Valentine’s day report

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

Many staff enthusiastically joined in writing their valentine messages on heart shaped stickers for the Vice Chancellor on Friday 12th February. Here’s the inside of the Valentine’s card towards the end of the lunchtime session:

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The card, and a lovely chocolate heart inscribed with the words “We’d love a pay rise” were taken to the VC on Friday afternoon. Sadly, he was too busy to see us, but we understand he likes chocolate, and we hope he enjoyed reading your messages.

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The serious point of course is that university staff have suffered real terms pay cuts for some years, and it’s time we caught up. It’s been in the news recently that many Vice Chancellors have seen considerable pay rises, so it seems only fair their staff are treated similarly. UCU hopes that university employers, including our own university management, will see the sense of this and agree to a fair pay rise in the imminent 2016 pay negotiations.

For more about pay, read our short leaflet Fair pay in 2016.

Valentine’s Day – we’d love a pay rise!

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

Leeds UCU is marking Valentine’s Day by telling the Vice Chancellor how much we’d love a pay rise this year. On Friday 12th February, UCU will present him with a huge Valentine’s card, including many personal messages from members. Messages and signatures are being collected on Friday lunchtime, between 12 noon and 2 pm, in the Refectory foyer. If you can’t join us there but would like a valentine message from you to be included, email it to ucu@leeds.ac.uk and we will write it on the card for you.

If you need a reminder about why we need a fair pay rise this year, read this short leaflet: Fair pay in 2016

We will also be giving the VC a chocolate heart, to demonstrate how much we’d love his support for a fair pay rise in the forthcoming pay negotiations.

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Roses are red
Violets are blue
Support a fair pay rise
And we will love you!

Posted in Uncategorised

Meeting of all members on fixed-term or casual contracts

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

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UCU is holding a meeting of all staff on casualised contracts on:

Friday 19 February
2pm – 3pm
Baines Wing SR 1.13.

Casualised contracts include fixed term contracts, hourly paid, zero hours, agency contracts – essentially if you are not on a permanent, salaried contract this means you!

If you are already on a permanent, salaried contract, please do feel free to pass the word on and encourage members whose working conditions have been casualised to attend.

There will be two main areas of linked discussion:

  1. Leeds UCU campaign for secure employment for all staff: UCU has recently written to the university demanding more progress on job security and adding weight to our local requests for improvements.
  2. UCU’s national Annual Meeting of Staff on Casualised Contracts, 11 March, UCU head office (London): delegates, self-registration, and motions.

The Annual Meeting is convened by the UCU anti-casualisation committee. It a very important opportunity for the voices of casualised staff at the grassroots level to be heard. Motions passed by this meeting will inform the priorities of the UCU anti-casualisation committee (ACC) for the coming year, and will also direct the ACC on the content of motions that should be sent to Congress and the Higher Education Sector Conference, where UCU policy is formed. It is also a brilliant chance to discuss issues relating to the national campaign for secure employment and to take part in a choice of excellent workshops. More information will be available at the Leeds meeting, but you can also email branch vice-president Vicky Blake if you wish to know more.

Delegates: We need to elect two members attend this meeting as delegates from Leeds UCU. We don’t need nominations in advance for that, you can put your name in at the meeting, but if you would like to be a delegate to but you can’t make this meeting on the 19th please email me.

Self-registration: It is also possible to register yourself to attend the Annual Meeting if you are not elected as a formal delegate, and you will be able to participate fully in the meeting. Places for self-registrants will be confirmed after the branch delegates registration deadline, but you must also apply for a place by 26 February.

Motions: UoL UCU can also send a motion from the meeting on 19 February to the UCU Annual Meeting of Staff on Casualised Contracts. If you have a motion you would like to propose, please email a copy of your proposed motion (or details of ideas for one if you would like to discuss) to me before the start of the meeting. This will help us to plan the agenda timings for the 19 Feb, and will also help us to file the motions on time as the deadline is very shortly after our meeting will finish.

We hope to see lots of staff on casualised contracts at the meeting on 19 Feb, and we hope there will also be plenty of interest in attending the Annual Meeting on 11 March. All travel costs for 11 March will be reimbursed by UCU, and lunch will be provided. If buying a ticket in advance for the meeting and waiting for expenses to be returned would make your financial situation difficult, it is very easy for us to arrange your travel to be purchased in advance by UCU directly, so long as we have enough notice – so please do not let purchasing travel tickets / logistics put you off!

#heartunions week 8th – 14th February 2016

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

heart unions week

The TUC are running a a special week of activities to highlight the amazing work trade unions do. This is really important at this time when the (anti) Trade Union Bill is coming before the House of Lords. The government aims to make unions powerless, so employers can roll back the employment rights that have been hard won by trade unionists over many decades.

What rights? Just a few little things like weekends and holidays, sick pay and maternity/paternity rights, protection against unfairness and bullying and unfair dismissal, the right to retire with a pension, equal pay, and much more.

Watch this great Youtube video at https://t.co/RaNgCMV6A7

Some people think that these rights are now normal practice and unions are not needed any more. This is a bit like saying that everyone understands the rules of the road so we don’t need road signs and traffic lights. Without unions constantly on the watch, employers would be free to reduce pay and conditions and safety standards, sack anyone they don’t like, and generally make our working lives miserable in the pursuit of maximum profit.

The Conservatives, along with much of the press, like to portray trade unions as irresponsible and selfish, constantly striking and causing havoc for no good reason. But the rights at work that we have today came from brave people, ordinary people, making sacrifices to fight injustice and create a fairer society by withdrawing their labour. It’s important that we can continue to do this when necessary.

For more information about #heartunions and the Trade Union bill visit http://heartunions.org/

What you can do – please help spread the word about #heartunions week. Share the video on Facebook, tweet about #heartunions and just chat to your colleagues, friends and relations about why we need trade unions.

And if you’re not yet a member of UCU, it’s easy to join online – go to https://www.ucu.org.uk/join

anti trade union bill pledge card

Challenging racism in the workplace

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

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All members and staff and students are invited to a UCU event on challenging racism in the workplace.

  • Dr Iyiola Solanke of the School of Law
  • New UCU film ‘Witness’, which chronicles the lived experiences of UCU black members in post-16 education
  • Baldeep Thiara from UCU black members network in Yorkshire and Humberside

Wednesday 10 February, 1pm-2pm
Lecture theatre E (G.08), Engineering (Houldsworth building)

To see more about UCU campaign on challenging racism in the workplace, go to ucu.org.uk/action-against-workplace-racism.

Challenging workplace racism event

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

Wednesday 10 February, 1pm – 2pm

A short talk by Dr Iyiola Solanke of the School of Law followed by a film from UCU, both on the subject of challenging workplace racism.

Engineering (Houldsworth) lecture theatre E (G.08).

Open to all members and all staff and students.

Holocaust Memorial Day

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

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In memory of the millions murdered in the Holocaust.

We think of those killed in the Holocaust and the genocides in Bosnia, Cambodia, Darfur and Rwanda, and from focussing on those past atrocities we look to build a better present, a better future.

There will be a vigil in Dortmund Square in Leeds today at 5pm.

UCU material for Holocaust Memorial Day: films https://youtu.be/m86B9WDvCiI and https://youtu.be/Qduycstt9oE, and articles: https://www.ucu.org.uk/hmd

Our response to the HE Green Paper

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by
University of Leeds UCU agree with the stated objectives of the Green Paper: to provide the highest quality of education for our students, empowering them in the process, and ensure that a university education can be enjoyed by everyone who is able to benefit from it. We do not agree however that the TEF is a means of achieving these objectives. Nowhere in the documentation is ‘excellence’ defined, and this plainly undermines the arguments made about achieving it. The TEF will add another layer of bureaucracy onto an already over‐burdened profession, making excellent teaching harder to achieve. We do not believe that the metrics being proposed represent adequate proxies for teaching excellence. It is also self-evident that the attempt to define sector‐wide metrics could not adequately recognise the differences between disciplines in pedagogic, delivery or assessment terms.
The Green Paper argues that information about key elements of the educational experience either does not exist or is not widely available to applicants, and therefore cannot assist students in making informed decisions about their choice of university. We do not recognise this as based in fact. There will be an increased administrative burden while universities accommodate the new requirements and change their procedures. Experience of the REF suggests that where there is reputational and financial advantage to be gained, universities will expend considerable effort to ensure that they obtain the ‘best’ results, and this will inevitably have a direct negative impact on academics, who will be at the front‐line in delivering them. One fear, consequently, is that TEF might have the paradoxical effect of making excellent teaching harder to achieve because of the increased bureaucratic burden it will place on teachers.
We support the ambition to increase the participation of all disadvantaged groups in HE. We are not convinced this can be achieved by a TEF as described. The Green Paper contains few concrete proposals about how to improve access to HE for students currently marginalised by the system. The Green Paper notes, correctly, that matters of ‘prior educational attainment’ cannot explain disparities in achievement between some BME groups and white students, although no alternative explanations are offered. This presents an inadequate frame for consultation.
There is a body of expertise and good practice and a network of relationships in some of the existing bodies that should not be jettisoned lightly. Also, as the Green Paper argues (para 13), some bodies have wider roles. With this is mind, we would argue that the QAA, along with the HEA and HESA, should be maintained in something like their existing form and with their current responsibilities.

Support for people affected by recent floods

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

flood photo (creative commons: any respectful use)Following a request by UCU, Unite and Unison, the university has agreed to open the staff assistance fund to staff affected by the floods which badly affected some local areas from Boxing Day.

To apply to the University of Leeds staff assistance fund contact Jill Nimmo in the staff benefits team on 0113 3434138 (internal: 34138) or email staffemergencyfund@leeds.ac.uk.

For more information about the fund see the staff assistance fund page on the university website.

If you weren’t flooded but would like to help, you can donate to the flood relief funds, see:
• Calderdale – https://localgiving.com/appeal/Flooding
• Leeds – https://www.justgiving.com/leeds-flood-relief-appeal/
• York – https://www.gofundme.com/nxgg5xdg
• Bingley – https://www.gofundme.com/ewgzjbc4

 

Open meeting: government green paper of Higher Education

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

Join us for a discussion about the government’s recent Green Paper on Higher Education, including the effects of opening up universities to private providers, new forms of measurement for ‘teaching excellence’ as well as research, raising fees, deregulation, attacks on local statutes and academic freedom … and OUR RESPONSE TO IT.

Monday 11 January, 5pm–6.30pm
Workshop Theatre Studio 1, University of Leeds

Speakers:
Liz Lawrence, National President of UCU, on the implications of a rapid growth in the number of private for-profit providers of higher education
Professor Paul Kleiman, senior consultant (Higher Education) at Ciel Associates, on the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF)

The meeting is open to all staff and students of all local HE institutions.

Link to the government consultation paper and questions: gov.uk/government/consultations/higher-education-teaching-excellence-social-mobility-and-student-choice

Update: you may be interested in the powerpoint presentation given by UCU national president Liz Lawrence at that meeting: The Green Paper on HE and Privatisation