Category Archives: Migration and refugees

Minutes of general meeting 13 March 2019

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Wednesday 13 March 2019, 12pm – 1pm Roger Stevens lecture theatre 11 Minutes and matters arising from previous meeting not elsewhere on the agenda Including updates on gender pay claim and anti-casualisation claim Request for reps in schools without reps. Minutes agreed. USS pensions: update on website, will have a members meeting about this soon. IT: took to Senate and in discussion with HR Timetabling: some departments resisting (successfully). Meeting with HR today. Gender pay claim: claim submitted in August. Not had a diligent response form the university. First working group the university didn’t provide us with any data. We’re going to say we can’t meaningfully meet with them until they provide us that data. Anti-casualisation claim: first negotiating meeting 26 March. Would like to organise some more anti-casualisation meetings before then, ideally next week. Recent media controversy about a job ad pulled, which was indicative of a culture of Election of Congress delegates: Dima Chami, Laura Loyola Hernandez, Chloe Wallace, Megan Povey, Arunima Bhattacharya. Reserves: Gabriella Alberti, Ben Plumpton, Tim Goodall. Motion 1: Amend Congress Standing Order 18 Moved by Ben Plumpton, seconded by Nigel Bubb. Carried unanimously Motion 2: Representation of migrants in UCU structures Moved by Dima … continue reading

International staff survey

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UCU University of Leeds international staff surveyPlease promote this link to international colleagues at University of Leeds, whether or not they have joined UCU yet. We’re delighted to announce the launch of our International Staff Survey. By international staff we refer to both EU and non EU academic, academic related and postgraduates who do paid teaching for the university. We would like to encourage all international staff to please fill out the anonymous survey and get in contact with us if you would like to take part in our international staff activism here at Leeds (contact Laura Loyola Hernandez). This survey has come out of our Equality working group lead by Dima Chami, if you are interested in joining please contact her. We would like to point out that the intersection of gender, race, ethnicity, (dis)ability and being part of the LGTBQ+ community exacerbates the experiences of being international at the University of Leeds, so please include any comments at the end of the survey if relevant. You can complete the survey here: https://yoursay.ucu.org.uk/s3/leeds  It will take approximately 10 minutes to answer. Most of the questions are tick box and a free text question where you can comment on any … continue reading

UCU call leads to reimbursements for international staff

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University of Leeds has agreed to UCU’s requests to reimburse staff for ‘indefinite leave to remain’ applications and tier 1 visa applications. Senior management say they will reimburse staff for applications made after 8 November 2018. The university will also reimburse the cost of applying to the EU settlement scheme. This article was edited 3 December to include the 8 November 2018 application date and the link to the university website UCU members from outside the EU have complained of a gradual ramping up of fees and costs as working in the UK becomes less and less affordable. The reimbursements the university has agreed to make are significant improvements for international staff.  We’re glad the university has listened to our concerns, but we urge them to move on all the areas we raised. UCU called on the university to reimburse the cost of tier one visas, which they have now agreed. The university already reimburses tier two visa application costs. We have asked for clarification on whether the university reimburses tier four to tier two conversions. UCU also called on the university senior management to reimburse the visa costs for dependents, and for the costs of the (increasing) Immigration Health Surcharge … continue reading

National unity demonstration against fascism and racism: 17 November 2018

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UCU is supporting a national demonstration of unity in London on Saturday in response to concerns of increasing racism and xenophobia and the rise of the far right. The demonstration is called by Stand Up To Racism, Unite Against Fascism and Love Music Hate Racism and supported by the TUC. Locally there are coaches going from Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield, Sheffield and York. Members will be able to claim the coach fare back from UCU regional office (heyorkshire@ucu.org.uk) For details, including all the local coaches, see https://www.facebook.com/events/1887445111550804/ … continue reading

EU staff rights and the Brexit negotiation – notes from today’s meeting

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Notes from today’s open meeting on EU staff rights and the Brexit negotiation are available as a powerpoint presentation: Brexit Summary Resources Nov 2017 (download) Latest advice from the university The next university EU Immigration Information Session for staff is 11am Wednesday 29 November, Clothworkers Central building, Speakman lecture theatre (G.89). Individual advice can also be booked, see the university link above. Immigration legal advice from UCU (both general briefing papers and individual legal support is available for UCU members) Here are some of the documents referred to in the discussion: The letter to the EU heads of state from The 3 Million (only available as PDF download) ‘Technical note’ from the UK government European parliament rejects UK response as inadequate and outlines its red lines for EU citizens UCU policy ‘we are international’ … continue reading