Category Archives: UCU democracy

Thank you strikers, + coronavirus and more

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Strikes and next steps in the disputes First of all, huge thanks for your strike action over the past four weeks. We have shown university managements across the UK that staff are not prepared to put up with precarious contracts, gender and race inequality, excessive workloads, and effective pay cuts through below inflation pay rises and increases to pension contributions. Special thanks to everyone who has joined the pickets, rallies and teachouts, and made them a joyful, determined and supportive experience. We can go back to work on Monday with our heads held high and the knowledge that our actions have moved the negotiations forward.  See the latest negotiators’ update on the Four Fights dispute at https://www.ucu.org.uk/media/10783/Negotiators-update-on-Four-Fights-11-March-2020/pdf/Four_Fights_negotiators_update_11_March.pdf).  On USS there is encouraging progress on underlying issues, and signs of frustration with USS from employers, but we still need an improved offer on contributions.  We really need our VC to put pressure on USS to make a better offer on contributions rather than refusing to tell us what our university’s response has been on this. Negotiations will continue on both disputes, but sadly it looks as if further industrial action will be needed to get a decent resolution to both disputes. A … continue reading

UCU national elections

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You may have already received or will shortly receive a big envelope of papers about voting for UCU National Executive Committee members, trustees, and the next Vice President (who will be from Further Education). Please do use your votes – these are hugely important roles and the successful candidates will make important decisions on behalf of the union. Please read the candidates’ statements carefully to make your decisions. Many of the candidates are sending further information to branches, and we will put such information on the Leeds UCU website for you to read. We are also looking into the possibility of a Leeds hustings. So don’t feel you need to decide immediately, but do make sure you get your votes in by noon on Wednesday 4th March. Perhaps put a reminder in your calendar to post your votes by Friday 28th Feb.  From a Leeds perspective, note that: Dima Chami (our branch Equality Officer) is elected unopposed to one of the two new migrant member posts on the NEC. Ruth Holliday (Sociology) is standing for one of the NE Region seats. For more information see https://www.ucu.org.uk/article/10339/UCU-trustee-national-officer-and-national-executive-committee-elections-in-2019-20-ballots If your ballot papers haven’t arrived, or if you have lost them, you can get … continue reading

UCU Democracy – EGM 7th November

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Leeds UCU is holiding a special meeting to discuss union democracy and the work of the UCU Democracy Commission on Thursday 7th November at 1 pm Roger Stevens LT 16 (12.16. See directions and accessibility info.). The meeting will also consider the emergency motion on Rojava deferred from the last General Meeting through lack of time. Background  The Democracy Commission was elected and convened following an important motion to Congress 2018 in the wake of concerns regarding democratic structures and processes in the union during and after the 2018 USS strikes. There were particular concerns about the accountability of the leadership. The Commission was co-chaired by our very own Vicky Blake (past President of Leeds UCU and now UK Vice President), and our Campaigns Officer Lesley McGorrigan is also on the commission. Vicky Blake will be joining us to give some background and explain the proposals in the final report. The Democracy Commission brought an interim report and recommendations to Congress 2019, and presents its final report and recommendations at the Special Congress on 7 December. We now need to feed back our views from the branch. Our delegates (elected at our last General Meeting) will represent us and they … continue reading

Newsletter – summer 2019

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University of Leeds University & College Union USS Pensions There seems to be no comfortable end in sight for the USS dispute. USS have proposed three options as solutions to the ongoing valuation, all of which mean members and employers paying more, and none of which implement the Joint Expert Panel’s recommendations. Employers prefer option 3 which would increase member contributions to 9.6% with possible imposed additional increases after later valuations. It has recently been revealed, after whistleblowing from a USS trustee, that USS misled employers and members about the 2018 valuation, claiming wrongly that The Pensions Regulator had said the JEP recommendations would be too risky. UCU believes we can’t trust these people any longer, has called for the resignation of USS CEO Bill Galvin, and is exploring the possibility of legal action against the USS Trustee Board. We reject any members’ contribution increases, we call on UUK to pick up any imposed extra costs, and we plan to ballot on industrial action in September if they do not agree. See leedsucu.org.uk/pensions What’s happening on pay? 2019 pay negotiations with the employers began in early May and the Universities & Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) offered 1.8% (increased to 3.65% … continue reading

Report on UCU Congress 2019

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UCU’s annual congress is its supreme policy making body and it met this year over the May Bank Holiday in Harrogate. This report is an attempt to summarise three very full days of intense and important debates on the various areas with which UCU is concerned. Motion numbers are included in brackets for reference: a full account of all motions with decisions can be found here: www.ucu.org.uk/Congress2019 Congress business is ordered according to the business of various committees: equality; education; recruitment, organising and campaigning (ROC) and strategy and finance. There was a further section on democracy and rule changes. On the second day of congress, delegates divide into a Higher Education Sector Conference and a Further Education Sector Conference. The agenda was very busy indeed. As a result, some motions could not be debated. Those relating to rule changes will be sent to the special Democracy Conference to be held in November; the rest are remitted to the National Executive Committee (NEC) for decision. Leeds University UCU sent five branch delegates to Congress: Arunima Bhattacharya; Dima Chami, Laura Loyola, Megan Povey and Chloe Wallace. In addition, Lesley McGorrigan attended as delegate from the Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Committee, and Vicky … continue reading