LeedsUCU podcast: branch news 31 January 2025

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

In today’s episode, recorded 29 January 2025: new casework officer role, vacancies for equality officer and ordinary committee member, future size and shape of the university – vice chancellor’s blog and UCU general meeting, Salma al-Shehab, annual meeting of academic -related professional staff.

With Jenny Rivas Perez and Rachel Walls.

If you prefer your union branch news direct to your ears, search for LeedsUCU wherever you get your podcasts, and subscribe so you get notified about new episodes. 

See all the episodes and transcripts at https://www.leedsucu.org.uk/about-us/podcast/

To join UCU go to ⁠https://www.ucu.org.uk/join

Direct links to the LeedsUCU podcast 

Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2Ht1Iks9WPR6qbmGXXOXfS

Amazon Podcasts https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/1f16de89-30ec-444a-83ac-54bcbe0bcac6/leedsucu-podcast

Pocket Casts https://pca.st/pacoaeqd

Also available on Apple Podcasts

Transcript

Intro

Rachel

Welcome to the LeedsUCU podcast for members of the University of Leeds branch of the University and College Union. I’m Rachel Walls, one of your podcast hosts. I’m also a UCU department rep for Lifelong Learning Centre, branch committee member and saxophone or clarinet player in our occasional picket line band Orchestrike!

Alan

And I’m Alan Smith, co-host for this podcast, and the branch’s administrator and organiser. We thought it would be useful for members of the branch to have an alternative channel for getting your local news because reading long emails or website posts is not everyone’s first choice.

Rachel

So we’re here to be a friendly voice from the UCU University of Leeds branch to keep you in better touch with what is going on, such as what the elected officers are working on and what opportunities there are for you to get involved in UCU discussions, socialising, activism and decision making.

[Brief music]

Rachel

Hi everyone for today’s branch news, which we’re recording on the 29th of January 2025, we have Jenny Rivas Perez give us an update on the branch news. Hi, Jenny.

Jenny

Hi there.

Rachel

And I should mention we’re missing Alan today because of illness. But yeah, hopefully Jenny and I can have a good chat and give you lots of information. So we’ve just literally come out of a general meeting. For those who couldn’t make it, could you explain what happened? We had a motion about changing the branch rules to allow a casework officer for the branch?

Jenny

Yes. So this is really important because we are in the midst of a casework crisis and a lot of members who are seeking caseworkers are having to wait quite a while for a case worker and we want to get that sorted and I think one of the steps that we’re taking is actually to – is we’ve just passed this motion which will allow us to appoint a casework officer, so one of our officers who will have their main focus on casework and on solving the problems that we’re having with casework at the moment, whether that’s the pipeline in, in training new case workers, in supporting case workers that we have at the moment, or actually looking at some of the root of the problems about why we’re having so many members coming forward with particular problems, so the sort of systemic university problems, so that we can actually sort of gather evidence about that and take that to management and start trying to get some things changed, particularly around about, I mean things that we see quite often are things, cases, around about reasonable adjustments come up quite often. That sort of thing. And that’s the sort of thing that with one officer with their eye on that at all points, we can actually start to work together as officers to start working on the sort of aims that management could help us with, as well as the pipeline that we’ve got of new case workers coming on board as well, so that we can deal with the backlogs that we’ve got.

Rachel

OK. And the motion passed, I think unanimously.

Jenny

Oh the motion passed! Yes, yes, very pleased about that. So.

Rachel

Yeah, absolutely. What are the next steps?

Jenny

So the next steps are going to be that we’re going to advertise for a casework officer. So we’ll be sending out details about that to the branch very, very soon. And we want to be up and running as soon as possible with the new officer in place, with their focus on those problems. That said, that officer will also be taking up normal officer duties as well, so attending negotiations and consultations with management as well, and all the other things that officers do, but they’ll be holding that portfolio on that focus.

Rachel

Fantastic. And if you are interested or unaware of the officer roles that we have in the branch, you can look on leedsucu.org.uk and there’s a section that gives all the details there.

Jenny

There is and in that section it actually tells you what the duties of the different officers are, if you’re interested, because we have another officer role which is vacant at the moment and is out, advertised to members, and that is the Equality officer. Which was my former role, but I find it difficult to hold two rules at once. I’m currently Vice President, but I’m holding, you know, but I’m looking after the equality – I’m the equality lead for the. Branch – but the role deserves an officer looking after that brief. Because, I mean, just about everything that we do, equality is the sort of thread that goes through everything, whether that’s thinking about pay, about the equality pay gaps, or whether it is thinking about protected characteristics of various different members and how they’re treated in the workplace. The policies that the management put in place, looking at those through the equality lens. And so it’s a really key role that that we have and so we’re keen to get somebody in place from the membership. So if anybody’s out there who’s who is interested in equality and thinks that they can make a contribution there then please do contact me and I can tell you all about the role. It’s not like you’d be doing that role just on top of your normal job as well. There is sort of like release time for that. There’s a 0.2FTE release for that gives you time to actually do the role on top of your normal job.

Rachel

Brilliant. And that e-mail went out Monday, I believe. And I think there was a request for an ordinary committee member as well, which isn’t a role that has release time but could be a great way of getting involved and contributing to the branch.

Jenny

That’s correct. Yes. So we unfortunately lost a member of our committee, because they went to work somewhere else. So that role is vacant and our committee is really important because what it does is they do direct the policy decisions that the branch takes, I mean there are other ways of directing decisions, for instance, taking a motion to a general meeting and that’s how we’ve got a new a new a new officer role. But, you know, the committee’s really important, that we have people from lots of different areas across the university with lots of different kinds of experience so that they can actually have an input on the branch activity, and also act as – you know, were a small team of officers, who actually, you know, who go in and negotiate, but we don’t do that on our own. Standing behind us, beside us, is the committee and the advice that they gave us and their thoughts on different issues.

Rachel

Yeah. And that’s a fortnightly meeting and keeping your eye on emails to help make decisions in between meetings. That’s a role I’ve done for a while, so I would say it is manageable and it is an interesting way to keep up to date with what’s going on in the university.

Jenny

Oh, absolutely. In fact, I would go further, I’d say that actually, you know, if you’re – it’s a civil leadership role within the university, even if it’s not recognised by.by the university itself, it’s definitely a role which is very, very important to everybody in our constituency because it helps make, it helps shape terms and conditions that we work under.

Rachel

Yeah, really good point, absolutely.

Rachel

OK, so to go back to the general meeting. We had a bit of a discussion after we voted for the casework officer motion, and that was about what members might like to take to management. So what sort of things were coming up? What were people’s concerns and suggestions?

Jenny

Well, there were a lot of concerns around the VC’s blog. And I guess that’s sort of on a lot of people’s minds because the blog used words like looking at the size and shape of the university and talking about, you know, conversations needed to be had about. And that the VC was already engaged in conversations with Council and with UEG and Senior Leadership Forum. And so I guess that’s on people’s minds, but it’s also marrying that up with what’s going on on the ground and various different bits of the university. The drop in student numbers is worrying a lot of people. And also you know, we’re seeing more of redundancies being announced. I think yesterday was at Cardiff and also at Durham. So yeah, people are worried. And so there was much discussion about what we ought to be doing about that. There’s some members are thinking about how we could be more competitive in gaining students next year. And suggestions that they think should be made to the VC. And the other suggestion is that we have an extraordinary meeting very soon, that is with motions about how we can make stuff happen, and actually letting. university management know what’s on the minds of ordinary members, just through the motions that are passed at that meeting and the discussion that goes on. So, very soon, I guess at the next committee meeting, we will be scheduling an extraordinary general meeting in order to just focus on the university’s finances going forward and the uncertainty as far as, you know, what the university is going to look like next year when new students arrive – or don’t arrive – the numbers, when we’ve got some idea of the numbers. So that’s what we’re doing. So there are a couple of other issues that came up as well because it was a general topic. There were some specific things where I reminded people that, you know, if you want us to pick up specific issues please just e-mail the branch at -.

Rachel

ucu@leeds.ac.uk

Jenny

ucu@leeds.ac.uk. Yeah. And we can pick them up. And then there was some discussion also about possible use of agency staff at the university as well, and whether that’s increasing recently. So that’s something that we’re going to investigate and that officers are going to try and find out a bit more about as well. So it was a really useful discussion that we had and it’s something that was, it’s just a bit new that we were just trying. But I think everybody made really good contributions to it.

Rachel

Yeah.

Jenny

Lots of ideas.

Rachel

That’s good. Yeah. Because committee and officers can hear what the members say and start to work on them. It is really important that people submit motions too, and because then we have the kind of leverage of a motion that’s been voted on, and we can take it forward as official branch policy.

Jenny

Absolutely. And I think the thing about a motion is that people come forward with one idea, but then there’s a process for motions where, you know, people can look at them, they can amend them, and that is a method for actually coming up with some really good strong policy for the branch that we can use.

Rachel

Yeah. Yeah. So just to remind you, if anybody is interested in submitting a motion, but perhaps feels they need help with it, you can e-mail the branch and ask and somebody can give you some guidance. So, do you get in touch if there’s something that you do want to bring to the next meeting.

Jenny

Absolutely.

Rachel

So we have covered most of what occurred in the meeting, I think. Although you gave us an update on Salma al-Shehab. Maybe that’s worth repeating here as well.

Jenny

Yes, unfortunately, Salma al-Shehab, as far as we know, has not been released yet. So Salma al-Shehab was a PhD student at the University of Leeds, and she’s also a Saudi national. And almost four years ago she returned home for a holiday and she was picked up by the authorities, put on trial for some tweets that she had made whilst out of Saudi Arabia, i.e. here at Leeds, in support of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. And she was sentenced to 27 years in jail, in Saudi Arabia. And she’s been serving that sentence ever since. The sentence went to appeal recently and the sentence was reduced to four years. And since she’s been in jail for that that long, she should be released. However, so far – that news came out just about a week ago, but we’re still waiting to hear that she has been released and I am told by activists that it’s not unusual for it to take a long time for the admin round about the release of someone to come about. But we are asked to, where we can, to keep up the pressure to make sure that she is released, and also that she can be allowed to travel again, to leave Saudi Arabia, because she’s still got a PhD to finish and the last time I remember checking the university did offer for her to be able to take up her studies again when she was released, and I think that offer is still there on the table.

Rachel

Let’s hope we hear some news soon, then.

Jenny

Yeah.

Rachel

OK. Is there any more news from the meetings that officers attend, the negotiations and consultations? I know you’re always busy with those engagements.

Jenny

Oh my, we’re always busy with those engagements. I guess some of the things that are – there’s a lot of local issues going on which probably it’s not, it’s not appropriate to talk about on this podcast. However, things that have been happening … we have in meetings already been voicing their concerns about the language that was used in the VC’s blog. We have got a meeting coming up with the VC actually. So myself and Vicky Blake, our honorary secretary, will be representing the union in a meeting with the VC and the other trade union representatives as well, in the next couple of weeks. So that’s coming up. So I think we may be trying to talk a little bit about the university finances there. So, yeah, I think that’s one of the things that’s mainly focusing our minds, we have been thinking about that for quite some time and that’s one of the issues that comes up. We have twice weekly meetings with HR. It’s an informal meeting. And then we also have meetings which are formal meetings which are a joint committee with the university, so that’s our negotiating meeting, and we have one of those in a couple of weeks as well. And we have various, you know, it’s where we take sort of the issues that we want to negotiate about. So we’re just at the moment analysing what our agenda items are that we want to put forward. So yeah, it’s always busy. Let’s just say that. And that’s the things that are coming up in next few weeks.

Rachel

OK. Is there anything else coming up nationally perhaps?

Jenny

Oh, right. So we’re talking about the ballot, are we? OK, so first of all on the ballot, we’ve not heard anything, but what I can say locally is, is that behind the scenes. Alan and Emily Haikney have been working really, really hard to make sure that we’re in a position to actually, you know that all the I’s are dotted and the T’s are crossed, for all the data that we have, so that we can go into a ballot and quite quickly once it is announced. But we haven’t heard anything about an announcement. Nationally, there’s a couple of meetings that members might want to know about. So if you are a member of academic, related and professional staff, you might want to know about the annual meeting for ARPS staff and the branch is currently looking for two members to go and represent them, and that will be on the 6th of March. So if you’re interested in doing that, please e-mail the branch, let us know and we can then discuss it – well, we can then put it to the committee that you’re one of the delegates if that’s what you want to do. The travel and the expenses of getting there will be covered and I think it’s in London this year.

Rachel

Yes, yes, I’m pretty sure Emily said. It was in London. There is an option to attend online as well.

Jenny

Yeah. There is. Yeah. And I’ve done that in the past and they are really, really good meetings. It’s really good discussions that go on and information swapping and finding out how things are done in different places and actually, and just talking to each other about what needs to change as well in the national level for ARPS staff.

Rachel

Yeah. So if you are academic related or professional services and you’re interested in attending that meeting, e-mail ucu@leeds.ac.uk. I think we might have come to the end of our topics for discussion, but thank you very much for sharing all the branch news. Is there anything else you want to add?

Jenny

I think I think that’s it really. I think we’ve covered a lot in this podcast.

Rachel

OK. Well, thank you very much Jenny for letting us know the news and we look forward to seeing you soon.

Jenny

OK. Thanks. Bye.

[Brief music]

Outro

Rachel

That’s all for today’s Leeds UCU podcast. Thank you for listening. Please subscribe on whatever platform you’re listening to us on, so you’ll know as soon as we publish our next episode.

Alan

If you’re not yet a member of UCU, head to ucu.org.uk/join to find out more if you work at the University of Leeds in an academic or academic related, professional or managerial role, or as a postgraduate student doing paid teaching. Wherever you work, make sure you join the union for your workplace.

Rachel

This podcast is made on behalf of the committee of the University and College Union, University of Leeds Branch. If you have any questions or concerns, please e-mail our branch offices at ucu@leeds.ac.uk. See our website leedsucu.org.uk for alternative contact details and for a transcript of this episode.

Salma al-Shehab sentence reduced

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

Campaign groups reported 15 January 2025 that a Saudi court has reduced the jail sentence of Salma al-Shehab, women’s rights activist and University of Leeds postgraduate student, from 27 years to four years, with four years suspended, creating hopes for her imminent release.

Since 2022, UCU University of Leeds branch has supported the campaign for Salma al-Shehab to be released, after she was sentenced for liking and reposting social media accounts of critics of Saudi Arabia’s ruling monarchy on the social media platform Twitter. The branch committee released a statement in August 2022, and branch members supported the campaign for Salma’s release, including an open letter calling for action by the government and the university.

For more details see this statement from campaign group ALQST

Ceasing use of X/Twitter

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

The committee will no longer be posting on X/Twitter on behalf of the branch.

You can still find social media posts on behalf of UCU University of Leeds branch at:

https://www.facebook.com/ucuatleeds (Facebook)

@leedsucu.bsky.social (Bluesky)

@leedsucu@union.place (Mastodon / fediverse)

The decision was made by the branch committee 7 January 2024, following the favourable discussion of the motion below at an inquorate general meeting 3 December 2024.

Motion: Cease UCU University of Leeds branch communications and account on X

This branch notes:

  1. That X (formerly Twitter) has become a platform where harmful rhetoric, disinformation, and harassment proliferate.
  2. That the new ownership and recent policy changes on X have raised concerns regarding data privacy, platform moderation, and ethical values.
  3. That there are other platforms available for effective communication that are more consistent with UCU values of inclusivity, transparency, and equality.

This branch believes:

  1. That UCU communications should take place in spaces where union members and the wider community feel safe and respected.
  2. That continuing to use X under its current model undermines the union’s commitment to safeguarding its members from hate speech, harassment, and disinformation.
  3. That ethical social media use is an important part of UCU’s broader responsibility to align its communications with its social justice values.

This branch resolves:

  1. To immediately stop posting or engaging on X as the UCU University of Leeds branch.
  2. To explore alternative platforms that align with the union’s values, such as Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads, or other appropriate platforms for community engagement.
  3. To notify branch members and followers of this decision and provide information on where they can find official UCU communications moving forward.
  4. To review the branch overall social media strategy in light of ethical considerations and member safety.

LeedsUCU podcast Year 2 episode 3: branch news 6 December 2024 

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

In today’s episode, recorded 5 December 2024: Pay and grading review; relocation expenses; hourly pay; the branch’s X/Twitter account (and our other social media platforms); equality working group; and Christmas carols on Thursday 12th December!

With Jenny Rivas Perez, Rachel Walls and Alan Smith. 

If you prefer your union branch news direct to your ears, search for LeedsUCU wherever you get your podcasts, and subscribe so you get notified about new episodes.  

See all the episodes and transcripts at https://www.leedsucu.org.uk/about-us/podcast/ 

To join UCU go to ⁠https://www.ucu.org.uk/join  

Direct links to the LeedsUCU podcast  

Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2Ht1Iks9WPR6qbmGXXOXfS 

Amazon Podcasts https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/1f16de89-30ec-444a-83ac-54bcbe0bcac6/leedsucu-podcast 

Pocket Casts https://pca.st/pacoaeqd 

Also available on Apple Podcasts 

Transcript 

Intro 

Rachel 

Welcome to the LeedsUCU podcast for members of the University of Leeds branch of the University and College Union. I’m Rachel Walls, one of your podcast hosts. I’m also a UCU department rep for Lifelong Learning Centre, branch committee member and saxophone or clarinet player in our occasional picket line band Orchestrike! 

Alan 

And I’m Alan Smith, co-host for this podcast, and the branch’s administrator and organiser. We thought it would be useful for members of the branch to have an alternative channel for getting your local news because reading long emails or website posts is not everyone’s first choice. 

Rachel 

So we’re here to be a friendly voice from the UCU University of Leeds branch to keep you in better touch with what is going on, such as what the elected officers are working on and what opportunities there are for you to get involved in UCU discussions, socialising, activism and decision making. 

[Brief music] 

Rachel  

Hi everyone for today’s branch news, which we’re recording on the 5th of December 2024, we have Jenny Rivas Perez to give us an update on what’s been going on in the branch. 

Alan 

Hi, Jenny. 

Jenny 

Hi there. 

Alan 

So the first thing I wanted to ask you about is, a while back we had the paying grading review, which looked at where the pay for people in grades two to nine sat on the pay spine and a lot of members have been asking what about members on grade 10. What about staff on grade 10? What’s been happening with that? 

Jenny 

Well, we’ve been, we’ve asked about that. And what we’ve discovered is, is that the university has started working on it and what they’re doing at the moment is they’re gathering together all the market information just to make sure that pay is fair and competitive compared to the professional roles and for the professorial roles compared to where it’s at, at other places. And and they did this when they were looking at grades 2 to 9 before. So once this work finishes, we expect them to follow a similar sort of process that they went through on working on grades 2 to 9 and they should be working at that point, bringing it to the unions and working in partnership with us. So essentially negotiating with us on that. 

Alan 

So when the university has looked at all this data, and assuming that they find that with grade 10, as with the grades 2:00 to 9:00 they are underpaying in effect, have we got any indication of when the well when the negotiations will start on sorting that out? And I suppose consequently when pay might improve, assuming it would be an improvement. 

Jenny 

Well, we’re told it’s quite a complicated piece of work looking at the market, that there are a lot of things to actually look at there for grade 10s. So they have a rough idea of when it’s going to happen and I think we should start to see it coming to the unions next summer. It’s also running alongside the Career Pathways project. So it’s aligned to that and so there’s discussion in there also about career pathways to be had as well at that point. One thing to say is that phase three of the two to nine regrading project will be coming in next September that will have some impact on those at the bottom of grade 10. And so I do know that HR are talking about looking at those at the bottom of grade 10 and making sure that at that point that they are not disadvantaged compared to those at the top of grade 9. 

Alan 

We’ll get more information. As things progressed then. 

Jenny 

As things progress, yes. 

Alan 

OK, So what else has been going on in the negotiations and consultations with the university? 

Jenny 

So we’ve been talking to university management about problems that. Some researchers, particularly at Grade 7, have been having with relocation expenses, so it’s been a bit patchy about whether or not people who come to work at the university have been able to actually or have been offered relocation expenses when they’ve started working. And so we’re talking to management about why this is so patchy and whether we can do something about that. So watch this space I think is the message at the moment about this, but it is on the agenda.  

The other thing that’s been happening is we’ve been. Once again, part of the ongoing conversation about employment terms for hourly pay, and we’ve raised this again at our latest joint negotiating meeting with the university as well. So just to, you know, let members know that you know this isn’t slipping off the agenda that we are still talking about this to manage. 

Alan 

So away from the negotiation stuff the branches for a while has been putting stuff out on various social media platforms and there has been a kind of catastrophic decline of ex or Twitter under its current ownership and that was discussed at the all members meeting this week or last week, probably as you listen to this. 

Jenny 

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, and the motion that came forward, I mean it made some really good points about how not only is X an unpleasant place to be, but actually it’s an unsafe place for people to actually interact with, and should we really be encouraging people to engage on Twitter? With all the sorts of dialogue that goes on there, and the sorts of things that are you are confronted with, if you have to go onto Twitter. That has opened up the space to think about that, and the committee are thinking about now whether to leave Twitter. So the the motion came forward and it was an indicative vote because unfortunately, the meeting wasn’t quorate, but it was I think, virtually 100% backing. To to leave Twitter, committee has to consider that indicative vote and and also think about an exit strategy from X. I think we’re calling it TweXit! How do we leave gracefully from Twitter and still retain rights over our branch names on Twitter and the like. So, we need to give it some consideration. But but yes, it’s on the the committees agenda to discuss this indicative vote. 

Alan 

And so we’re already on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ucuatleeds and we’re on. Blue sky. 

Jenny 

Blue sky, yeah. 

Alan 

@leedsucu, which is a bit unfortunate for all the other branches in Leeds, but we’ve been using leedsucu for a long time anyway, so that’s what we are on that. We are also on Mastodon, but with Mastodon, you’ve got loads of different servers. We’re on one called Union.Place, so it’s leedsucu@Union.place 

Jenny 

Yeah, well, I’ve joined the branch on Blue Sky. I’ve yet to work out how to work Mastodon. But then I’m not really an early adopter of such things. 

Alan 

That’s where it where it should be (Mastodon). It’ll be better. Everyone should go on there. But anyway.  

Rachel… 

Rachel 

So Jenny, we wanted to ask you what is coming up over the next couple of weeks; the branch has various working groups that any member can join. There’s information on our website https://www.leedsucu.org.uk/ if anyone wants to get involved. Are any of those meetings soon? Is there any news? 

Jenny 

Well, I’m quite excited because we’ve just rebooted, this year, the Equalities working group. We’ve had a lot of people come forward wanting to join the working group, so many, in fact, that I had to split the initial meeting in order to when, when using Doodle Poll, it was just really impossible to get everybody in the same room at the same time. So I’ve had a meeting a couple of weeks ago for an initial meeting with some members and I’ve got the second initial meeting tomorrow with the rest of the members so that everybody gets to come to the first meeting. So two chances at that.  

But just to say it’s not static on the working group. Some people will have quite a lot to contribute on certain topics. Others will will be able to sort of dip in and out when it’s when things are of most interest to them and and if anybody else wants to come and join the equalities working group just get in touch with me (ucu@leeds.ac.uk) because I’m really keen that we get as many people on board as possible.  

It’s really important actually in this year because we have this huge amount of work that HR is sort of putting towards us in terms of the policy renewal. Equalities really is the thread that runs through all of that, all the renewal, and we really do need people’s expertise in this as well. So members come from right across the university with lots of different expertise, lots of different experience in equalities. And we can use that you know and it would really help us with this, and there are lots of things that are you know.  

For example, I talked in the last podcast when I was here about the the motions that were passed on maternity leave and partner leave. These particular policies are coming up for renewal soon. And so that’s something that I’m personally really keen for the equalities working group to look at. There are other things that are coming up as well. So we’re hearing things about reasonable adjustments passports and things like that, and this is the sort of thing that the equalities working group really help with, advising officers and committee. When we’re doing work on that, those sorts of issues in, in, in the branch and of the university. 

Rachel 

Great. So it’s a good time to get involved and have an impact while this policy review is going on. Are there any more events in the calendar this year? 

Jenny 

Well, there’s Christmas carols. So there’s lunchtime Christmas carols on Thursday the 12th of December. I believe we want people to meet up at the Wavy bacon statue (Beech Grove Plaza) at midday. And it will be special versions of Christmas carols so please do come home and this soon. We’re going to have some musicians there as well, Rachel. 

Rachel 

Yes, I believe so. I’ll be one of those. But I think there are others and there is a songbook on Wikipedia. You may have the link from previous strike singalongs. So do you look that up and come along with a mobile or something so you can learn the words well, not learn the words, just join in with the words. All right.  

Well, thank you very much Jenny, for coming along to tell us the branch news. 

Jenny 

Oh no problem. 

Rachel 

And this is probably the last podcast before the end of the year. So, we hope all members have a restful and enjoyable Christmas break. Thanks both. 

[Everyone saying thanks and bye]. 

[Brief music] 

Outro 

Rachel 

That’s all for today’s Leeds UCU podcast. Thank you for listening. Please subscribe on whatever platform you’re listening to us on, so you’ll know as soon as we publish our next episode. 

Alan 

If you’re not yet a member of UCU, head to ucu.org.uk/join to find out more if you work at the University of Leeds in an academic or academic related, professional or managerial role, or as a postgraduate student doing paid teaching. Wherever you work, make sure you join the union for your workplace. 

Rachel 

This podcast is made on behalf of the committee of the University and College Union, University of Leeds Branch. If you have any questions or concerns, please e-mail our branch offices at ucu@leeds.ac.uk. See our website leedsucu.org.uk for alternative contact details and for a transcript of this episode. 

LeedsUCU podcast: update on anti-casualisation work

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

LeedsUCU podcast Year 2 episode 2: Update on anti-casualisation work

Today’s episode, recorded 6 November 2024, is an update on the UCU branch’s anti-causalisation work.

With Sandy James, Rachel Walls and Alan Smith.

If you prefer your union branch news direct to your ears, search for LeedsUCU wherever you get your podcasts, and subscribe so you get notified about new episodes. 

See all the episodes and transcripts at https://www.leedsucu.org.uk/about-us/podcast/

To join UCU go to ⁠https://www.ucu.org.uk/join

Direct links to the LeedsUCU podcast 

Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2Ht1Iks9WPR6qbmGXXOXfS

Amazon Podcasts https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/1f16de89-30ec-444a-83ac-54bcbe0bcac6/leedsucu-podcast

Pocket Casts https://pca.st/pacoaeqd

Also available on Apple Podcasts

Transcript

Rachel

Welcome to the LeedsUCU podcast for members of the University of Leeds branch of the University and College Union. I’m Rachel Walls, one of your podcast hosts. I’m also a UCU department rep for Lifelong Learning Centre, branch committee member and saxophone or clarinet player in our occasional picket line band Orchestrike!

Alan

And I’m Alan Smith, co-host for this podcast, and the branch’s administrator and organiser. We thought it would be useful for members of the branch to have an alternative channel for getting your local news because reading long emails or website posts is not everyone’s first choice.

Rachel

So we’re here to be a friendly voice from the UCU University of Leeds branch to keep you in better touch with what is going on, such as what the elected officers are working on and what opportunities there are for you to get involved in UCU discussions, socialising, activism and decision making.

[Brief music]

Rachel

Hi everyone and we’re joined by Sandy James today, branch anti-casualisation officer, and he’s going to give us some insights into the work the branch has been doing in this. area recently. Would you be able to give us a bit of an overview of what LeedsUCU has done around anti-casualisation over the last few years?

Sandy

Yeah. Thanks for having me and really good to be able to talk to members like this. So the last few years in anti-casualisation at Leeds UCU have been kind of dominated by this thing called Fairer Futures For All. Which is where the university said that within certain conditions, lots of people who were on fixed term contracts would be made ongoing. And there were some really sort of low hanging fruit there and people who were core funded by the university and things like support roles – admissions would be an example – where they should probably never have been fixed term and it was sort of a no brainer and it just made everyone’s lives easier. At the other end of the spectrum, for people on, for example, research contracts who are very often fixed term on the basis of external funding there has still been an improvement there in in terms of the support available to people in terms of the user experience, if you like, of the kind of end of a research project, there has been an improvement and I would say that that continues as everyone throughout the system understands the new process properly. I should say we do still have people on fixed term contracts and that is still an issue and there are particular areas, for example, sessional teaching, people supervising dissertation projects, and so there is ongoing work there as well. We do also still have on our radar work to support postgraduate researchers who teach, and looking at the kinds of employment contracts that are used for those people, and also looking at other forms of hourly paid work within the university.

Alan

So can I just say that Fairer Future For All stuff, that didn’t come out of nowhere, did it, that came from UCU was in dispute with the university over among other things, anti-casualisation, and the university suddenly announced “Fairer Future For All!”.

Sandy

Yeah. So the context around that was this was in the summer of 2022. So all of this has been a little while in the works and we were in dispute nationally including over the four fights – casualization, workload, equalities and pay – and we actually had a marking and assessment boycott in the University of Leeds, which is considered to be one of our strongest forms of industrial action, and, to end that locally, management made an agreement to do a piece of work on this and I would say Fairer Futures For All is certainly the thing that has delivered a part of that promise. Now there are other things within that agreement that, as I’ve said, are still ongoing, hourly paid, PGR, for example, that also delivered the pay and grading review, which I imagine we’ve talked about elsewhere in the podcast.

Rachel

Yeah, we have, yeah. And what has been your role in other officers’ roles since, like during, the Fairer Futures For All roll-out, if we can call it that?

Sandy

Yeah. So it’s been it’s been really important to have people who have experience. I’m on the casualization spectrum but at the least casualized end of it these days, but I have been through the whole development and it’s very important to have people feeding into me. So I do a lot of casework supporting other people going through risk of redundancy, for example, but being, I would say, being the tester, so the person who says OK, well, if you tell managers they can do that, then they’re going to go and do this, and actually if you don’t clarify that bit, that leaves it open for people to do this, and really just giving that lived experience to the HR officers who don’t operate within that, not just on behalf of myself, but on behalf of all members. So collating that experience from members and then presenting it to management, as anyone does for their bargaining unit.

Alan

So the new policies that are in place now are they agreed policies that have come out of the negotiations or not? Where are we with that?

Sandy

So the policies are in the process of being agreed. So partly, that is because we are still kind of ironing out some of these things that aren’t clear and where we found differing practise across the university, differing interpretations of the way that these policies are written. And also the nature of some of these policies is such that we do ask region for support, so UCU Yorkshire region are, you know, looking at these policies as they develop and supporting us with that negotiation process.

Alan

So the policies have improved, but we’re not quite at that agreement point?

Sandy

I would say so. Yeah. And that’s it’s sort of separate to the fact that conditions have improved for some people, but that there are still issues as well. So there’s kind of two sides to it.

Alan

So if a member’s coming towards the end of their fixed term contract – well, I wouldn’t say near the end – if you’ve got, I don’t know, a year to go, six months to go, what’s the best point at which to get in touch? What should members do if they’re in that situation?

Sandy

In my experience, most people start to think about where their next job is coming from about a year before the end of their current activity. At about 6 months they will receive an e-mail from HR which says: we think you’re at risk of redundancy, we’ve asked a university panel to approve that and we’d like you to come into a meeting with your line manager and HR. And at that point, understandably, people get quite scared because that’s quite a serious communication to receive and so I would advise people, certainly before the six month process to reach out to the branch ucu@leeds.co.uk.

Alan

ucu@leeds.ac.uk.

Sandy

And request a caseworker. And we have very experienced caseworkers in this area who understand the policy and the procedure through and through and will support you through that process. It’s a very common thing. Lots of people are doing it and we’re here to help.

Alan

So when they’ve contacted the case worker, and the case worker is going to try and support them through what this new process is, how’s this new process work and how’s it different from what there was before, the – what’s the policy? – employment security for staff on fixed term contracts?

Sandy

The procedure to support employment security, it’s a very long name. That no longer exists, but much of what happens is the same. So there’s a meeting six months before the end of contract where the individual is told that they are at risk of redundancy and they’re introduced to the package of support that the university offers to try and retain that person and that mostly relies on the redeployment process, so the notion that internal candidates are given a bit of an advantage in application for posts before they’re advertised externally. Then if we get to three months before end of activity and there’s still no new position, then that person is put to the panel again. That’s called the stage 2 redundancy panel, and that’s the point at which the panel confirms that that person can be made redundant and a redundancy issued notice is issued and now for most people who are grade 7 or below, their notice period will be 3 months. So that’s why the panel happens at that time because people have to be given formal notice. That doesn’t mean that the story’s over. Redeployment, external application for funding, etc. can all continue right up until the last day of employment, and a caseworker would be available to support people through that. I just want to say one quick clarification as well. I’m talking about end of activity, here. One of the sort of fundamental movements that we have succeeded in at the university is to stop talking about the end of external fixed funding as the end of employment, because whilst the activity you’re funded on might be ending, that does not mean that we don’t need, for example, post-doctoral research fellows at the university anymore. It’s not redundancy in the usual sense of a role being made redundant. It is the end of an activity which is funded.

Rachel

Hmm, OK. And should the university be leaving it to when the individual’s at risk of redundancy, or should they be planning ahead to avoid this?

Sandy

In an ideal case, yes, we would have some sort of notion of how to avoid this ahead of time and there is a process which has been introduced for that which is called workforce planning and it’s important to distinguish this from the process by which the schools within the university manage their teaching workload because it’s not the same as that, workforce planning simply says: we have a role coming up and we have some people who whose current activity is ending, and here are their skills profiles, and oh look, one of them matches this role, we can give them the role. It retains people, it supports career progression and it avoids a lot of work which would be required for recruitment. I would say it’s not in very widespread use. Some areas of the university are doing it quite well. Some areas I’m not convinced they’ve heard of it.

Alan

But this is new for them, isn’t it? I think this is new from this process. And so is the idea that managers are supposed to be actively focusing on creating that stability in the workforce.

Sandy

Heads of school, heads of service are being asked to be proactive. Yeah. So it’s a little bit above line manager for a lot of people, but then actually, those people – heads of school – certainly do line manage a lot of people. So it’s, yeah, there is a proactive process and I would say it is growing, more people are taking it up and it is being used and part of that is about is about having case studies where we say this person was retained and it was great, they were the right person for that role.

Rachel

Yeah. That makes sense to keep the talent and the skills and the developed people that we have. So it’s good that there is more movement towards that. Is this likely to – the whole fixed term contracts and casualisation – how does this affect people’s careers progression?

Sandy

Yeah, it has a really profound effect. The notion of secure employment supporting you to develop in your career. Whereas, for example, if you’re running from six month contract to six month contract and you’re constantly applying for extensions, you never have the time to develop your skill set and reach that next level. And it also leads to the sense of precarity of individuals not feeling safe in their employment and that adds, alongside workload issues that we all have, to a poor mental health. So security is really important to support people’s well-being, but also their career progression. And there’s a few things that I think it’s really important for members to be aware of. And without going too much into the arcane history of how this came about, the local implementation framework for the national pay spine. So that’s the agreement where UCU and the University of Leeds sat down and worked out, OK, we are nationally required to adhere to this pay spine, how are we going to do that locally? – in that document it says no one, regardless of role, will get stuck at the top of grade 7. That is an agreement between the university and the union, and it is poorly adhered to. So one thing I as anti-casualisation officer, I would really encourage members to reach out again to the union, ucu@leeds.ac.uk and ask for support with career progression as well as with retention and risk of redundancy because we can support you with case studies of people who’ve successfully applied for promotion, looking at if you’re not ready for promotion, if you haven’t met the criteria, why is that? What support should you have had and how can we push for that? And so that’s one thing I wanted to say. Hopefully all of this will get better without tonnes and tonnes of work from us because there is a big project underway across the university about career pathways and so we’re hearing the Explore phase of that, where they look at what practises and what the issues are, is coming to an end. We should be brought an update about that soon and we can start to contribute again into the development phase of: how might we change that? what will be the plan for the future? So that’s a big ongoing project that we’re very aware of. It’s affecting lots of other things at the university and that I think it’s really important for members to know that that work is being done.

Rachel

Good to know. So, moving on to our next section of the podcast. We just like to give members a bit of a heads-up on upcoming events and I think there’s just one today. Do you want to tell us a little bit about the next meeting in our calendar?

Sandy

Yeah. So we have a meeting which is open to all of our membership, on the meeting itself will be on the 3rd of December, Tuesday the 3rd. And as usual, the meeting will run from 12:45 till 2:00 PM. And this is an opportunity for our branch to come together to decide branch policy and to task the branch, the committee and the officers with behaving in a particular way, with working on a particular issue, whatever it is that the membership wants. That’s our democratic decision-making body and there’s a deadline to submit motions to that which is at 12:00 PM on Tuesday the 26th of November. So get your motions written, get them in by then.

Rachel

Yeah. Still a couple of weeks to have a think in case there’s anything you want to submit.

Alan

Yeah. And if you’ve got an idea for something that the union should be doing, but you’ve no idea how to write a motion, I think, you know, talk to your department rep or if you haven’t got a department rep e-mail, ucu@leeds.ac.uk and say how do I turn this idea into a motion of that kind of standard format? And somebody will be able to help with that.

Rachel

Absolutely. Well, thanks, Alan. And Sandy, thank you for coming and telling us about the work around anti-casualisation. We will speak to you soon!

[Everyone saying thanks and bye].

 [Brief music]

Rachel

That’s all for today’s LeedsUCU podcast. Thank you for listening. Please subscribe on whatever platform you’re listening to us on, so you’ll know as soon as we publish our next episode.

Alan

If you’re not yet a member of UCU, head to ucu.org.uk/join to find out more if you work at the University of Leeds in an academic or academic related, professional or managerial role, or as a postgraduate student doing paid teaching. Wherever you work, make sure you join the union for your workplace.

Rachel

This podcast is made on behalf of the committee of the University and College Union, University of Leeds Branch. If you have any questions or concerns, please e-mail our branch offices at ucu@leeds.ac.uk. See our website leedsucu.org.uk for alternative contact details and for a transcript of this episode.

LeedsUCU podcast: branch news 25 October 2024

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

LeedsUCU podcast Year 2 episode 1: branch news 25 October 2024

In today’s episode (recorded 23 October): new committee and officers, pay and grading review for grade 10, HR policies review, annual leave policy, national pay and conditions negotiations, maternity pay policy and paternity or partner leave policy, next general meeting, Leeds trade union council sing-along

With Aisha Walker, Jenny Rivas Perez, Rachel Walls and Alan Smith.

If you prefer your union branch news direct to your ears, search for LeedsUCU wherever you get your podcasts, and subscribe so you get notified about new episodes. 

See all the episodes and transcripts at https://www.leedsucu.org.uk/about-us/podcast/

To join UCU go to ⁠https://www.ucu.org.uk/join

Direct links to the LeedsUCU podcast 

Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2Ht1Iks9WPR6qbmGXXOXfS

Amazon Podcasts https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/1f16de89-30ec-444a-83ac-54bcbe0bcac6/leedsucu-podcast

Pocket Casts https://pca.st/pacoaeqd

Also available on Apple Podcasts

Transcript

Intro

Rachel

Welcome to the LeedsUCU podcast for members of the University of Leeds branch of the University and College Union. I’m Rachel Walls, one of your podcast hosts. I’m also a UCU department rep for Lifelong Learning Centre, branch committee member and saxophone or clarinet player in our occasional picket line band Orchestrike!

Alan

And I’m Alan Smith, co-host for this podcast, and the branch’s administrator and organiser. We thought it would be useful for members of the branch to have an alternative channel for getting your local news because reading long emails or website posts is not everyone’s first choice.

Rachel

So we’re here to be a friendly voice from the UCU University of Leeds branch to keep you in better touch with what is going on, such as what the elected officers are working on and what opportunities there are for you to get involved in UCU discussions, socialising, activism and decision making.

[Brief music]

Hi everyone, welcome to the Leeds UCU podcast. Today we are joined by Aisha worker, interim branch president and Jenny Rivas Perez, branch vice president to give us the latest news. It’s been a while since we had a podcast. Last one went out on the 19th of July towards the end of the last academic year, so we’ve got quite a lot of catching up to do today.

Alan

So first thing, because we’re in the new academic year, that means Members have elected a new committee. So where are we with that? Aisha ohh.

Aisha

Oh well, obviously, welcome back, everybody for the new academic year. It’s really nice to see a few new faces on committee and also in our officer team. So particular welcome to Anja Komatar and Abdul-Bashid Shaikh who are job sharing the role of campaigns officer. As Rachel said, I’m actually interim president. I’m really the immediate past president, but I’m acting into the role of president for the time being, covering the role. But I’m really delighted that Jenny Rivas Perez has stepped up into the role of Vice President. That’s fantastic, Jenny, thank you very much.

Alan

So at the end of last year, we had the pay and regrading negotiations which resulted in a pay uplift, unrelated to the national pay negotiations, but resulted in a pay uplift for staff up to Grade 9, which is excellent and at the time one of the things that UCU was asking is: “What about grade 10?” So where are we with that?

Aisha

Thank you, Alan. Yes. So members at grade 2 to 9 should have seen the impact of the pay and grading review in their pay slips over the last couple of months, and, as you said, Alan, this is not part of the national negotiations. So the national negotiations look at the pay spine and how much money is at each point on the spine. But every university has autonomy when it comes to deciding how they set their pay grades on the national spine, So what Leeds has done is it pushed every grade in the 2 to 9 bands up one spine point. But they haven’t yet done grade 10, and this is one of the things that we really need to know and that we’re going to be discussing with management at our next joint committee, is what’s happening with grade 10. We were told that this is going to happen and that it will also be related to the career pathways work that the university is embarking on, but we would really like to see – we really need actually more information about the process and the time scale. When we put the pay and grading review to the vote, members voted overwhelmingly to accept the offer, and that includes people at grade 10. So you know, we think, well, you supported your colleagues in grades 2 to 9 to get their pay boost, and now it’s your turn. And we want to make sure that you get it.

Alan

So I understand that the university is reviewing all of its HR policies and it’s trying to set in place a new process for doing that. What’s going on with that?

Aisha

Yes. So, as you said, the university is undertaking a review of all of its policies and this is really important. It’s really important for everybody and it’s also really important for trade unions because the policies form part of the employment terms and conditions and so they have to be negotiated and agreed with the trade unions, not just us, all the campus trade unions. The stage we’re at at the moment is trying to agree the terms of reference for the review. As I said, it’s really important, these are part of the terms and conditions, and if we don’t achieve successful outcomes in negotiations, there’s a chance that that one or more of the unions may go into dispute with the university. I don’t know if members are aware, but the university runs two types of process: consultation and negotiation. And consultation is really where they’re just asking the trade unions opinion about something and they don’t have to take that into account. So a very simple thing that where we would expect to see consultation is on things like the Staff Engagement Survey. They’ll tell us about how they’re going to do it, they’ll ask, they’ll tell us about the questions, they’ll ask what we think. And they may or may not take that into account. But negotiation is a formal process that is done through our joint committees and which has to come to an agreement that both parties can live with. It may not be an ideal outcome, but both parties know that we can live with it. And that’s the case with employment terms and conditions. They don’t just ask our opinion and then go with whatever they think these have to be negotiated. And if negotiations don’t come to agreement, as I said, we could end up with dispute.

Alan

So, and sort of related to that, the annual leave policy, we have an annual leave policy for staff who are academic or academic related or professional or managerial. And a different annual leave policy for the university support staff, which is negotiated with unison and unite. But I understand that in the midst of discussions about a change in that annual leave policy, a version has gone out into the wild in some areas.

Aisha

Yes. So we have had, historicall,y we’ve had two different policies for support staff and for academic and academic related professional staff, and these are being combined as part of the policy review. These are being combined into one policy. This does form part of our terms and conditions. So it does need to be negotiated with the trade unions and we haven’t yet reached agreement. But as you said, it has actually gone out into the wild, it has been made public in some areas, but we have written to the university to point out the areas of disagreement. So, yeah, that is, that’s an ongoing negotiation over the annual leave policy.

Alan

So at the moment, do members need to do anything? If they’re asked, you know, to follow policy and they’re not sure whether or not that’s the same as is in their terms and conditions, do they need to do anything like contact UCU, or do they need to object to an apparent imposition? Or are we still at a kind of waiting to see stage?

Aisha

So, to be honest, I imagine that for most people the process of booking annual leave will be as it always has been. But if you do have any problems with your management then please get in touch with UCU. So one example might be, it has never been university policy that staff involved in teaching can’t take leave during teaching time, during teaching semesters, if your manager says that they will not allow leave during the teaching periods and points to the new policy, which doesn’t actually say that, but, you know, they could point to something else in the new policy and say, well, it says here, then you need to contact ucu@leeds.ac.uk.

Rachel

OK. It’s great to hear what UCU officers have been busy with locally, but we wondered if there were any updates on the national front, specifically in relation to pay and conditions?

Aisha

Well, we know that negotiations are ongoing and we’ve had some updates from the General Secretary, we haven’t actually as officers, we haven’t heard anything that’s substantially different from the things that have gone out to all members. So we know that agreement hasn’t been reached and we believe that we may be expecting a consultative ballot. So really it’s a kind of watch this space, something may happen and we will see. Of course, what the decisions that a union makes at this point, may be affected by the legislation that’s currently going through Parliament, because an act has it’s gone through the first stage and was passed, that would repeal a lot of the 2016 Act and that includes things like the minimum thresholds, voting thresholds for industrial action, so that may influence some of the things that unions decide to do. We’ll have to just wait and see.

Rachel

Absolutely. Yeah. That’s a good point. To return to local discussions, thhe university trade unions and the university management meet regularly on a committee. So is there anything else to report from that in recent months?

Aisha

Yes. So we have a, we call it JCUU, joint committee of the university and the union. Each union has its own joint committee with the university. And we’re meeting – we have our first meeting of the year. We meet four times a year. Our first meeting is next week. We’ve got quite a busy agenda. It includes things like the terms of reference for the policy review, annual leave, as we’ve already mentioned, workload modelling. What else have we got on it? We’ve got car parking because we know that a number of people have been concerned about the recent the rises that have been announced, the cost, the price rises for car parking. This is something that was presented to the unions. We weren’t even really consulted about it, we were just told it’s going to happen. And we know that a number of people are unhappy about it. And something else that we’ve got on the agenda for next week is parental leave. I’m going to let Jenny talk about that.

Rachel

That would be great. We had a general meeting recently where some motions were passed, didn’t we? So it was great to have members votes on those, votes in favour. If you’d like to tell us a bit more about them that would be great, Jenny.

Jenny

Yeah. So at the last general meeting, we passed 2 motions asking the university to change its approach to supporting new parents. We know that family friendly policies that offer practical support to new parents will help to retain female staff and will help to reduce the gender pay gap at the same time, and we also know that, sadly, with the arrival of children, that the gender pay gap, that’s when it really starts to affect women at work and actually it turns into a lifelong wealth gap as well. So these motions are there to help address that. Because at the moment, enhanced maternity pay is only available at the university if you’ve worked for worked there for a year, and this can cause real hardship to people who end up taking maternity leave in their first year of employment at the university. It can mean that they’re forced to make some really hard choices, and perhaps have to return to work sooner than would be ideal for them. So we want to see this changed so that there are enhanced maternity benefits from day one. And really in the larger scheme of things, it’s not really a change that should cost our employer too much. It shouldn’t make a difference whether people choose to take their maternity leave in year one, year 2, year 3 of employment if they’re employed over many, many years by the university. But to individuals, it really could make all the difference. It’ll make the difference to how they plan their families and their lives to their family finances, and also how they feel about the universities as an employer. And their inclination to continue working at the university, you know, when they return from maternity leave. So that’s about the changes that we want to see to the maternity leave policy. The other policy is the paternity or partner leave policy and we want to see more generous paid leave on that. Currently it’s two weeks. But we’d like to see a longer amount of time offered and for it to be paid so that people are encouraged to take it up. Because we know that new mothers need their partner’s help when a new baby arrives, and we also know that there’s a really strong link between equal, more equal parenting and ensuring that new mothers return to their chosen career plan. These are career paths that they’ve trained for and that they’ve invested a lot in and we’re talking about highly skilled people that work at the university that we don’t want to lose. And so finally, we also know that with equal parenting there is a link with lowering gender pay gaps and we want to close the gender pay gaps in this country, not just at the university, but you know, in society in general. So it’s for these reasons that many other universities, I think there’s about 17 or 18 and counting, have already introduced these measures. The maternity leave from day one and longer partner leave. So, and currently at Leeds, our mean gender pay gap is sitting at 18.2% and anything the university can do to reduce this should be done. There has been progress since 2017 when reporting of the gender pay gap began, but the figure is still shamefully high. I mean, the national mean gender pay gap, for comparison is 8.7%. So we need action on this. And now is a good time, as we’ve been talking about the review of policies, that HR’s looking at policies, now is a really good time to sort of bring these motions, for these motions to have been brought forward by the general meeting, because hopefully we can we can get HR to agree with us about how these particular policies should be improved.

Rachel

Absolutely. Fingers crossed. Yeah, I think it’s a good as good an idea as our members did. And talking of general meetings, there is another opportunity – there’s regular opportunities throughout the year – so could you tell us about the next one, the next opportunity to come along, potentially submit a motion or at least vote upon the motions that others have submitted?

Jenny

Yeah. So the next one’s 3rd of December. As usual, we start at quarter to one in the afternoon. And so it’s an hour and 15 minutes. And you need to submit motions by midday on the 26th of November.

Rachel

Thank you. And that is an opportunity for people to put forward their own ideas about how we should influence or try and influence the university.

Jenny

Absolutely.

Rachel

So in addition to general meetings, there are also often social opportunities with UCU, so we try to flag some of those. Alan, could you tell us a bit about an upcoming social opportunity?

Alan

So thanks, Rachel. Strictly speaking, not a UCU social, but UCU is a member of the Leeds Trades Union Council. And the Leeds TUC has a sing along every year. Well, I say every year this is the second of them. But its intention is to do it every year and it’s a social event for trade union members who live or work in Leeds to go and sing along to songs about trade union type stuff. And if you don’t know any of those songs, which many of us won’t, you get a songbook when you turn up and you can join in in the choruses, and that’s what it’s for. And it’s not a serious musical event, it’s a social join-y-in-y in sort of event. So if you’re a UCU member, check your e-mail. We’ve sent you the details through about, how to get tickets and go along to that. So if you do go, I’ll see you there.

Rachel

Thanks so much, Alan, and thanks for bringing us the branch news, Aisha and Jenny it’s been good to see you all and we’ll see you soon.

[Thanks and byes]

[Brief music]

Outro

Rachel

That’s all for today’s LeedsUCU podcast. Thank you for listening. Please subscribe on whatever platform you’re listening to us on, so you’ll know as soon as we publish our next episode.

Alan

If you’re not yet a member of UCU, head to ucu.org.uk/join to find out more if you work at the University of Leeds in an academic or academic related, professional or managerial role, or as a postgraduate student doing paid teaching. Wherever you work, make sure you join the union for your workplace.

Rachel

This podcast is made on behalf of the committee of the University and College Union, University of Leeds Branch. If you have any questions or concerns, please e-mail our branch offices at ucu@leeds.ac.uk. See our website leedsucu.org.uk for alternative contact details and for a transcript of this episode.

Leeds Trades Council (Leeds TUC) sing-along 16th November

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

The 2024 Leeds trades council (Leeds TUC) sing-along is being held 7pm – 10pm, Saturday 16 November at The Holbeck.

Please do come and join in if you can. It’s about socialising and passing on shared struggle and shared history through songs.

It’s a social event not a serious singing event. The songs will be sung by someone who knows it (some regular musicians, some just trade union members who fancy leading a song) and you will all get a song book so you can join in with the choruses.

There will be songs about trade unions, socialism, equality and liberation. Some old songs, some newer ones. This year, some songs about the 1984 miner’s strike (40 years ago).

Please come to the sing-along. You can buy tickets at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/leeds-tuc-singalong-miners-strike-40th-anniversary-tickets-930319961047

More information

There’s a Facebook event if you like to be reminded that way https://www.facebook.com/events/3756761431201891

The Holbeck (or The Holbeck Working Men’s Club) address is Jenkinson Lawn, Holbeck, Leeds LS11 9QX

It is thought to be the oldest surviving working men’s social club (1877). (The club ceased to be men-only many decades ago.)

The event is in a room with a bar serving alcohol.

The Holbeck has a ramped entrance and a stairlift to the upstairs performance space. There is a small car park with some accessible spaces, and a wheelchair accessible toilet on the ground floor. Public transport is not great and I would recommend arranging lifts or taxis for the end of the event.

The event is in a wide function room with chairs grouped around small tables. There is a small stage with steps to it. People leading songs will do so either from the stage or the floor in front of the stage, either standing or sitting, with microphones and a PA system.

The venue has a basic air conditioning system and windows only open a small amount at one side of the wide room, and we don’t have airflow data for the room.

You should not attend any communal singing event if you have covid 19 symptoms, cold or flu symptoms, or have any reason to think you may have such a virus.

Department rep by-elections October 2024

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

Department representatives by-election October 2024

The branch committee has called a by-election for where there are department rep roles available, because the election was held later into the summer than originally planned and some members missed the election.

Please think about who would be good to be a UCU rep for your department. In my view, a good union rep will often be someone that colleagues have confidence in, whose judgement they trust, and who is a good listener.

You can find out more about the roles of UCU reps at ucu.org.uk/rep

The deadline for nominations is 12pm Thursday 31 October.

What does a UCU department rep do?

A network of department reps across the university is crucial for maintaining and increasing the strength of the union and ensuring the branch committee learns about problems in different areas.

UCU department reps are a point of contact for union members in that school, department, service or area, and they alert the branch committee to issues concerning members in their area.

Department reps are not always caseworkers and are not expected to represent members in their area with individual problems (although many department reps are caseworkers, supporting members in other departments). Department reps don’t negotiate with local management on behalf of the union – all consultation and negotiation with UCU is done centrally by the negotiating team.

Department reps will try to welcome new staff and make sure they know about the union.

Department rep roles

The committee changed the roles and boundaries changed for the 2024-2026 term of office, with the aim of members electing teams of reps to work together in their area.

See below for who your elected reps are and where there are still vacancies. (This is a by-election, which means you do not need to re-nominate reps who are already elected for 2024-2026.)

Instead of nominating for particular department rep roles or areas of focus (anti-casualisation, postgraduate, equality) these can be agreed later between the department reps elected. (Anyone taking a particular role is also still a general department rep.) This should give reps more flexibility if someone moves mid-term.

In a large department, if a rep wants, the website could list a specific work area to help members to find them and to decide who might best understand their issue. For example, a department rep for the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies might want to be listed with “(French)” after their name, but they would still be a rep for the whole school.

The number listed for health and safety reps includes workload reps. (You can specify “workload rep” or “health and safety rep” in your nominations if you wish but a health and safety reps can change focus to being a workload rep and vice versa, subject to appointment by the health and safety officer and appropriate training.)

Nominations

To nominate a colleague (with their agreement!) please email ucu@leeds.ac.uk, ideally include the word “nomination” in the email subject, saying, for example:

Dear UCU branch administrator

I wish to nominate James Smith for UCU department rep for the School of English

Yours faithfully

Maria García Sánchez

Each candidate needs two nominations by the deadline and to have confirmed by the deadline that they are willing to stand to be eligible for election. Nominations normally have to be from UCU members in the same department, but exceptions can be made for very small departments.

It would be helpful if candidates could arrange to be nominated by not more than two colleagues, copying you in so you know it’s been sent, as excess nominations create unnecessary work.

Department reps and remaining roles available

Professional services

Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures

Faculty of Biological Sciences

Faculty of Business

Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences

Faculty of Environment

Faculty of Medicine and Health

Faculty of Social Sciences

Professional services

Digital Education Service

Claudia Rogers, department rep

Remaining roles available:
1 health and safety rep

Human Resources including ODPL

Jenny Rivas Perez, department rep

Remaining roles available:
3 department reps
4 health and safety reps

IT

Andi Rylands, department rep

Louise Marr, department rep

Remaining roles available:
4 department reps
6 health and safety reps

Library

Emily Haikney, department rep

Remaining roles available:
1 department reps
2 health and safety reps

Lifelong Learning Centre

Rachel Walls, department rep

Remaining roles available:
1 health and safety rep

Research and Innovation Service

Remaining roles available:
3 department reps
3 health and safety reps

Student Education Service (except those listed separately)

Remaining roles available:
5 department reps
5 health and safety reps

Professional services (except those listed separately)

Remaining roles available:
13 department reps
13 health and safety reps

Facilities directorate

Remaining roles available:
3 department reps
3 health and safety reps

Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures

School of Design

Remaining roles available:
3 department reps
3 health and safety reps

School of English

Tony Crowley, department rep

Remaining roles available:
1 department reps
2 health and safety reps

Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies

Remaining roles available:
1* department rep
1 health and safety rep

(*In these areas where the number of 2022-2024 reps exceeds the number of rep roles available for election under the formula for 2024-2026, 2022-2024 reps can all be re-elected if the election is uncontested by new candidates.)

School of History

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
2 health and safety reps

School of Languages, Cultures and Societies (except Language Centre)

Corinne Painter, health and safety rep

Fabio Sarranito, department rep

Ingrid Sharp, health and safety rep

Leah Wang, department rep

Ruba Khamam, department rep

Sarah Hudspith, health and safety rep

Sarah Waters, health and safety rep

Remaining roles available:
1 department rep

Language Centre

Angela Hume, department rep

Sara Montgomery, health and safety rep

Remaining roles available:
1 department reps
1 health and safety reps

School of Media and Communication

Helen Thornham, department rep

Joanne Armitage, department rep

Miriam Kent, department rep

Remaining roles available:
2 health and safety reps

School of Music

Ewan Stefani, department rep

James Mooney, health and safety rep

Remaining roles available: none

Performance and Cultural Industries

ally Walsh, health and safety rep

Matty Elliot, department rep

Remaining roles available:
1 department reps
1 health and safety reps

School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
2 health and safety reps

Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (office / unless listed separately)

Remaining roles available:
1 department rep
1 health and safety rep

Faculty of Biological Sciences

School of Molecular and Cellular Biology

Remaining roles available:
3 department reps
3 health and safety reps

School of Biomedical Sciences

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
2 health and safety reps

School of Biology

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
2 health and safety reps

Faculty of Biological Sciences (office / unless listed separately)

Remaining roles available:
1 department reps
1 health and safety reps

Faculty of Business

Faculty of Business (Leeds University Business School)

Abbie Winton, department rep

Alex Seehaus, department rep

Andreas Georgiadis, department rep

Gulbanu Kaptan, health and safety rep

Jane Holgate, department rep

Stefan Kesting, department rep and health and safety rep

Tao Jiang, department rep

Vera Trappmann, department rep

Remaining roles available:
1 department reps
6 health and safety reps

Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences

School of Chemical and Process Engineering

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
2 health and safety reps

School of Chemistry

Lavinia Onel, department rep

Sandy James, department rep

Remaining roles available:
2 health and safety reps

School of Civil Engineering

Barbara Evans, department rep

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
3 health and safety reps

School of Computing

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
2 health and safety reps

School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
2 health and safety reps

School of Mathematics

Remaining roles available:
3 department reps
3 health and safety reps

School of Mechanical Engineering

Remaining roles available:
3 department reps
3 health and safety reps

School of Physics and Astronomy

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
2 health and safety reps

Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences (office and unless listed separately)

Remaining roles available:
1 department rep
1 health and safety rep

Faculty of Environment

School of Earth and Environment

Jonathan Busch, department rep

Natalie Kopytko, department rep

Valeria Tolis, health and safety rep

Remaining roles available:
6 department reps
7 health and safety reps

School of Food Science and Nutrition

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
2 health and safety reps

School of Geography

Remaining roles available:
3 department reps
3 health and safety reps

Institute for Transport Studies

David Watling, department rep

Paul Timms, department rep

Remaining roles available:
2 health and safety reps

Faculty of Environment (office / unless listed separately)

Remaining roles available:
1 department rep
1 health and safety rep

Faculty of Medicine and Health

Leeds Institute of Medical Research (LIMR)

Remaining roles available:
4 department reps
4 health and safety reps

Institute of Clinical Trials Research (LICTR)

Duncan Wilson, department rep

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
3 health and safety reps

Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine (LICAMM)

Remaining roles available:
4 department reps
4 health and safety reps

Leeds Institute of Health Sciences

Dan Howdon, department rep

Sue Richards, health and safety rep

Remaining roles available:
3 department reps
3 health and safety reps

Leeds Institute of Medical Education

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
2 health and safety reps

Leeds Institute of Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Medicine (LIRMM)

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
2 health and safety reps

NIHR RDN CC

Remaining roles available:
1 department reps
1 health and safety rep

Leeds Institute for Data Analytics (LIDA)

Remaining roles available:
1 department rep
1 health and safety rep

School of Dentistry

Nigel Bubb, health and safety rep

Remaining roles available:
3 department reps
2 health and safety reps

School of Healthcare

Remaining roles available:
Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
2 health and safety reps

School of Psychology

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
2 health and safety reps

Faculty of Medicine and Health (office and unless listed separately)

Remaining roles available:
4 department reps
4 health and safety reps

Faculty of Social Sciences

School of Law

Amanda Keeling, department rep

Carrie Bradshaw, health and safety rep

Chris Dietz, department rep

Remaining roles available:
1 department reps
2 health and safety reps

School of Politics and International Studies

Charlie Dannreuther, department rep

Lata Narayanaswamy, department rep

Remaining roles available:
2 health and safety reps

School of Education

Richard Badger, department rep

Indira Banner, department rep

Remaining roles available:
2 health and safety reps

School of Sociology and Social Policy

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
2 health and safety reps

Faculty of Social Sciences (office / unless listed separately)

Remaining roles available:
1 department reps
1 health and safety reps

Notice of scheduled general meetings 2024-2025

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

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.

Joint Trade Unions’ statement on the rise of fascist violence in Leeds and the UK

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

The University of Leeds Unite, Unison, and UCU trade union branches express our solidarity with and support of all communities living in fear of targeted violence. We unequivocally condemn the far-right and fascist rallies, lynch mobs, racist, Islamophobic, and anti-immigrant violence and abuse directed at communities, mosques, and hotels and other facilities for refugees and asylum-seekers across the UK. All our members, students, and wider Leeds community are affected, especially those from Muslim, immigrant and racialised backgrounds. We know many of our members and members’ families are living in fear, worried about safety and how to live a ‘normal’ life at home, socially, commuting to work and school, and about the safety of loved ones across the country.

The City of Leeds and our local area have been subjected to and borne witness to racist and violent gatherings currently being instigated by the far right across the UK. We were horrified to learn that the University of Teesside campus was targeted during violent anti-immigration riots, facing enormous violence as windows were smashed. International students have been subject to arson attacks and many staff and students across the country now face calls to stay at home and to be vigilant in the hope of protecting themselves. In Leeds itself, staff have woken up to swastikas daubed on cars in their local area. 

This wave of fascist violence is very much a University of Leeds issue. Our staff and students urgently need support and understanding. We therefore welcome the University’s signalling of well-being resources in a recent statement, but we also ask that the University puts in place and clearly communicates immediate emergency measures for all students and staff members who may not currently feel safe to travel to work or be on campus. Emergency resourcing is also required to support students of colour and international students who may be away from home and their usual support networks. 

We share our employer’s condemnation of the violence and racism taking place, and we call on University of Leeds’ senior management team to recognise and name the Islamophobic nature of this violence and the rhetoric which stokes and perpetuates it. Threats of extreme physical violence and intimidation are targeted at Muslims – especially women wearing hijabs, People of Colour and people seeking asylum, all of whom are being used as scapegoats for inequality caused by the continued failure of those in power to address poverty and inequality. We condemn all those who fund and fan these flames, and the lack of public challenge over increasingly dangerous rhetoric that has brought us to this point. Hate has no place in our society, and as an education institution, the University of Leeds must play a vital role in bringing communities together to challenge it wherever it arises in the public conversation.

As workers in education, we all have a role in responding now and over the long term. Anti-racist work must be understood as integral to all our lives and responsibilities – we cannot assume it is for others to do. We commit to working with our members to keep developing our immediate and longer term anti-racist work, together. 

We will share details of communities coming together to contest any planned racist gatherings. We urge those who are able to come together to take action, collectively. As trade unionists and anti-racists we stand in solidarity with every person of colour in the UK and in our city and on campus.

We ask that the University:

  • Recognise the right of staff to work from home without line management approval if they fear violence
  • Management to organise safe transport for staff who need to be on campus or fund additional expenses for travelling in a secure manner
  • Recognise the violence as explicitly Islamophobic (as well as more broadly racist) and therefore specifically targeted at Muslim staff and students and all community members of colour and put additional supports in place for these groups
  • As a HE institution and a major employer in Leeds, commit to support minoritised and vulnerable groups, both in the University and the wider city
  • Clearly pledge to anti-racism through education, robust allyship practices, and empowering students and staff to speak up against discrimination and systemic inequalities

University of Leeds UCU
University of Leeds Unite
University of Leeds Unison