Accidents have been going up in UoM for a while, and the University is losing a lot of time off in sick pay due to stress. We need people to help UoM hold itself to account over these issues. So we are asking for members to step up to support our current (encyclopaedic) H&S rep Nicola, who will happily discuss with anyone interested. Note that H&S reps have a venerable history, going all the way back to legislation passed in 1974 [hse.gov.uk]. After receiving training—for which the Employer must give them time off—H&S reps have arguably the strongest protection of trade union representatives; they are entitled to independent time off (or workload relief) to fulfil their duties; and, when correctly viewed as critical friends of the Employer, play a valuable role in the University community that can be flagged in promotion applications.

Please do consider stepping up; the time-commitments would be tailored to your capacity. Get in contact with ucu@manchester.ac.uk to find out more.