed to carry 5 days. It does need to be agreed by the head of school or service but members should expect a good reason if there is an objection; there should not be an unreasonable objection. The policy for academic and academic-related (professional and managerial) staff is: Unused leave entitlement may not normally be carried over from one year to another except that up to one week’s leave (pro-rata) may be carried forward for up to 3 months after the end of the leave year by agreement with the Dean of Faculty/Head of School. (Policy downloadable from the page on academic and academic related (professional and managerial) staff annual leave entitlement) HR managers have recently been … continue reading