Tag: LSU

Posted on

April News

April News

We hope that you’re reading this having returned from an enjoyable Easter break.

IMPORTANT: remember to vote in the formal consultation on the dispute proposals.

We appreciate that if you’re returning from time away from work over Easter, you’re likely to be wading through a big backlog of emails.  However, please make it a priority to act on the email which you should have received late on Tuesday 4 April from Jo Grady. Your vote must be cast by 10 am on 17 April.  Allow yourself enough time for this task as UCU has supplied a considerable amount of material to enable you to make an informed decision.

Marking and Assessment Boycott (MAB)

Should the consultation results take us into a MAB, a branch General Meeting will be called to discuss our approach and to answer members’ questions. You can read UCU’s MAB FAQs here and specific advice for academic-related and professional services staff here.

In the meantime, we urge you to register for UCU MAB training on 17 April, beginning at 5pm. For more information and details of how to register, please click here.

Joint statement with management and LSU

Building a strong relationship with Loughborough Students’ Union (LSU) has been high on our agenda for some time, and we are delighted that a recent innovation has been the scheduling of tripartite meetings between ourselves, student leaders and members of the University’s senior management. Though our perspectives on the disputes sometimes differ, the meetings have been highly constructive and have allowed us to stake out some common ground. Please see here for our first joint statement. We will continue to meet while the industrial action lasts – though our aim is for this positive collaboration to extend beyond the current moment and engage other of our priorities as a branch.

Hardship fund donation by Leicester Workers Support Group

The branch is very grateful to Leicester Workers Support Group for its generous donation of £100 to our hardship fund.

WhatsApp groups

We would like to remind members that we have two WhatsApp groups available for your use. The first group is for all members, regardless of which campus you work on. The second group is specifically for London campus members. These groups were set up to allow members to communicate during strike action when the use of work email is discouraged. The WhatsApp groups have developed into a fantastic branch building forum, enabling members to stay informed and up to date on the latest dispute news and – more broadly – to connect with each other and engage in discussions on union issues.

Our branch is committed to extending engagement with our membership, so that we can more effectively represent your interests. We encourage all members (both those in Loughborough and in London) to join and participate in our main WhatsApp group. We believe that, together, we can create positive change and better working conditions for all.

We should emphasise that, while we welcome questions and feedback via WhatsApp, it is essential to email the branch directly if you have a message for the committee. This ensures that nothing is missed and we can address any concerns as quickly and effectively as possible.

In summary: stay connected, stay informed and let your voice be heard. Join the Lboro UCU WhatsApp and, if a London member, the LUCU London WhatsApp using the links in the email of this newsletter that has been sent to members, or email the branch for the link to join.

Branch Equality roles

During our recent general meeting, a motion was presented to create new Equality Officer roles for various areas of equality work, including BAME, LGBTQ+, Women, and Disability. After considering the feedback received, the committee has decided it is currently most practical to maintain the arrangement of one branch Equality Officer. However, with an important modification: we hope that the Equality Officer will be supported by several Equality Reps who will work on their chosen area(s) of equality interest. The Equality Rep roles will be created as volunteers come forward. 

Equality Reps will be encouraged to join the committee in non-officer positions and will be welcome to attend all committee meetings.

If you are interested in becoming an Equality Rep for the branch, we encourage you to get in touch with us. Your involvement will help us to better address the needs of our members and ensure that we are effectively promoting equality in all areas.

Advance notice of AGM and branch elections

We are pleased to announce that this year’s LUCU AGM is scheduled for 28 June. Official notice of this meeting will be sent out in May, and, with it, a call for nominations for branch officers and committee members. We encourage all members who are interested in joining the committee to put your names forward.

It is important that we increase our numbers on the committee, in order both to better represent our membership and to share the load of union work. All committee members have time assigned to them in their workload allocation so that they can undertake this role during normal working hours. By joining the committee, you will play a vital role in shaping the union and supporting our members.

If you are interested in joining the committee and would like to find out more about our work before the nominations open in May, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us. We would love to see some new faces on the committee for the upcoming year, and we hope that you will consider taking an active role in our union. Let us work together to strengthen our collective voice and achieve positive change for our members.

Motions sent to Congress and SHESC

The branch has recently approved two motions to be forwarded to national bodies. The first of these, regarding student engagement in our campaigning and disputes, has been sent to the Special Higher Education Sector Conference scheduled for later in April. This motion urges national UCU to form a working group to extend student engagement during industrial disputes, so as to increase pressure on university managements.

In addition, the branch has passed a motion for UCU Congress in May. This calls on UCU to move away from using the term and principles of Equality, and instead adopt the concept of Equity. The reason for this change is that Equity, as a concept, recognises that not all individuals start from the same place, and some may require greater support to reach fair outcomes. We believe that adopting the term Equity will both serve our members better and contribute to a more just society.

Both motions are available to read here.

University of Leeds petition

We express our condemnation of the recent decision by management at the University of Leeds to implement 100% pay deductions for staff who did not deliver teaching missed on strike days. This approach goes beyond the usual deductions applied across the sector for strike action and is punitive and provocative.

We urge our members to join us in signing the petition to revoke the 100% pay deduction threat for action short of a strike (ASOS) at Leeds. It is crucial that we stand together in solidarity with other branches and push back against this unjust treatment of our colleagues. Let us send a clear message that such actions will not be tolerated and that we demand fair and respectful treatment of all staff.

LUCU Committee

Posted on

Tripartite statement regarding industrial disputes

Tripartite statement regarding industrial disputes

24 March 2023

Loughborough University, Loughborough UCU and Loughborough Students’ Union have been meeting regularly during the current industrial disputes to explore what is at issue and to consider how progress might be made.

While our perspectives are diverse, the collaborative way of working that we have developed has enabled us to address effectively and constructively those issues which have a local dimension. We have also discussed what is at stake nationally.

Our position on the several strands of the disputes is summarised here:

  • Pensions. We believe that an evidence-based valuation of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) should be completed as soon as possible. This assessment of the scheme’s assets and liabilities, and its future performance, should be ‘moderately prudent’. Any positive adjustments resulting from this new valuation should prioritise the improvement of members’ benefits over reductions to employer /employee contribution rates from their current levels. We welcome the recent developments in relation to this.
  • Pay. We acknowledge that this is the most challenging of the current issues. The regulated undergraduate student fee that is universities’ most significant income stream has barely changed in a decade – and it remains frozen during this period of high inflation when institutions’ costs, such as energy, have increased sharply. The income of university staff has lagged similarly in this time, with a series of below-inflation pay awards – and current high prices are undoubtedly having a significant impact on staff, too. While the 2023 pay award has been implemented, we remain mindful of staff’s situation. We also join other voices in encouraging a longer-term review of the university funding model (a review that should be creative and not focus only on raising students’ fees).
  • Working conditions (pay inequality, casualisation, workload). We recognise that addressing these questions is crucial to the well-being and sustainability of the sector. Universities must offer a fair, decent and healthy working environment to all. At Loughborough, while further work remains to be done, good progress is being made on these fronts – and we encourage employers and unions at all HE institutions to tackle pay gaps, casualised contracts and high workloads in a similar spirit of partnership.

We do not underestimate the complexities of these multiple issues and the challenges involved in finding fair outcomes. However, it is crucial that lasting resolutions are achieved, so as to prevent further disruption to the lives of both staff and students.

We strongly encourage all those involved in the disputes to continue working toward our shared goal: student and staff satisfaction in a Higher Education sector fit for everyone.

Loughborough University
Loughborough UCU
Loughborough Students’ Union  

Posted on

LUCU June News: Workload / USS & 4 Fights / LSU

LUCU June News: Workload / USS & 4 Fights / LSU

Workload: Project Enable

Colleagues involved in Phase 1 of Project Enable, the University’s review of workload, have thus far identified 77 areas where work could either be removed from the system or processes could be revised to create more headroom in staff workloads.  For example, a new triage system has been set up in the Research Office so faster decisions can be made on contract approvals, and bureaucracy is being reduced in the staffing approval process.

Changes are being made to the Ethics Approval process for both staff and student projects, which will reduce the amount of checking and save time for both PS and RTE colleagues, particularly in SSEHS and SDCA where staff have highlighted this as a workload stressor. Also, changes to a range of practices around learning and teaching, such as module and programme approval processes, are either underway or are being planned. LUCU welcomes these initiatives as they afford potential to free up time for professional services & RTE colleagues. 

The work carried out by the branch committee on the Task and Finish workload groups for RTE and Professional Services staff informed Phase 1 of Project Enable. In June, the Programme Board, chaired by Richard Taylor, will meet to carry out a prioritisation exercise to determine the workstreams for Phase 2 of Project Enable.  This exercise will consider the impact, effort required, beneficiaries and appetite for change in each of the items identified in Phase 1.

LUCU will be represented by Mary Brewer in Phase 2, who will join the Project Group. She will work closely with Sue Hignett as Equalities Officer to assess the EDI implications of proposed changes. Management recognizes that Phase 1 is unlikely to have captured all the activities where we might change working practices; therefore, members are encouraged to pass on ideas/suggestions for smarter working in their areas by speaking to their Department Rep or emailing UCU@lboro.ac.uk.

USS and 4 Fights: LUCU solidarity with assessment boycott at University of the Arts, London

UCU members in a relatively small number of branches began a marking boycott on the 23rd of May, in support of the USS and Four Fights campaigns.  As we are not taking part, our branch has “twinned” with the University of the Arts, London, who are undertaking this action despite threats of 100% pay deductions for partial performance.  The branch committee will offer practical campaign assistance where possible, and to further support our colleagues at UoA, £500 has been donated from our hardship fund to theirs.

We also urge you to consider donating to their Just Giving page if you can afford it.  This small number of colleagues are taking on a huge burden on behalf of us all, and any financial solidarity we can offer them will make a real difference to those who face having their pay withheld.

LUCU and LSU

At recent EGMs, members have asked us to prioritise establishing supportive exchanges with Loughborough Students’ Union (LSU), and we can report good progress on this front. Though mindful of the need to reflect a range of student opinion on campus, LSU has been helpful in soliciting material from us about our reasons for taking industrial action and in posting this on their social media platforms.

With a possible marking boycott in the air, Freya Mason, the LSU President, recently contacted us again. Mary Brewer and Andrew Dix then met with Freya and four of her team. We’re glad to inform members that this was a warm and productive conversation. While it would be unreasonable to expect LSU to be on the barricades with us, they are keen to play whatever role they can in finding solutions to current disputes (most pressingly, the pensions issue). With this in mind, we will be exploring the possibility of tripartite meetings, involving management, LSU and ourselves. At present, exchanges are only bilateral – and we would welcome the chance to make our case with student leaders, as well as managers, in the room.

We will say more in future newsletters as these initiatives develop (there will be opportunities for collaboration with LSU on other fronts as well, including mental health and equity and inclusion). For the moment, we’d just like to thank Freya and her colleagues for their support this year and to say that we look forward to working equally productively with the incoming LSU team. 

We hope you have a good break over the extended bank holiday!

LUCU Committee