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Category Archives: Wider campaigning

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European trade unionism – Brussels study visit

Posted on 15 June 2018 by Alan Smith15 June 2018

The TUC (Trade Union Congress) in Yorkshire and Humber has contacted trade union branches in the region looking for young (35 or under) members interested in a visit to Brussels to learn about the international role of trade unions. See message below, and please email ucu@leeds.ac.uk if you’d like an expression of interest form: Dear colleagues, The TUC is pleased to be offering a ‘European trade unionism – Brussels study visit’ for young members from our affiliated unions, taking place between 4-6th September 2018. The application form is attached. The focus on the visit will be: discovering trade unions’ international role, monitoring the status of working rights, learning about cross border collective bargaining, solidarity & making connections. The draft programme includes: Meetings with ETUC, ITUC, UNI Europa, IndustriALL and other European trade union partners A tour around the European Parliament and the opportunity to meet Labour as well as Socialist & Democrat MEPs to discuss Brexit & working rights in Europe Meeting the GMB and/or NUJ Brussels branches, as well as the Labour assistants working in the European Parliament Meeting the TUC international officer An opportunity for a structured study session on European Trade Union issues delivered by the Foundation … continue reading

Posted in Brexit, Wider campaigning

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

Posted on 20 November 2017 by Alan Smith22 November 2017

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

Posted in Brexit, Migrant members, Migration and refugees, Wider campaigning

USS Pension Consultative Ballot CLOSES TODAY – voting open until 5.15pm

Posted on 18 October 2017 by admin422 November 2017

Your last chance to vote in the USS pension ‘consultative e-ballot’ from UCU is today at 5.15pm. It is *vital* that all members vote in this. Leeds UCU Committee urges you first of all to vote, and we recommend strongly that you vote to say yes, you are willing to take industrial action to defend pensions. Industrial action is always a serious step, but please be assured that in the event of any future action we will always do all we can to support members disproportionately affected by related deductions should that need arise. A recap on where we are is on this website at http://www.leedsucu.org.uk/archives/2664, The following links are also useful: Good clear blog post in the independent ‘Pension playpen’ USS latest news on national UCU website The USS employer consultation document (helpfully posted online by Sheffield university) (PDF) The response from UCU advisers First Actuarial (PDF)   An email went out this morning from UCU HQ to members who haven’t yet voted with the subject line ‘Last chance to vote: defend USS now’ so if this is you, please check your inboxes for that email. The original email to members with the voting link went out on 19 … continue reading

Posted in Pensions, Wider campaigning

Support for Brighton UCU

Posted on 14 March 2017 by Alan Smith1 August 2017

UCU University of Leeds has sent a message of support to colleagues at University of Brighton who have voted to strike over their management’s obstinate refusal to back down over plans which are detrimental to staff, trying to railroad through redundancies and demotions without serious attempts to find a negotiated, agreed solution with the union representing the staff. University of Leeds UCU sends full solidarity and support to our colleagues in University of Brighton UCU for their dispute over management breaches of trade union agreements and in defence of their negotiating rights, including the upcoming strikes on 20&21 March. We are deeply concerned to hear of the planned closure of the Hastings campus, and dismayed to learn of the assault by University of Brighton management on the working conditions of academic staff which is accompanied by the refusal to comply with the agreed disputes procedure after Brighton UCU invoked it in a bid to work towards a resolution. For a Vice Chancellor to announce that the University’s position is “that it does not require the agreement of the UCU in respect of these issues” is a flagrant bid to derecognise the UCU, to sideline members, and to impose deleterious conditions upon … continue reading

Posted in Wider campaigning

Leeds TUC May Day march and rally

Posted on 27 February 2017 by Alan Smith1 August 2017

On Saturday, members of UCU University of Leeds local association will join with members of trades unions from across Leeds for the annual Leeds trades unions council May day march and rally. … continue reading

Posted in Wider campaigning

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Dispute information

Posted on 5 December 2019 by Alan Smith5 December 2019

Everything you need to know from from UCU nationally Advice and information about the strikes, including detailed advice for migrant members with a visa Local information Reporting strike action, and guidance on action short of a strike Updated details on the local hardship fund, after members voted to increase the support available at general meeting 3 December (Link to key information posted in advance of the strike, for reference) … continue reading

Posted in Dispute advice

Reporting strike action, and guidance on Action Short of a Strike

Posted on 4 December 2019 by editor14 December 2019

Reporting strike action On Thursday 5th December, or on your first day back if you don’t work Thursdays, you should report that you took strike action, via ESS or by email to industrialaction@leeds.ac.uk, as set out in the email from HR on 18th November. You should also report that you are taking ASOS. If you are on a visa, it’s extra important that you are recorded as having been on strike, otherwise it could count as unauthorised absence which could affect your visa – you might like to report by email and ask for confirmation that your report has been recorded. Guidance on ASOS We will be doing the ASOS which was set out in the voting papers for the ballot, and which you voted overwhelmingly for. We are asking you to: work to contractnot cover for absent colleaguesnot reschedule lectures or classes cancelled due to strike actionnot undertake any voluntary activities Your committee, with the help of the packed General Meeting on 3 December, has put together the a document containing local ASOS guidance, available here: www.leedsucu.org.uk/asos-guidance-from-leeds-ucu/ Also see the national FAQ at www.ucu.org.uk/he-action-faqs Note in particular that our university management have softened their approach compared to 2018 – … continue reading

Posted in Dispute, Dispute advice, Dispute information

Local Hardship Fund

Posted on 3 December 2019 by Jonathan Saha3 December 2019

At our General Meeting on 3 December we unanimously passed a motion revising the rules for our local Hardship Fund to allow us to provide greater support to members facing financial difficulties due to pay deductions for striking. The local Hardship Fund will work alongside and in addition to the UK-wide Fighting Fund. Members should apply to the Fighting Fund for support initially, except where claiming for days of strike action not covered by the Fighting Fund (day 1 for those earning less than £30,000 gross annually, days 1 and 2 for those earning more than £30,000 gross annually). The local Hardship Fund will the supplement the UK-wide Fighting Fund, or provide support where the UK-wide Fighting Fund cannot. The new rules mean that the Hardship Fund: Will comply with the appended guidance from UCU to ensure continued solvency of the branch, and that the branch is able to continue to meet all its usual commitments for and on behalf of members;Will be managed by local branch officers a panel of at least three elected branch officers, including the Treasurer;Will prioritise members in precarious, low paid work, as per national and local priorities;Will also prioritise members who can demonstrate that … continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Disputes, Hardship Fund

Two responses to the recent Gryphon editorial on our strike

Posted on 3 December 2019 by admin3 December 2019

From the picket lines this week, two committee members offered polite responses to an editorial in the Gryphon newspaper that addressed the causes of the current industrial action. Dr Laura Loyola-Hernández offered a response covering the chief aspect of the aspect: the four fights. Dr Mark Taylor-Batty offered one on the issue of USS. We reproduce them both here. Four fights: A letter to my students On Monday we were meant to learn about feminist decolonial research but instead I will be striking. I would love nothing more than to be teaching you. I did not come to this decision lightly. I haven’t come across anyone striking that is not worried about their students, specially those that are in vulnerable positions. But as we have heard across picket lines nationwide: our working conditions are your learning conditions. I write this as a response to the editorial letter in the latest edition of The Gryphon. I find in the arguments a reflection of wider debates happening on the picket line. Many of the conversations have concentrated around pensions. Yes, we are trying to fight to save our pension scheme but this is only one of two disputes. The second is about FOUR connected … continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged uss

What’s on at today’s Teach Out – Tuesday 3 December

Posted on 3 December 2019 by editor12 December 2019

Full teach out programme is here Strike Data Hack Workshop Helen Thornham, Chris Birchall, Joanne Armitage This is a practical data hack workshop where we will scrape, analyse and visualise the data and discourses of the strike. ideally would run as 2 or 3 50 minute slots – or as an additional event.No experience necessary! Just bring a laptop and your extension cable to make sure the battery doesn’t run out! We will teach some basics to scraping and coding, data visualisations and analysis and critically interrogate how the strike actions and pension dispute have been presented. Perhaps we could look at the language used across national media, the statistics used to defend positions, or the longer data histories of the pension dispute. We could look at university policy documents, VC letters across universities, or union publicity for example. 1pm – 3pm, Quaker Meeting House Jews in the Medieval Imaginary Eva Frojmovic 1pm – 3pm, Leeds Central Library, Art Library The state of PGTAs at Leeds: discussion and fact-finding UCU committee 1pm – 2pm, Quaker Meeting House Fleabag: Sex, Confession, and the Camera Carl White 2pm – 3pm, Quaker Meeting House Strike pay surgery UCU committee 1 pm onwards, Quaker … continue reading

Posted in Open meetings and events
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