We are continuing to engage with management in relation to the current fast moving public health situation. At the moment, we expect that most staff are working from home and the University position is that staff should only be working from campus when it is necessary. If you are being asked to work on campus when it is not necessary please let us know. The University has also tightened up the rules in relation to the wearing of face coverings – we have emphasised the importance of clear and firm communication of these new rules to both students and staff, whilst recognising, of course, that some people are exempt from wearing face coverings. We have asked management to look into providing masks of FFP2 quality to staff. We can confirm that at the moment all ventilated rooms are ventilated to a standard that exceed UCU requirements but please continue to report to us any concerns you have about spaces being used over capacity.  

We are also continuing to emphasise the importance of protecting staff with medical conditions who are vulnerable to COVID-19, or those who live with those people – whilst the public discourse is that Omicron is less serious, the fact remains that this virus can seriously harm and kill people and some are at more risk than others. Please let us know if you need our support on this.  

Finally, we have been listening to concerns from PGR members who teach about the lack of entitlement to paid sick leave. This forms part of our anticasualisation claim to the University, which has now been ignored by management for 3 years. In the current context, we emphasise that paid sick leave for all is a vital measure to enable people to take the necessary steps to stop the virus spreading. We will be discussing this with senior management very shortly and will keep you posted.

This post is from an email to members from branch president Chloe Wallace sent on 11 January 2021