For guidance on working to contact and action short of a strike (ASOS) see the national UCU HE frequently asked questions
(See post 17 November Industrial action – answers to initial questions)
Branch guidance from the last period of action short of a strike is not current.
2pm Friday 3 December: drop-in for members on casualised contracts (fixed-term, fixed funded, hourly paid or otherwise insecure) with branch anti-casualisation officers Xanthe Whittaker and Joanne Armitage
Meeting ID: 867 3955 0456 Passcode: zKJrG9
Message sent to Leeds UCU members 30th November 2021
This coming week, for the first time in the history of our University, one of us is going to be dismissed on the basis of not doing enough research. Read that again. This colleague is not being dismissed for not doing any research, no, they are being dismissed for not doing enough research, and for publishing but for not publishing enough, and for applying for grants and getting grants but not getting enough. Our dismissed colleague, at grade 8, is currently a Co-I on a £1.4M Fellowship. His research has an h-index of 18 (with over 1390 citations of peer-reviewed papers) and he has had 37 International patents. He was deemed to not satisfy the metrics set for him to retain his employment.
One person set the benchmarks for our colleague, benchmarks that only applied to him, and then that same single person decided that he did not meet those benchmarks. Even the Director of Research in that School was not made aware of these benchmarks, so could not directly support our colleague. What is more, the evidence from Symplectic was clear – this colleague was by no means exceptional in terms of their output over the last five years, many in his school did not meet those ad-hoc benchmarks. Looking further outside that one School, we can prove easily that there has not been equality of treatment. If the University management were truly concerned about equality they too could have found this evidence, but undertook no such research. What is more, our dismissed colleague’s output was closer to his own personal, bespoke benchmarks than some colleagues a grade or even two grades above him. Shamefully, there is also a dimension of ethnicity in those comparisons. The UCU’s National Black Members’ Standing Committee has expressed their concern and support in this case.
Looking at the detail of his contract of employment, our colleague meets the requirements – he has done to the letter everything it says in that contract. He did research, he published research, he applied for and gained grants, and so on. If the University wants to set other benchmarks to complement our contracts as terms and conditions for employment, they are obliged to agree them with the recognised union first. They did not in this case. This illegitimate behaviour now exposes all of us on teaching and research contracts. This has never happened before at Leeds.
It gets worse. This colleague was told that they had to travel to and enter campus during a pandemic to continue their research, and were even given a letter to show to the police to facilitate that dangerous journey. It was a case of ‘put your and your family’s health at risk or lose your job’. In the appeal hearing, remarkably, a representative of the University doubled-down on that and indicated that it was reasonable to demand that he came on campus and go to work in his lab. An Occupational Health report had indicated clearly that he was at greater risk on the basis of his ethnicity and age.
There’s more. When he was first told he was dismissed, it was with immediate effect, which is reserved usually for atrocious behaviour. The University even got legal advice that there was no contractual mechanism to do what they had done, and so they were demonstrably in breach of contract. Such a breach, a failure of procedure, should automatically mean an impending appeal might win, not to mention the potentially illegal behaviour over insisting that someone enters a place they believe to be unsafe, not to mention the strong evidence that there might have been unequal treatment.
A University that makes high claims about its values and how it treats its staff might want to hesitate over such an appeal against dismissal instead of supporting the decision of just one manager over ad-hoc benchmarks that had not been formally agreed with the union. When the evidence is so stacked against the University for an Employment Tribunal, you might think that they would look closely at the processes that would not only lead to such an outcome, but would even strengthen that evidence within an appeals process.
The University still has time to make an appropriate procedural adjustment to this outcome, one that chimes finally with its public statements of values and principles.
No teach out on Friday 3 December
This emergency motion was agreed by the branch at a general meeting 25 November 2021
Proposed by Lesley McGorrigan. Moved by Lesley McGorrigan, seconded by Jonathan Hume. Motion carried.
This motion was agreed by the branch at a general meeting 25 November 2021
This branch notes:
This branch agrees:
Proposed by Ben Plumpton. Moved by Ben Plumpton, seconded by Lata Narayanaswamy. Motion carried.
This motion was agreed by the branch at a general meeting on Thursday 25 November
This branch notes:
This branch believes:
This branch resolves:
Proposed by Chloe Wallace. Moved by Aisha Walker, seconded by Xanthe Whittaker. Motion carried.
From all-members email 25 November 2021
Hi everyone
This email is about pickets, what we are doing and how people can join in.
(and then some other pre-strike stuff)
We will be maintaining our usual practice of picketing as many entrances as possible of the campus next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. For those who are new or unfamiliar with this, a picket is a group of strikers who stand at the entrance of the workplace to make people aware of the strike and persuade (peacefully!) people to not cross the line. Picketing is legal and our pickets are friendly and fun – please come along whether you are long standing picketter or this is your first time. Pickets are a fantastic opportunity to build solidarity and meet others. We picket from 7.30am – 11.30am. We understand that many people cannot arrive until later in that period, but if you are able to come from 7:30 or 8am please do so so we can be there when people arrive in the morning.
If you want to picket in person please sign up – this is extra important this time because of contact tracing. The link is here https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=x7sla-g7S0KySQb82NdiaNICVYU2x7RDvUK_2a_SumpUOTRWOTlEOUJCWFo0WjQyUUFKRUozV0ZNUS4u
It’s fine to sign up and then not come if something comes up unexpectedly – if you decide to come in at the last minute, please sign up. Please also sign in on the day at the Pink Gazebo at the Woodhouse Lane entrance to campus.
We are hoping to resurrect our famous Running Picket – where pickets run around the perimeter of campus – please let me know if you want to be part of organising that.
Many members, perhaps more than usual, due to COVID-19 will not be able to join us in person and I want to ensure that they feel the solidarity just as much. Committee are putting together different ways in which we can raise awareness and join in together – including maybe a Virtual Running Picket. Any other ideas welcome. And please let us know if you have any accessibility needs. There is quiet space and toilets in the Chaplaincy Centre and we are getting a room in the Quaker meeting house for people to use to rest and have some quiet as well. We have some seating as well.
In order to be as inclusive as we can, we are changing slightly the way that we do rallies. We will on Friday have a big end of strike rally at 11:30 on Parkinson Steps – it will be socially distanced but we hope to have speakers, noise and possibly a bit of singing. On Wednesday and Thursday we will gather and talk at the end but not have a big rally. Instead, on those days we will have Zoom rallies for all those who couldn’t join us in person – we will share details nearer the time. We will also have a informal branch meeting on Friday afternoon about working to contract. There will also be some briefings in relation to the hardship fund.
On Wednesday, our comrades from Unison will be bringing along hot sandwiches and solidarity which is always welcome. We also expect a BBC film crew so please do turn up colourful and cheerful. We will of course have placards – but the best placards are home made ones so have a go and bring them along. (you can find invaluable advice on doing this and much much more in this guide from 2020 http://jbsumner.com/StrikeHandbook.pdf)
Finally, we have an Action Group which meets to discuss and plan these kinds of actions during strike time – to find out about meetings and activities, join this list by emailing anything to ucu-actioncomm-join@lists.leeds.ac.uk. To leave the action group mailing list email anything to ucu-actioncomm-leave@lists.leeds.ac.uk
· Leeds Uni UCU Strike page: https://www.leedsucu.org.uk/
· Leeds UCU slides for students: https://www.leedsucu.org.uk/slides-for-students-about-the-industrial-action/
· Tik Tok clips: https://t.co/vhKOZewGOy?amp=1
· National UCU Resources: https://www.ucu.org.uk/article/9144/BTU-branch-resources
· Out of Office message for strike days – feel free to modify: I am on strike today in support of my trade union’s (UCU) disputes with our employers over cuts of 35% to guaranteed pensions, pay cuts, casualisation, equality pay gaps and unsafe workloads.
· Email Signature – feel free to modify: I support the UCU industrial action over cuts of 35% to guaranteed pensions, pay cuts, casualisation, equality pay gaps and unsafe workloads.
· Join the picket Whatsapp group (mainly used on strike days)
Stay at home if you have symptoms of COVID-19. These include any of the following:
If you have symptoms of COVID-19, you should also take a PCR test. Anyone who has had a recent positive PCR test should stay at home and self-isolate for 10 days from the first day that their symptoms started.
We ask that all colleagues take a rapid lateral flow test every day before attending picketing or rallies. If any lateral flow test is positive, please do not attend any of the picketing or rallies, and take a PCR test.
Colleagues picketing and attending rallies should carry and use hand sanitiser often. We expect most colleagues will have their own supply of hand sanitiser which they should bring with them, but supplies of hand sanitiser will be available from the Leeds UCU picket HQ near the university main entrance.
The use of face coverings when picketing outside and during outdoor rallies is optional, provided that social distancing is maintained. Where social distancing cannot be maintained, please wear a face covering. For any indoor activity such as getting refreshments or comfort breaks, please wear a face covering unless you are exempt or it is not practical to do so (such as consuming food or drink). We expect that many colleagues will already have face coverings and if so, please bring these with you. However supplies of cloth face coverings will be available from the Leeds UCU picket HQ near the university main entrance.
More details, timings etc will be sent out soon
In solidarity
Chloe
Dr Chloe Wallace
Associate Professor in Law
School of Law
University of Leeds
Co-Director, Centre for Innovation and Research in Legal Education
Programme Leader, School of Law 4 year programmes
President, Leeds University UCU
@chloew1970
The three trade unions at the University of Leeds – UCU, Unite and Unison – have joined forces to raise concerns about the University’s response to the climate crisis.
A new briefing note, written for members of the University’s Council, argues that the institution is “not treating this crisis like a crisis” and risks failing in its responsibility to rapidly lower its carbon emissions.
The briefing note has been sent to members of Council alongside the papers for their meeting on Thursday 25 November.
The University Council approved seven commitments to tackling the climate crisis in July 2019, yet it still does not have a plan in place for achieving those goals. On Thursday, Council members will finally have the chance to review and approve a Climate Plan and Net Zero Plan.
Staff, students and alumni have been calling for quicker action on the climate emergency for many years, but they feel that progress to date has been frustratingly slow.
If you’d like to get involved with this work at Leeds, you can join the UCU branch Climate and Ecological Emergency Working Group – email ucu@leeds.ac.uk for details.
Dear Council members,
We write as the three recognised trade unions at the University to share with you our thoughts and concerns about the Climate Plan, which is being presented to you for discussion on 25 November.
We are pleased that you are finally getting the opportunity to review the Climate Plan. You may remember, it was July 2019 when you approved the Seven Climate Principles, including the goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. Frustratingly, this Plan has therefore taken nearly two and half years to materialise. It seems clear to us that the University is not treating this crisis like a crisis.
Our members feel strongly that this institution must take a leadership role and demonstrate to organisations across the city and around the world what can and should be done to avert climate catastrophe. We therefore encourage you to approve the Climate Plan, and to push for key strategies going forward that will ensure we can deliver on these goals.
1. Accountability. Emissions data for the University are not easy to find. But during the 19/20 academic year, when many staff and students were away from campus due to the pandemic, our Scope I and II emissions were higher than the previous year. This increase in emissions since July 2019 when the Climate Principles were approved is clearly not good enough. The University must openly publish its emissions every year, and those emissions must drop rapidly as we head towards 2030. Cumulative emissions are what really matters, so we must act fast and not simply delay any action until the latter part of this decade. To do so would be a dereliction of responsibility.
2. Finance. We understand that £150 million will be invested in trying to achieve our 2030 net-zero goal. This investment must be front loaded so that we can drastically cut our emissions in the next few years. It cannot be pushed towards the end of this decade. The University must also commit funding to achieving the other six Climate Principles, which will not be possible without dedicated resource allocation.
3. Governance. Staff, trade unions and students must be given a seat at the table in discussions about the climate crisis. We have the knowledge, skills and influence to help create change at the University. We can help overcome challenges, spot opportunities, and achieve buy-in from the community at large for this new climate agenda. As a minimum, we must be part of any new Sustainability working groups that report into Council.
The University has taken far too long getting to this point, but the crucial thing now is that we can push on and implement changes at pace. That cannot and should not be done whilst side-lining staff and students, as we have been for the last six months of the development of this Climate Plan.
We are ready and waiting to collaborate on this issue – the greatest issue of our time. We hope Council members will support our calls above to ensure these vital climate commitments are successfully met.
Kind regards,
Chloe Wallace: Branch President, Leeds University UCU
Jo Westerman: Branch Chair, Leeds University Unite
Nick Allen: Branch Chair: Leeds University Unison
UCU is a trade union of over 13,000 academics, researchers, tutors, administrators, IT staff, librarians and postgraduate research students in universities, colleges, prisons, adult education & training organisations across the UK. As a trade union, we fight for good working conditions for our members and for the health of the sector as a whole.
We are fighting across two separate disputes, which cover a range of issues.
Working conditions and pay: excessive and unsafe workloads which have been perpetuated for years and have got even worse over the pandemic; massive over-reliance on precarious contracts; engrained and embedded inequalities including pay and progression gaps; real terms pay cuts. You can find out more about this dispute, known as the Four Fights dispute, here https://www.ucu.org.uk/he2021
Pension cuts: massive changes to our retirement benefits which will see a typical member lose 35% of their pension. You can find out more about our pensions dispute here: https://www.ucu.org.uk/strikeforuss
Yes. If you were a student in 2019-20 you will remember that we took industrial action during that year on these disputes. In fact, if you go back to 2017-18, you may remember our industrial action on the pensions dispute. In 2018, we were made promises which led to us ending our strike; those promises have since been broken. In 2020 we stopped striking and returned to work, moving to remote working and teaching and dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. As a thank you, we were given a 0% pay rise last year, staff on fixed term contracts were laid off and our working conditions have got worse. This has to stop.
National issues are Leeds issues. Leeds staff are being hit by pension cuts and real terms pay cuts. Leeds staff are hugely overworked. Too many Leeds staff are on insecure contracts. In 2020, Leeds reported a gender pay gap of 18.5%, higher than the sector average. Across universities the race pay gap is 17% and the disability pay gap is 9% – Leeds doesn’t have the race and disability data but we know this gap exists at Leeds.
All of these issues impact students. If you are an undergraduate or taught postgraduate, some of the people teaching you are postgraduate research students, often hourly paid and on very poor contracts which they need to fund their studies. Your lecturers, personal tutors and support staff are exhausted, working long hours and often on insecure contracts – this means they can’t do their job properly and you suffer. The lack of staff of colour and disabled staff has an ongoing impact on what and how you learn. And students are our future – some of you may well want to join us as academics, researchers or professional services and support staff. We are fighting for you too.
We need national action to improve the higher education sector UK-wide. Leeds management can give authority to the national bodies that represent them in negotiations to make improved offers and they need to do so in order to resolve this dispute.
We would love to – but our employers refuse to make any better offers. Universities have been told what they need to do: tell their negotiating bodies to make a better pay offer, commit to meaningful national agreements and action on job security, workload and equality pay gaps; withdraw the current proposed changes to pensions and seek a negotiated settlement. If they don’t do this, we will strike.
We do no work on the days we are on strike: no research, no administration, no teaching, no meetings, no emails. In return, we are not paid for those days.
On strike days, you will see physical and virtual picket lines – striking union members standing at campus entrances with leaflets and banners. Please come and talk to us and ask us your questions!
If a member of staff – a lecturer, tutor, support staff or anyone – that you know tells you that they are striking, tell them you support them – this will mean a great deal to them!
If you are a postgraduate research student – join us. If you do paid work for the university (or any other university), you can join on full free membership and strike with us (we have a strike fund to help with the income you will lose). If you do not do paid work for the university, you can still join on student free membership and stand in solidarity with us. (And yes, free means you don’t pay whilst you are a student)
Find us on Facebook, Twitter and Tiktok
The National Union of Students support our action and have launched a petition calling on employers to come back to the table: please sign it at https://www.nus.org.uk/articles/student-views-on-ucu-strikes-revealed-by-nus
There’s a student group called Leeds Student Staff Solidarity: connect with them on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/LeedsStudentStaffSolidarity), Twitter (@SSSleeds) or email them at Leedsstudentstaffsolidarity@gmail.com
Students can show solidarity by not crossing the picket line and not attending lectures or classes. BUT, if you are on a Tier 4 visa you should attend all lectures and study activities as normal or it is likely to be counted as an unauthorised absence, reportable to the Home Office.
Lobby Leeds University Union to support UCU in this dispute.
Complain to the Vice Chancellor of the University (vice-chancellor@leeds.ac.uk and copy to ucu@leeds.ac.uk). Whether you are in favour or against the strike your opinion is important and student concerns need to be heard. UCU always asks that the pay we lose through striking is put towards the Student Hardship Fund and student mental health support, and you could ask for this too.
