Branch Hardship Fund Benefit Gig

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

Come to this brilliant gig and help raise money for our local Hardship Fund! Everyone welcome – UCU members, families and friends, members of other unions, and anyone who would like to support our strikes.

  • Friday 29th November 29, from 7 PM
  • The Chemic Tavern, 9 Johnston St, Leeds LS6 2NG (see attached map)
  • Pay What You Can – donations to Leeds UCU Hardship Fund on the door. 

Tell everyone you know, bring your friends, join us for a truly excellent party!

With music from:

  • Brigadistas Music Collective – A multi-instrumental, multilingual world folk extravaganza
  • wormboys – Fuzzy noise pop: 50% queer, 50% casualised, 100% cute
  • (and more being arranged)

It will kick off with a Leeds UCU members’ open mic night – show off your new strike song lyrics, perform poetry, or whatever you like!

All money raised will be used to boost the Leeds UCU strike hardship fund, prioritising members in precarious contractual circumstances and any member in difficult financial circumstances
https://www.leedsucu.org.uk/ucu-strike-fighting-fund-local-hardship-fund/

What’s on at today’s Teach Out? Wednesday 27 November

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

Full teach out programme is here

The scientific basis for the climate emergency, and the social, economic and political insights which might enable a low carbon transformation

Julia Steinberger and others

1pm – 2pm, Quaker Meeting House, meeting room

Series of 10-minute talks by scientists on the physical and socio-economic sides of climate.

Glaciers: the inside story

Adam Booth

1pm – 2pm, Quaker Meeting House, garden room

How do glaciologists monitor glacier evolution? A virtual fieldtrip to the Arctic!

A red-green vision of city sustainability

Caroline Mullen

2pm – 3pm, Quaker Meeting House, meeting room

Re-imagining food production in a sustainable world

Megan Povey

2pm – 3pm, Quaker Meeting House, garden room

(Un)Conscious Construction: an unguided journey through remaking Leeds

Asa Roast & Morgan Campbell

1pm – 2.30pm

Meet at Quaker Rooms. This is a form of walking tour – There will be a short introduction, then participants will be given a sheet of questions and asked to reassemble at a place in the city centre in an hour’s time. There participants will discuss what they encountered on their journey, and their answers to the questions posed. Note that, as such, the travel from the start to the destination will be very different for people with different mobility needs. The end destination will be accessible.

(Anyone who is worried their mobility needs will prevent them from participating fully, please talk to organisers.)

What’s on at today’s Teach Out? Tuesday 26 November

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

Teach outs are open to all. Here is the full teach out schedule for each day

Singing for justice – using an inclusive community choir voiceworks approach

Catherine Bates

1pm – 2pm, Quaker Meeting House, meeting room

Muslims in the Medieval Imaginary

Eva Frojmovic

1pm – 3pm, Leeds Central Library, Local and Family History Library

Poetry and the Sixth Extinction

Dominic O’Key

2pm – 3pm, Quaker Meeting House, garden room

How does poetry make sense of the Sixth Extinction? This session will prioritise collaborative discussions about selected poems that work through anthropogenic extinctions.

Following the devastating Grenfell Tower and Bolton Cube fires, is student housing safe and what can we do to ensure it is?

Stuart Hodkinson

2pm – 3pm, Quaker Meeting House, meeting room

Building a network of UCU members in management roles

Sara Gonzalez

1pm – 2pm, Quaker Meeting House, garden room

This is a chance to meet up with other UCU members in management roles. The aim would be to create an informal network of union colleagues that you can count on to discuss decisions at management level. Not just during strike but throughout the year.

Brilliant picketing today, and come to our fantastic fundraiser gig

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

Text from branch president Ben Plumpton’s email to members 25th November

It was great to see so many of you picketing today, thank you!  I think it was the most pickets we’ve had round our campus, and special thanks to those who were picketing for the first time, hope you enjoyed it despite the rain…  We were blown away by the support and enthusiasm from students at the Parkinson steps rally, it was brilliant. Check out some photos from today tweeted by the branch account at https://twitter.com/leedsucu  Keep on tweeting and Facebooking and everything (use #UCUstrikes and tag @leedsucu) – we love seeing your photos.  

Hope to see you all back again tomorrow.  If you havent picketed before, no need to feel nervous, come along to the pink gazebo near the main entrance as early as you can in the morning and we’ll find you a buddy to stand with.Remember, every day picketing is happening from 7:30 am (come as early as you can manage) and a rally on the Parkinson steps at 11:30.

The ever-growing Leeds UCU songbook is here:  https://tinyurl.com/t7vsy8e – bookmark it on your phone so you can sing along at the rallies.  We might have to do ‘Striking in the rain’ tomorrow…  (looks like waterproofs and umbrellas will be needed again).
Have a look at our amazing teach outs timetable at https://tinyurl.com/vn7ot7t – mostly at the Quaker Meeting House but some happening all over Leeds! All strikers and supporters welcome as well as students. Thank you to everyone who volunteered to run a session.

If you can’t join the pickets in person, you could do some digital picketing (tweet messages of support and about why you are striking, share photos of your ‘home picket’, spread the word online).

As you know, we’re raising money for our local Hardship Fund to help enable everyone to join the strike.  Lots of donations have come in since we emailed about this which is great.  The next big thing is our:

UCU Solidarity Hardship Fundraiser Gig

  • Friday 29th November 29, from 7 PM
  • The Chemic Tavern, 9 Johnston St, Leeds LS6 2NG (see attached map)
  • Pay What You Can – donations to Leeds UCU Hardship Fund on the door. 

Tell everyone you know, bring your friends, join us for a truly excellent party!
With music from:

  • Brigadistas Music Collective – A multi-instrumental, multilingual world folk extravaganza
  • wormboys – Fuzzy noise pop: 50% queer, 50% casualised, 100% cute
  • (and more being arranged)

It will kick off with a Leeds UCU members’ open mic night, so you can show off your new strike song lyrics, perform poetry, or whatever you like!

All money raised will be used to boost the Leeds UCU strike hardship fund, prioritising members in precarious contractual circumstances and any member in difficult financial circumstances
https://www.leedsucu.org.uk/ucu-strike-fighting-fund-local-hardship-fund/

Thanks everyone.  See you tomorrow and every day!  

In solidarity,

Ben Plumpton
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
University of Leeds UCU President

Eve of strike info

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

Text from branch president Ben Plumpton’s email to members 22nd November

Dear members,

First, apologies if you have sent a query to me or to ucu@leeds.ac.uk and you haven’t received a personal reply yet.  We’ve had a LOT of messages.  I hope that the comprehensive FAQ at https://www.ucu.org.uk/heaction will answer most questions.  You could also watch the video of today’s live Q&A session with Jo Grady, UCU General Secretary.

Picketing!

  • Thank you to everyone who has signed up already.  You can just turn up on the day, but it’s helpful to get an indication of how many people we can expect, please sign up here.
  • The pink gazebo will be at the main entrance from 7:30 am every day – please come here first to sign in and get placards and leaflets.
  • We’ll suggest where to go with the aim of covering all the entrances, but if you have a particular preference (e.g. if you prefer to picket outside your nearest entrance, or the opposite) you can tell us when you sign in.
  • If you haven’t picketed before, we’ll make sure you’re with someone who’s experienced (not that it’s difficult, honestly).
  • Wrap up warm with waterproofs/umbrella – the weather forecast at the moment is “light rain and a gentle breeze”.
  • We’d love you to bring your own placard or banner.
  • Take photos and talk about the strike on social media – it helps to create a buzz and keep others informed.  Please tag @leedsucu and use hashtag #UCUstrikes and/or #UCUstrikesback.
  • Toilets – you can use the toilets (which include disabled toilets) in the Emmanuel Centre (between the main entrance and Laidlaw Library) and in the Quaker Centre (across the main road from Engineering).
  • Discounts in cafes – some local cafes have offered discounts to strikers which is nice.  So far: Miro – 10 % discount if you say you are a university striker, Opposite – 10% discount on hot drinks (only) with the slogan “university strike”, Café on Campus on  Seminar Street – 10% discount on food and drinks.
  • If, for whatever reason, you might find it difficult to stand on a picket line for a long time, or if you might need time to recuperate out of the weather, we have booked a room in the Quaker Centre (across the road from Engineering) from 9 am each day where you can have a bit of a rest. You can also make yourself a hot drink for a donation.
  • You don’t have to come in every day, do take some time for yourself.  We’d recommend everyone comes in on the first Monday, Tuesday 3rd for the General Meeting, and the final day on Wednesday 4th.

Free hot breakfast!

Unison, our super kind sister union, are going to be providing a free hot breakfast for picketers on Monday 2nd December, so make sure you come picketing on that day!

Rallies daily at 11:30

Pickets and supporters will be meeting up on the Parkinson steps at 11:30 each day for a short rally, including speeches, updates, probably visiting speakers, possibly different themes on different days (this is still being finalised). We hope to see our UCU UK Vice President (our very own Vicky Blake) on some of the days.  The Leeds Students Support UCU group will also be speaking.

We have a bit of a tradition at Leeds of singing alternative words to songs. Could you and your colleagues come up with something?

Big march Wednesday 4th December

We’ll be doing a big march down to Leeds Town Hall on Wednesday 4th December, leaving Parkinson steps at about 11:30.  Big name speakers, lots of noise, let’s show how determined we still are!  We’ll be inviting comrades from Leeds Beckett (who unfortunately just missed the 50% turnout threshold) and from our sister unions to join us, and of course student supporters.

Notifying about striking

Management in some schools/departments have been circulating misleading information.  You definitely do not need to notify anyone in advance that you are striking. You do need to notify HR on your first day back, as set out in the email from Francesca Fowler.

Recovering missed learning

You do not have to do anything in advance about this now.  Try not to worry about the threatened ASOS (Action Short of a Strike) deductions – no-one at Leeds was deducted for ASOS last year. We will be circulating some guidance next week about this. 

Out of office message

Here’s a suggested auto reply for the whole strike period – feel free to adapt as you see fit.

Thank you for your email – this is an auto-reply.  I am currently taking part in the University and College Union’s (UCU) strike action about pay equality and a fair pay rise, ending casualisation and excessive workloads, and defending our pensions. Please request that our Vice Chancellor (vice-chancellor@leeds.ac.uk) uses his influence to urge the employer bodies to negotiate meaningfully with UCU. See this useful introduction to the disputes. There is local information on the Leeds UCU website including a page of information for students, and on Twitter.

Climate march Friday 29th November

This is entirely separate from the UCU strikes, but we think many of our members would like to support the Leeds Youth Strike for Climate, on their next big event on this date.  There will be a march leaving Parkinson steps at 12:30 to go down to the Town Hall and support the young people as they march round Leeds. Our sister unions and some student groups will be joining UCU members for this.  Some of our teach outs will be themed around climate issues too.

General Meeting and financial claims surgery

Don’t forget our next General Meeting is on Tuesday 3rd December, and we’ll be discussing proposals to make Hardship Fund payments more generous.

Our local Hardship Fund is growing daily from the donations coming in from higher paid members and from other supporters.  Many thanks to all.

Immediately after the General Meeting, branch officers will be at the Quaker Centre to help members with claiming from both the national Strike Fund and the local Hardship Fund.  We want to make this as straightforward as possible and to ensure members get paid as quickly as possible, especially those who are hourly paid and precariously employed.

More about all this at www.leedsucu.org.uk/fighting-fund-and-hardship-fund

‘Striking Insights’ Teach Outs

We now have an amazing programme for this, see https://tinyurl.com/vn7ot7t  All students welcome, and strikers and supporters.  Thank you to everyone who volunteered to run a session.

Joining UCU

We’re pleased to see that more and more colleagues are joining the union and wanting to join us on strike.  Please encourage your colleagues to join – it’s easy to join online or by phone, and people can do so right up to the point of arriving for work.  See https://www.ucu.org.uk/join

Right then, I think that’s everything. I’m sure that with your support, and the same at 60 other universities round the country, we can win this dispute.

See you on the picket lines!

In solidarity,

Ben Plumpton
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
University of Leeds UCU President

For students about the UCU strikes

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

As you probably know a many university staff will be on strike for eight working days (Monday 25th November – Wednesday 4th December).  This includes lecturers, researchers, librarians, IT staff and student support staff. The strikes are about precarious employment (‘casualisation’), excessive workloads, pay inequality (there are substantial pay gaps for women and black and ethnic minority staff), reduced pay and threats to pensions. Staff feel conflicted about this – we don’t want to harm your education, but our union has tried incredibly hard to negotiate on these issues and it now seems the only thing university employers will listen to is strikes.

These are national disputes and 60 universities across the UK will see strike action (unless the university employers come back to meaningful negotiations first).

What are the strikes about?

You can read some background here.

The National Union of Students supports the strikes, see this joint statement and watch this short video.

 

What to expect

  • All activities during the strike action are potentially at risk;
  • Teaching will be cancelled on strike days;
  • Other activities such as emailing and marking will also be delayed.

Strikes and picketing

  • Staff who are on strike don’t work and don’t get paid on strike days.  We ask that the money the university saves on our pay is put into the Student Hardship Fund and to support student mental health.
  • Some strikers will stand outside campus entrances to picket, which means peacefully talking to colleagues as they arrive and encouraging them not to go to work and to join the union.  This is called a ‘picket line’. Picketers have placards and give out leaflets.  We will be picketing from 7:30 to 11:30 each day of the strikes.
  • Supporters can stand with the picketers to show solidarity, chat and ask questions.  Students are very welcome to do this, but cannot be pickets themselves (i.e. wear a picket armband, carry an ‘official picket’ placard, or speak to members of staff to dissuade them from going into work). 
  • 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.
  • UCU will also be holding a rally on the Parkinson steps each day of the strikes from about 11:30 – 12 noon. We would be delighted if students join us to show support!
  • On the final day of the strikes, Wednesday 4th December, we will be marching from Parkinson steps down to the Town Hall for a final big rally. Students and student groups are very welcome to join us.

We encourage you to engage with some of the picketers at least once. Ask about the strike, find out more and exchange different ideas and opinions, e.g. about what is driving universities to affect their staff in these ways, how Higher Education is being marketised, and how this can be resisted.

‘Striking Insights’ teach outs

We love teaching, so on strike days we’ll be running a ‘Teach Out’ just outside campus including a great variety of free lectures and discussions.  See the programme here – it’s still evolving so keep checking back for changes and additionsThe programme is still being planned – look out for details later.

Student support for our strikes

  • Many students have been emailing or talking to their lecturers to support them. This means a lot to us!
  • There’s a student Facebook group ‘Leeds Students Support UCU’ which you could join and get involved.
  • A group of students have produced an Open Letter to the university’s management which you could sign, which also asks for fee refunds, see https://forms.gle/RnMNd8EK1CrwqiyJA  

What else can you do to help?

  • Lobby Leeds University Union to support UCU in this dispute (see the initial LUU statement)
  • 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. We suggest you also ask that the strike pay deductions are put towards the Student Hardship Fund and student mental health support.
  • Post your support on social media with #ucustrike and tag us – follow, like, retweet (we’re on Facebook and Twitter)
  • Join the march and rally on 4th December
  • Come to some of the ‘Striking Insights’ teach-out sessions and tell your  friends.
  • Download and share this poster (Word format)
  • Discuss the strike with other students and encourage them to support the strike.

Many thanks for your support. With enough pressure from staff and students, the employers will come back to negotiate and we can carry on teaching and learning.

Graphic image of strike dates: Monday 25th November to Friday 29 November then Monday 2 December to Wednesday 4 December.

STRIKE! (November and December 2019)

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by
Graphic image of strike dates: Monday 25th November to Friday 29 November then Monday 2 December to Wednesday 4 December.

Everything you need to know from from UCU nationally

Advice and information about the strikes, including detailed advice for migrant members with a visa

Additional local information for University of Leeds branch

Fighting fund and hardship fund

Local strike information (text of email to members 19 November 2019)

Sign up for picketing (closed)

Teach out schedule – all welcome!

Song book

Information for students

Strike information

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

Text from branch president Ben Plumpton’s email to members 19th November

Our strikes are coming up, starting next week – Monday 25th November to Wednesday 4th December.  You will have received an email yesterday from the HR Director setting out our management’s plans for deductions. The tone of this letter will have been read, understandably, by many of you as threatening, which is a sign that across the UK university managements are worried – they saw how solid and steadfast our USS strikes were last year, and that we won the fight to keep defined benefit pensions.  The employer bodies are hoping we can’t do it again.  Don’t let them frighten you – we are strong and we can definitely do it again!  We need to take this action to put a stop to ever-increasing casualisation and impossible workloads, to improve pay equality, and to stop the increase in pension contributions.

We know striking is hard. No-one wants to strike, no-one wants to harm education and research. But if everyone takes strike action, the strike is more effective and employers are forced to negotiate sooner and better. If we don’t do this, things will get worse, our health will suffer, research will suffer and students will suffer. We know that Leeds members recognised this because you voted so strongly in favour of industrial action.  Now is the time to stand together. 

How to strike

  • Don’t do any work on the strike days.  This includes working from home or anywhere else, and covers anything you do because you work for the university.
  • Don’t inform management in advance that you will be striking, and don’t rearrange things to avoid the strike days. The Director of Human Resources has asked you by letter to notify the university via the ESS system before the strike starts that you intend to strike. You have a legal right to refuse to do this and we advise you to exercise that right. You should, however, notify the university once you are back at work. This is important as it demonstrates the strength of the strike.
  • Do talk to your students about why you will be striking. You could also mention that the NUS is very supportive of our strikes, see this video and this Twitter thread, and that a group of Leeds students have started an excellent Open Letter which you could encourage students to sign, see https://forms.gle/RnMNd8EK1CrwqiyJA We have produced some example slides you could use or adapt.
  • We would recommend not blocking out your calendar or refusing meeting invitations on strike days as this makes it obvious you will be on strike!
  • Set an automatic reply for the strike days explaining that you are on strike and why.
  • Come to the edge of campus and join our pickets, rallies and marches. We’d love it if you made your own signs, your USS strike ones were funny and clever! Be sure to wrap up warm and waterproofed. Sign up for picketing here (The pickets run from 7:30 – 11:30 am each day, meet at the main entrance). 
  • If you want to picket and have particular needs we are keen to provide support and adjustments so that you can join us. Please email ucu@leeds.ac.uk and let us know how we can make that work for you.
  • We’ll have a rally after picketing each day at 11:30 on the Parkinson steps, and a march on the final day.  Children and dogs welcome!
  • We know not everyone can do morning picketing, so do join us online via social media support and publicity, and please come to the marches and rallies if you can.
  • You don’t have to come in to picket every day! Take time for yourself too.
  • See the UCU FAQ on industrial action for more information.

Action short of a strike (ASOS)

We start ASOS technically from 25th November but effectively from our first day back after the strikes, i.e. Thursday 5th December. This involves:

  • working to contract;
  • not covering for absent colleagues;
  • not rescheduling lectures or classes cancelled due to strike action;
  • not undertaking any voluntary activities.

Yesterday’s email containing letters from Francesca Fowler and Tom Ward talks about the recovery of missed learning after the strike period. Please note that this does not refer to missed teaching; you should not reschedule or otherwise recover missed teaching. We are pleased to see that, unlike in 2018, the University is not threatening to deduct pay for staff who refuse to reschedule teaching. However, they are still threatening to deduct pay for ‘partial performance’. We will be providing you with further guidance about this soon, but in the meantime please refer to UCU FAQ on industrial action and the UCU FAQ on working to contract. 

We note that after the 2018 USS strikes, similar threats of deducting pay for ASOS were quietly dropped – to our knowledge no-one at Leeds had pay deducted for ASOS.  This was the case more generally across HE – university managements backed down as a result of the strength of our action, in order to avoid reputational damage, and to avoid further deterioration in working relationships.

For those who have marking coming in between now and the end of term, please note in particular the advice on marking within the UCU working to contract FAQ. If, after having taken strike action and working to contract following UCU guidelines, you are unable to complete your marking by the deadlines set, you should let your Head of School know. This is true in all cases, but doubly so if your marking time is reduced by the failings of Minerva or the December Minerva downtime.

Working to contract is an essential part of the overall action which we are taking. It ensures that you cannot be required to make up the hours lost to strike action, because your absolute maximum working time should be the legal maximum of 48 hours per week (it’s worth knowing, however, that the university calculates sick and holiday pay on the assumption that you work 37.5 hours per week). Please take seriously the advice in the FAQ to refer matters to your line manager/Head of School – this is the best way of making the impact of the work to contract visible. If you have any concerns about how your line manager responds to you, get in touch with ucu@leeds.ac.uk. If you are a line manager, please escalate every concern raised with you to senior management, work to contract yourself (don’t cover for other staff) and let staff know that you support and respect the work to contract action. 

Finances

  • You lose a day’s pay for every day you strike, calculated at 1/365 of your annual salary for full time staff, and pro rata for part time staff.  If you are hourly paid you lose the payment for the hours you don’t work. If you have any queries about exactly how the deductions would work in your case, you could ask HR (making clear that you need to know *in case* you decide to strike).
  • You don’t pay tax and NI on the salary you don’t get, so your net loss for 8 days strike is a bit less (this site is useful for tax calculations listentotaxman.com).
  • The letter from HR says that strike deductions will all be deducted in your January pay. I took a motion to the university Senate proposing that the deductions should be spread over several months, as many other universities did last year, and Senate voted to pass that request to University Council. It is, of course, open to the VC to give effect to this best practice policy without the instruction of Council and we continue to call upon him to do so, respecting the will of Senate and following the example of many universities in 2018.
  • If striking will cause you financial difficulty, UCUcan support you. There is a national Strike Fund, plus a local Hardship Fund which can be used to top up the national payments. We particularly want to help members on part time or fixed term contracts, members paying visa, ILR and NHS surcharge costs, and those in precarious financial positions. The details of these two funds are covered in a separate email yesterday from Jonathan Saha, branch treasurer (online at www.leedsucu.org.uk/fighting-fund-and-hardship-fund). But basically, we hope that this support means no-one will be deterred from striking.
  • Higher paid and permanent members are encouraged to donate to our Hardship Fund to support their colleagues – details of how to donate here. We are also planning benefit gigs and other fundraising for the Hardship Fund – all help with this is welcome.

Migrant members

  • If you are on a Tier 2 visa, Home Office guidelines now specify that that striking doesn’t count as unauthorised absence. Our university management has confirmed that they will follow these guidelines, including not reporting salary reductions caused by lawful strike action. If you encounter any difficulty with your department about this please contact ucu@leeds.ac.uk  
  • If you are a UCU member on a Tier 4 (student) visa and doing paid teaching, your teaching work is not a visa requirement, so you can strike from that.
  • If you are a student member (undergraduate or postgraduate) 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. So unfortunately you will need to cross our picket lines. But you can still support the strike on social media, by talking to fellow students about the strikes, and by joining our marches and rallies when you can.
  • See the UCU FAQ for Migrant workers and taking action for full details on these issues.
  • Your union wants to fully support migrant members in every way we can, so let us know if you have any other queries.

‘Striking Insights’ Teach Outs

As last year, we are organising an exciting programme of alternative lectures and seminars, open to all, offered by strikers so that students can have some brilliant educational opportunities on topics they might not normally come across. We will email you with more details shortly.  If you’d like to offer a session please email ucu@leeds.ac.uk

Questions

We are receiving a lot of emails with various questions about the strike action, ASOS and deductions.  Please bear with us if it takes a while for us to reply personally. In the meantime please check the UCU FAQs at www.ucu.org.uk/heaction which have been compiled incorporating legal advice.

Solidarity!

I found standing on a picket lines last year was an amazing experience. I had many memorable conversations with colleagues and students, I learned lots at the teach outs, we had fun singing and dancing. The solidarity felt tangible. It renewed my faith in what a wonderful group of people UCU members are and how much you care about education and making a better world.

Let’s support each other, stand strong together, and win these disputes!

See you soon,

Ben & the committee

Ben Plumpton
University of Leeds UCU President