Dispute meeting 22 October
– a chance to ask national negotiators
Want to know the latest on our two disputes (Four Fights and USS)? Want to ask the UCU negotiators something? Not sure what we want to achieve by taking action?
Come along to our members meeting on Friday 22 October, 1-2 pm (Zoom link in an email from Chloe). Send your questions in advance, get involved!
Friday’s meeting is for discussion (no motions will be submitted or debated). Robyn Orfitelli from Sheffield (UCU ‘pay and related matters’ negotiator), Deepa Govindarajan Driver from Reading (UCU pensions negotiator) and Vicky Blake (UCU President), will be joining us to give us a brief update and answer your questions. Please submit questions in advance if you can, using the form in Chloe’s email, which will help the presenters. You can of course raise questions from the floor as well. As this is a disputes meeting it will not be recorded so if you want to ask a question please attend the meeting – and please encourage others to do so as well.
There will also probably be a local meeting in your school or service – look out for a message from your departmental rep – and they will greatly appreciate your help in talking to colleagues and encouraging everyone to vote. It is crucial that everyone plays their part in union democracy by voting in the ballots.
Ballot papers should have arrived by Thursday 21st October, to the address you have on myUCU which for most people will hopefully be your home address. (Remember, trade union law says balloting must be done by post rather than electronically). If you do not receive your ballot paper, there will be a form on the UCU website from Friday 22nd October to order a new ballot paper to be sent. FAQs about the ballot are at https://www.ucu.org.uk/article/11810/GTVO-HE-ballots-2021
This is a short ballot period – the closing date is 4th November at noon, but realistically you should plan to get your ballot in the post by 1st November to ensure it arrives in time. A first class reply envelope is provided. So get those ballots in the post asap, and encourage your colleagues to vote too. We hope to have the result by Monday 8th November. The branch will hold an Emergency General Meeting at1pm on Tuesday 9th November to discuss the outcome of the ballot and consider next steps. We understand that we will have the opportunity as a branch to feed into national decisions about, for example, the nature and extent of industrial action, and this meeting is how we will decide what our position is – so please put the date in your calendar now (link will follow nearer the time) and come and make your voice heard.
Further information:
Vote now! Vote #YesYesYesYes!
You can download some ballot graphics (including the infographic below) here: www.leedsucu.org.uk/ballots-graphics-to-download
This page was last updated on 22 October 2021