Loughborough UCU

Latest Loughborough UCU News

  • Open Meeting with Jeevun Sandher, MP for Loughborough

    When: May 9th, 1-2pm.
    Where: U005 (Brockington Extension) & Online via MS Teams.

    Loughborough UCU will be hosting an open meeting with the MP for Loughborough, Shepshed, and the Villages, Dr. Jeevun Sandher, on May 9th from 1-2pm in U005 (Brockington Extension).

    The event will focus on “The Future of Higher Education Policy in the UK”. Dr. Sandher will speak for a few minutes on the topic, before we then open up the discussion to questions from the audience.

    Prior to his election to Parliament last year, Dr. Sandher previously worked as an economist researching inequality and poverty at King’s College London, and he has also served as a UCU trade union rep.

    As this is an open meeting, please do forward this invitation along to any colleagues you think may be interested in attending.

    Note that while online attendance will be possible, we would encourage in-person attendance where possible – and there should also be time to ask questions to Dr. Sandher informally before and after the event.   

    Please click here to download an appointment for your calendar or, if joining online, use this link to join the meeting via Teams: Join online

  • UCU Annual Membership Checks

    UCU conducts annual membership checks in order to meet its legal requirements. Members will shortly receive an email from UCU head office checking whether the data we hold for you is accurate. This will include your membership number, workplace and branch.

    Please check or update your membership details by visiting My UCU.

    If you have multiple employers in sectors represented by UCU, please register each one as an ‘additional employment’. This will link all your eligible employments to a single membership number, allow secondary branches to represent you, and eliminate duplicate subscriptions.

    Thanks in advance.

  • Spread the resistance to the job losses in Higher Education

    The Grassroots Counter-Playbook: How to Fight the Employers’ Offensive

    Thursday 20th March at 12:30pm on Zoom.

    With 1000 jobs losses a month and unprecedented crisis in higher education in the UK, a growing number of branches are resisting.

    Newcastle, Brunel and Dundee Universities are taking industrial action. Other branches such as Durham, Sheffield, Cardiff have balloted for industrial action.

    The employers have a playbook to push through the cuts, we need a counter-playbook.

    Come to the meeting to hear how you can support branches taking industrial action and the lessons of moving into action.

    They cannot win on their own, we need to get the crisis of our universities onto the government’s agenda.

    Link to join the Zoom meeting: https://newcastleuniversity.zoom.us/j/81485600063

    Meeting ID: 814 8560 0063
    Passcode: 322405

    Please also sign the open letter, here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTY20tsLYA7JVe6X354VD_e8oS4FGHmm6DEyBBPYj8i6aOO7S5_vyzqpxle8nWYaShxT0NMQ3yU5vfw/pub

  • Inaugural Agnes Flues Annual Memorial Lecture

    Delivered by: Mick Lynch (RMT Secretary-General)and introduced by Jo Grady (UCU General Secretary).
    Date: Thursday 24 Apr 2025, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM.
    Venue: Lecture Theatre A1, University of Nottingham Medical School, NG7 2UH.

    In August 2024, Agnes Flues, University of Nottingham University and College Union (UCU) Branch President from 2020 to 2023 and a member of the UCU national executive committee from 2023 onwards, died prematurely. A principled trade unionist through and through, she was fearless in challenging management and courageous in leading industrial action at the University of Nottingham (UoN). To honour her memory, the local UCU branch at UoN have established an Annual Agnes Flues Memorial Lecture series on trade union issues, human rights and labour laws.

    We are pleased to announce that Mick Lynch, the General Secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), will give the first Agnes Flues Annual Memorial Lecture on 24th April 2025. Mick Lynch is well known for his outspoken advocacy for workers’ rights and social justice. He has led multiple strikes of rail workers contesting forcefully employers and the government alike. There could be no more fitting person to open this annual lecture series. He will be introduced by Jo Grady, General Secretary of UCU.

    This will be a ticketed event. Please follow this link to get your tickets. Donations are entirely optional. If you are asked for a code to get a ticket please contact ucu@lboro.ac.uk.

  • Saying No with Confidence Webinar

    When: Wednesday 4 June, 4-5pm

    This webinar, hosted by East Midlands UCU, has been developed to support members in taking a collective approach to push back on workloads.

    Attendees will look at workplace culture and how you can change workplace practices by using Health & Safety Legislation to empower UCU members to take a stand and say ‘no’, whilst maintaining professional standards.

    The full aims of the interactive workshop are to:

    • identify assertiveness techniques and strategies for saying “no” at work
    • learn to use Health and Safety legislation to push back to protect us against workplace stress and health risks due to excessive workloads
    • understand the role of collective action in changing workplace culture through union campaigning

    The session will last for 60 minutes. To register please email eastmidlands@ucu.org.uk.

  • LU Guest Lecture: The Criminalisation of Environmental Protest

    When: 6:30-8pm on Tues 11th March

    Where: James France – CC013

    As part of the University’s Sustainability Week for 2025, Sir Jonathon Porritt CBE will be on the East Midlands campus on Tuesday 11th March to deliver a guest lecture on “The Criminalisation of Environmental Protest”. 

    With police arrests of environmental protesters becoming increasingly common both in the UK and abroad, Jonathon will discuss the criminalisation of environmental protest and examine instances of arrests, imprisonment and other punishments.

    The right to protest has been intrinsic in the history of the trade union movement and, indeed, every progressive movement for social change. It is deeply concerning that a nominally left-wing government has continued the trend of persecuting those trying to exercise those rights, especially when their aim is to draw attention to an existential threat to our civilisation.

    The lecture will take place in James France, CC013 from 6:30pm-8pm on Tuesday 11th March. The lecture is free to attend and open to all staff and students. Booking is required and you can book your spot here. There will be an opportunity for questions during the event. Please submit any questions you may have in advance.

    About Jonathon Porritt

    Jonathon Porritt is an eminent writer and campaigner on sustainable development. Over his career, he has played a major role in helping to promote the importance of sustainability issues to government, the private sector and amongst the general public. He has provided strategic advice to leading UK and international companies to deepen their understanding of today’s converging environmental and climate crises.

    He is also focused on intergenerational justice, supporting young people in their activities around sustainable development issues as they face a future defined by the twin crises of the Climate Emergency and Biodiversity Emergency.

    He is President of The Conservation Volunteers and is involved in the work of many other NGOs and groups.

    In 1996, he co-founded Forum for the Future, a leading international sustainable development charity, working with business and civil society to accelerate the shift toward a sustainable future.

    Jonathon was formerly Co-Chair of the Green Party (1980-83) and Director of Friends of the Earth (1984-90). He stood down as Chair of the UK Sustainable Development Commission in 2009, after nine years providing high-level advice to Government Ministers.

    Jonathon was awarded a CBE in January 2000 for services to environmental protection.

  • International Women’s Day 2025

    When: Friday 7th March, 2-4pm

    Where: MS Teams

    Click here to download a meeting invite for your calendar, or use this link to join the meeting.

    LUCU is marking International Women’s Day with a discussion about feminist research at Loughborough. The histories of the women’s movement and the labour movement are deeply intertwined. The originally named International Working Women’s Day is at the intersection of the two, inspired by demonstrations for women’s enfranchisement and right to form our own trade unions. IWD should therefore be about more than celebrating women’s achievements or advocating for more women in leadership. As Bonnie Kreps argued, who wants a bigger slice of a ‘rotten pie’?1

    This event will begin with feminist researchers across the institution giving short insights into their current work:

    Angela Martinez Dy (Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship)

    Surya Monro (Professor of Sociology and Social Policy)

    Hilary Robinson (Professor of Feminism, Art and Theory)

    Pandora Syperek (Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, Institute for Creative Futures)

    Inês Varela-Silva (Senior Lecturer in Human Biology)

    Gemma Witcomb (Reader in Gendered Experiences and Wellbeing)

    This will be followed by an open forum for all attendees to discuss the current climate for feminist research, and the role of feminism within the trade union movement.

    Open to all, members and non-members, women and non-women. Join us and be part of the conversation!

    #IWD25 #breadandroses

    1. Kreps, B (1973) ‘Radical Feminism 1’ in Anne Koedt (ed.) Radical Feminism (New York: Quadrangle/ The New York Times Book Co.), pp. 234-239.

  • At What Cost? The Impact of the Voluntary Exit and Hours Reduction Scheme

    Across the University, there has been a substantial uptake of the Voluntary Exit and Hours Reduction offerings as part of the wider Cost Reduction Scheme. The University has now ‘saved’ in the region of £4m by encouraging people to leave or to reduce their contracts. Following the success of this scheme, Loughborough UCU are concerned about the impact on those left behind. 

    We are hosting an open meeting on Friday, February 28 from 2:00 PM to 2:50 PM on Teams to discuss the impact on workload for remaining Loughborough staff and doctoral researchers. All Loughborough staff and DRs are invited, whether you are a UCU member or not. 

    Are you an academic whose teaching has increased? Are you a DR who has taken on more research or marking without additional compensation? Is your Professional Services team now trying to cover the same amount of work with fewer staff? We want to hear from you!

    Come and share your thoughts and experiences, hear from other people about what is happening in their areas, and discuss how people are managing increases in workload across the University. Please feel free to invite others in your area to attend as we are keen to include as wide a view as possible.

    You can download an invite for your calendar here, or use this link to join the meeting.

  • Loughborough Senate Vacancy – Nominations invited

    Nominations have been invited to fill one vacancy on Senate for a non-Professorial member of the Academic Staff, elected by the Academic and Academic-Related staff members of the General Assembly.

    We encourage our members to put themselves forward for this role to increase the number of Union-affiliated voices on this important University decision making body.

    The branch will support UCU member nominations by encouraging the LUCU membership to vote for its candidates. Please let us know if you put yourself forward.

    Nominations must be received by the election team by 5.00 p.m. on Wednesday 12 February 2025, and more information can be found on the University website here.

  • Academic Related Professional Services Workplace Conditions Survey

    The academic related, professional services staff (ARPS) committee is undertaking a survey of ARPS members to better understand the experiences of physical issues in your workplaces and the implementation of hybrid working by employers.

    ARPS members are asked to complete this short survey, which will inform discussions at the ARPS annual meeting on 6th March and the work of the committee in the coming year.

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