In this Bulletin:
EGM Report & Industrial Action Vote
Block Teaching Survey
University Name Change
Summer Casework Support
EGM Report & Industrial Action Vote
Thank you to everyone who came to the Emergency Branch General Meeting on Wednesday 25 June. Attendance was much higher than usual (especially bearing in mind the time of year) which is a sure sign that members are extremely angry over Management’s recent behaviour in threatening compulsory redundancies, suspending L-SL progression, and imposing block teaching and the recording of teaching sessions. After a lively discussion, the following motion was proposed by the Branch Committee:
- This Branch condemns the failure of UCLan Management to negotiate meaningfully and in good faith with UCU over compulsory redundancies, L-SL progression, block teaching and the recording of teaching.
- This Branch affirms its willingness to take serious and sustained industrial action if necessary to protect its members’ livelihoods and terms & conditions of employment.
- This Branch empowers the Branch Committee to begin the legally-required processes for a postal ballot for industrial action unless UCLan Management make a binding commitment to negotiating satisfactory solutions to all these issues.
132 votes were recorded in the meeting, and every single one was in favour of the motion! This is an excellent result that gives our negotiating team a very strong hand. We will be discussing options for industrial action with UCU Regional Office and will keep you informed of our progress with Management. Thank you again to everyone who came and voted.
Block Teaching Survey
We are still waiting for Management’s promised resolution meeting over failure to consult with course teams on block delivery. That means it is not too late to have your say in our survey! Please follow the link below if you have not already contributed, and please also let us know if you would be willing to come to a meeting with Andrew Ireland & Janice Allen to express your concerns in person.
https://forms.gle/xCYAbE3zaaK9uGwY7
Results so far show that very few academics believe block delivery to be a good idea.
University Name Change
As you know, we will all be getting new email addresses in the next few weeks, with the “@uclan.ac.uk” replaced by “@lancashire.ac.uk”. We have asked UCU HQ whether they could change all our membership records in one go, but sadly no, they would have to do each one manually, which they really don’t have time to do. So we need EVERY MEMBER to log in to MyUCU (www.ucu.org.uk/myucu) and update your email details as soon as the new addresses go live.
While you are in MyUCU, please also check that the details in the “Employment” tab are correct, particularly the name of your school/service and the building you are primarily based in. If your particular school/building combo is not in the drop-down list, please email membership secretary Cath Sullivan (csullivan@uclan.ac.uk) so it can be added.
Summer Casework Support
During the summer break, UCU is not collectively available for negotiations with management, but we will still be offering individual support to members in need. Just write to ucu@uclan.ac.uk (or indeed ucu@lancashire.ac.uk) in the normal way, but please be patient as there will be fewer caseworkers on duty. We will endeavour to reply to everyone within five working days.
Have a good summer!
UCU UCLan Branch Committee