This is a copy of the formal notice emailed to branch members of the scheduled UCU University of Leeds branch general meetings this academic year – the ordinary general meetings and the annual general meeting.

These are the meetings for all UCU members in this branch.

The branch doesn’t send Outlook invitations for these because some people’s Outlook calendars are not confidential so an invitation could disclose their trade union membership to a third party, which is not allowed. Meeting details will be sent by email nearer the time.

All UCU members of the branch can put items of the agenda – proposals for collective agreement or subjects for informal discussion.

You can find this list of meetings at any time this year at https://www.leedsucu.org.uk/about-us/general-meetings-this-year/

Thursday 17 October, 12.45pm – 2pm

Submit motions by 12pm Tuesday 1 October.

If you want to send a motion to one of the UCU national equality conferences from the branch, this is the meeting to propose the motion to.

This meeting should elect the branch’s congress/conference delegates for the year.

Rule changes motions can be submitted to this meeting (because of the gap between the motion deadline and the meeting).

Tuesday 3 December, 12.45pm – 2pm

Submit motions by 12pm Tuesday 26 November..

Wednesday 29 January, 12.45pm – 2pm

Submit motions by 12pm Tuesday 21 January.

If you want to send a motion to the UCU national anti-casualisation annual meeting, or the national annual meeting of academic-related, professional services staff, this is the latest general meeting to propose the motion to.

Tuesday 11 March, 12.45pm – 2pm

Submit motions by 12pm Tuesday 4 March.

If you want to send a motion to UCU Congress 2025 this is the latest general meeting to propose the motion to.

Thursday 1 May 12.45pm – 2pm, annual general meeting (AGM)

Submit motions by 12pm Tuesday 15 April.

Rule change motions can be submitted to the AGM.

If you want the branch to propose an amendment to another branch’s motion to UCU Congress 2025, this is the general meeting to submit that motion of amendment to.

Deadline for nominations to the branch committee is Wednesday 30 April.

Thursday 12 June, 12.45pm – 2pm

Submit motions by 12pm Tuesday 3 June

There will likely also be some extra-ordinary general meetings (which you or the committee can call) and some emergency general meetings (which elected branch officers can call), which you’ll be notified of separately by email.

General information about general meetings

There’s informal advice on turning your ideas into collective decisions – writing motions – and navigating formal general meetings at https://www.leedsucu.org.uk/making-ucu-branch-general-meetings-work-better/ which includes a link to the formal ‘standing orders’.

Content notes and sensitive topics

There are now content notes on the agenda following recent feedback about when motions received for circulation address sensitive topics. We are working hard to get this right but, as inserting content notes requires subjective assessment of what might warrant a content note, we have also decided to include a summary version of the agenda at the top. Please let me know if you have any feedback about how to make content notes more useful to you.

Who decides the agenda?

All members of the branch (including you!) can submit motions to general meeting. The committee decides the order that members’ motions appear on the agenda (or the president on behalf of the committee if there is no committee meeting), but the motions are not from the committee (unless it specifically says they are on the agenda). Motions only become union policy if they are voted for by the meeting.

Can I vote if I’m a student member?

It depends on your membership type. If your membership type is “student” you are not eligible to vote in general meetings. For more details see https://www.ucu.org.uk/article/5143/Can-students-or-postgraduates-join

Can I register my vote if I can’t attend the meeting?

No. According to the branch rules, only members who attend the meeting can vote. The hope is that, while not everyone can attend every meeting, the members who can attend at that time will be broadly representative of the membership. If you’d like to discuss anything about the rules with one of the branch officers you could email ucu@leeds.ac.uk.

What do I do if I’m unhappy about something in the meeting?

If you’re unhappy about something in the meeting you can – at any time during the meeting – ask the chair to rule on whether something is ‘in order’. The chair will then make a ruling. You can read more about making points of order at https://www.leedsucu.org.uk/making-ucu-branch-general-meetings-work-better/#point-of-order

Members should be considerate of each other in the meetings. It is an obligation of UCU membership to: “refrain from … all forms of harassment, prejudice and unfair discrimination whether on the grounds of sex, gender identity, race, ethnic or national origin, religion, colour, class, caring responsibilities, marital status, sexuality, disability, age, or other status or personal characteristic.” https://www.ucu.org.uk/ucurules

How can I find out what decisions were made?

If you’ve missed the meeting, the quickest informal way is to ask a colleague or your department rep. Formally, the minutes of meetings are circulated in advance of the next ordinary general meeting (but that can be a long time to wait). Motions carried will often be provisionally posted on the website (you can use the search function or look at News filtered by the category ‘branch policy’) in advance of the minutes being approved, but this depends on the workload of the committee members and branch administrator. If you need to know urgently and you haven’t elected a department rep for your area, you could ask one of the branch officers by emailing ucu@leeds.ac.uk.

This page was last updated on 6 September 2024