Looking for volunteers to support UMUCU members having problems at work

UMUCU currently has a shortage of personal case reps – volunteers, who after undergoing some basic training, support UMUCU members facing problems at work. 

Typical situations where a member might need support are: 

  • Defending themselves against an allegation of misconduct 
  • Submitting a complaint about bullying 
  • Requesting that ‘reasonable adjustments’ are put in place 
  • Dealing with work related stress 
  • Defending themselves against an allegation of poor performance 

You don’t need to be an expert on everything in order to become a personal case rep. You can start by focussing on a single type of problem, only moving onto other areas once you feel ready. There is always support and advice available from existing, experienced case workers. Most members are so glad to have someone helping them through a difficult situation that they don’t mind if you can’t answer every question immediately and sometimes need to seek advice from a case worker colleague. 

Please email ucu@manchester.ac.uk if you’re interested in finding out more. 

Calling for UCU H&S reps—UCU needs YOU!

Everyone has the right to a safe workplace. No-one should be injured or made ill because of their work.

The best way to ensure that workers are protected is to have union Health & Safety (H&S) reps. Therefore, UCU is looking to identify members to serve as H&S reps, playing a crucial role in communicating H&S concerns and ensuring employees’ safety needs are met. According to the UNIAC external auditor, University restructures have damaged the H&S provision and accidents have been increasing.

The University has many health, safety and welfare committees, on which UCU needs representation. Commitment can be as little as attending one committee meeting per year, though most are still only once a quarter. We will ensure proper support, with available training courses, shadowing opportunities, and H&S professionals within UMUCU at hand to advise. By law, you are entitled to reasonable paid time off from your role to undertake these duties.

If you are interested in taking on this important role, please email ucu@manchester.ac.uk, so we can discuss the responsibilities and next steps. Your participation will contribute greatly to promoting a safe workplace for everyone.

Casualised Members’ Annual Meeting, 22 Feb;

The UK-wide annual meeting of staff on casualised contracts will take place on Sat 22 Feb in London, with a hybrid attendance option: https://www.ucu.org.uk/cascontractsmeeting. We encourage all casualised members (e.g. GTAs, fixed-term or finite-funded staff) to self-register for the meeting. We will nominate representatives at the next members’ meeting. Self-registered delegates have the same status and voting rights at the annual meeting. Please get in contact with the Exec if you require financial support in order to attend. It would be great to see as many of our casualised members there as possible.

Anti-Racist Education Network with Prof. Gary Younge, 30 Jan 2025, 3-4:30pm

The MIE Anti-Racist Education Network warmly invites you to our upcoming seminar on 30 January 2025. We are honoured to host Professor Gary Younge as our guest speaker.

Gary is an award-winning author, broadcaster and a Professor of Sociology at the University of Manchester. Formerly a columnist and editor-at-large at The Guardian, he is an editorial board member of the Nation magazine, the Alfred Knobler Fellow for Type Media and winner of the 2023 Orwell Prize for Journalism. 

At the age of just 24, Gary was sent to report for the Guardian on South Africa’s first democratic elections where he accompanied Nelson Mandela on the election trail. Over the ensuing three decades, he has had a ringside seat during the biggest events to impact the Black diaspora: from joining revellers on the southside of Chicago during Obama’s victory and entering New Orleans days after Hurricane Katrina, to interviewing such luminaries as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Maya Angelou and Stormzy.

He has witnessed how much change is possible and the power of systems to thwart those aspirations, which he recounts in his powerful new book, Dispatches from the Diaspora

We invite you to join us for this inspiring conversation with Gary Younge on 30 January 2025. Please use the following link to book your ticket:

 https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/umit-yildiz/t-vvgvoqd . 

We look forward to seeing you there.

Where: Ellen Wilkinson Building,  A2-6

When: 3pm – 4.30pm

Important members’ meeting: Wed 29 Jan, 12:30-14:00;

There are a number of important matters in the agenda below. Two may require us to begin formal proceedings against the Employer, whose success may turn to a degree on the strength of support that we give them; so we need more than ever to ask for your views.

In turn:

  • Our members among the Library staff have been pursuing a collective grievance with support from the Exec. Ümit and one of our affected members will give an update.
  • The Exec believes that the Employer has embarked on a plan to act unlawfully in violation of the Statutes. Recently Exec members were informed—with no consultation—that the provision in the Statutes guaranteeing the presence of lay members on certain panels would be weakened. The Whistleblowing Procedure has been invoked to raise a legal concern. As there is a parallel industrial case, Daniel Maguire, who supports from UCU Regional, encourages us to begin the first stages of formal dispute. (He will join us briefly if possible, depending on a casework meeting.) See attachment for more.

The agenda:

  1. President’s update, inc. Dignity at Work policy;
  2. Library staff collective grievance update: UMUCU strategy;
  3. Lay governors on panels violating of Statutes; start of formal dispute;
    1. Motion.
  4. Unite–UCU dispute [Update from Unite member]; 
  5. Further Motions:
    1. BDS motion proposal;
    2. Stand Up to Racism motion;
  6. Know your Rights! Online session, 05 Feb 2025 – 12:30-13:30;
  7. Report from David Swanson on meeting with Salford & MMU;
  8. AOB.

UCU Holocaust Memorial Day webinar, 27 January 2025, 12:00-13:00;

UCU commemorates Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD), observed annually on 27 January. It does so in memory of the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust and the millions of people killed by Nazi persecution and in subsequent genocides in Bosnia, Cambodia, Darfur and Rwanda, and in order to challenge hatred and persecution in the UK today.

Also targeted were political opponents and trade unionists, Black people, people marginalised as ‘criminals’ and ‘asocials’, queer people, Jehovah witnesses, disabled people, population of occupied Eastern Europe, as well as other groups.

Register for a webinar led by the eminent expert, Professor Zoë Waxman introduced by UCU general secretary, Jo Grady by Monday 27 January at 09:00.

Date: Monday 27 January 2025, 12:00-13:00

Details: In this short talk, Zoë Waxman, Professor of Holocaust History at the University of Oxford, will explore the pre-history of the Holocaust, identifying the ways in which the Nazis prepared the German population for the mass murder of the Jewish people. By separating them from their neighbours, by normalising violence, and by institutionalising discrimination, they created the conditions in which genocide became almost unstoppable.

Questions: Professor Waxman welcomes pre-submitted questions. Please send these to eqadmin@ucu.org.uk. There will also be the opportunity to ask questions on the day.

Members’ meeting this Wed 27 Nov 12.30 on governance and 2035 workers’ strategy

Members’ meeting: on governance and 2035 workers’ strategy

At this week’s union meeting, Wed 27 Nov, 12:30, Zoom [link below], we will be launching our own Workers’ 2035 Strategy Survey, with most of the meeting devoted to discussing university governance. UoM’s governance structures are severely dysfunctional, with significant consequences for us all, such as the SEP. This meeting is to explore ways to drive positive changes towards democratising our university (and universities more broadly).

          Our own Prof. Steve Jones will lead the discussion. He is currently leading a project on university governance, funded by the Campaign for the Defence of the British University. There will be plenty of time for questions and contributions. These two links contains some food for thought:

https://wonkhe.com/blogs/cultures-of-university-governance-need-urgent-attention

https://wonkhe.com/blogs/cultures-of-university-governance-need-urgent-attention