Loughborough UCU

Tag: Training

  • UCU East Mids CPD: Saying No with Confidence

    UCU East Mids CPD: Saying No with Confidence

    This webinar has been developed to support members in taking a collective approach to push back on workloads.

    We will look at workplace culture and how we can change workplace practices by using Health & Safety Legislation to empower 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

  • CPD Course: Allyship and Solidarity

    CPD Course: Allyship and Solidarity

    Lboro UCU branch has re-scheduled an online CPD workshop, open to all LU staff. Masters and PhD students at LU are also welcome to attend the session. The Allyship and Solidarity CPD workshop will now take place online on Tuesday 11th November from 12 noon – 1:30pm. Please come along and invite your colleagues (including those who may not be UCU members) to join us.

    “Allyship” has its roots firmly within the LGBT community and has more recently been a live discussion within the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. But how can real allies truly support each other? And how can we build that support into organisations that will help us realise the dreams of equality that we all yearn for.

    If you are fed up with seeing tokenistic gestures of solidarity on social media and want to explore what genuine and meaningful allyship looks like, at work and in your trade union, please join us.

    The full aims of the interactive workshop are to:

    • Know what we mean by “allyship”
    • Understand why allyship and solidarity is essential now
    • Understand the difference between meaningful allyship and performative allyship
    • Explore how we can build structures that allow us to support each other.

    The taught sessions usually last for about 60 minutes, after which time we take 15-20 minutes to discuss the issues raised with a UCU official, depending on availability. The total time commitment will be around an hour and a half. The Allyship and solidarity workshops are designed to be more interactive than most in order to help you discuss the issues and to find new allies of your own.

    Sign up to the training here and please share this link with any other staff at Lboro who may be interested in coming along – https://cpd.web.ucu.org.uk/events/allyship-and-solidarity-loughborough-2/.

    Upon signing up you should receive an email including an outlook calendar invite and a link to join the session within 3 working days. If you have not received this within a week of signing up, please contact ucu@lboro.ac.uk and we will make sure it comes through.

  • CPD Course: The Menopause is a Workplace Issue

    Lboro UCU branch has organised an online CPD workshop, open to all LU staff, whether or not you are personally affected. Masters and PhD students at LU are also welcome to attend the session. The Menopause is a Workplace Issue CPD workshop will take place online on Wednesday 20th August from 12 noon – 1:30pm. Please come along and invite your colleagues (including those who may not be UCU members) to join us.

    The menopause is a part of most womens’ lives and the lives of many trans men, non binary people, and members of intersex communities and marks the end of the reproductive cycle.

    It is estimated that between 75% and 80% of menopausal women are in work in the UK. UCU believes it is imperative that workplaces have a workable, informative and robust policy in place that is fully consistent with UK legislation, and that workers who require additional support during this time are treated with understanding, dignity and respect.

    We want to build solidarity and challenge the stigma of the menopause. This course will provide a safe space to discuss experiences and perceptions of the menopause, which will often differ in relation to disability, age, race, religion, sexual orientation or marital/civil partnership status.

    The full aims of the interactive workshop are:

    • Understanding why the menopause is a workplace and a trade union issue
    • What are some of the challenges facing those with menopausal symptoms in the workplace?
    • Know why the menopause is an issue for the UCU
    • Exploring strategies to support members through the menopause in the workplace

    The taught sessions last for about 75 minutes, after which time we take 15-20 minutes to discuss the issues raised with a UCU official, depending on availability. The total time commitment will be around an hour and a half.

    Sign up to the training here and please share this link with any other staff at Lboro who may be interested in coming along – https://cpd.web.ucu.org.uk/events/the-menopause-is-a-workplace-issue-loughborough/.

    Upon signing up you should receive an email including an outlook calendar invite and a link to join the session within 3 working days. If you have not received this within a week of signing up, please contact ucu@lboro.ac.uk and we will make sure it comes through.

  • Fighting Workload Issues: Could You Be a Workload Rep?

    Following attendance at a recent UCU training, LUCU is seeking to recruit a number of workload representatives. These are essentially health and safety reps, with the statutory rights that this entails, but with a special focus on workload, one of the biggest issues facing members.

    Workload reps are department representatives who can:

    • Talk to members about workload as a health and safety issue
    • Plan surveys and analyse data on working conditions
    • Negotiate workload formulas and policies with management
    • Write newsletter articles, grow visibility, and develop campaigns
    • Work with EDI, H&S, and negotiating committees

    During the training, a number of potential challenges to organising to lower workload were discussed, such as management withholding information, staff being afraid to speak up, workloads too high to take on union work, and not enough reps.

    But ways forward were identified: boosting union visibility with badges, posters and lanyards, starting with smaller departmental meetings to talk about workload and build trust, training members as reps and making sure they get the time allocation to which they are entitled, writing anonymous pieces about workload impact for future newsletters, discuss issues on personal emails and chat platforms rather than university systems, and making business-case arguments about reducing workload to management (like reducing sickness absence levels).

    While it may seem that ever increasing workload is an insurmountable problem, we learned that if warranted, workload complaints can even be taken to the HSE if needed.

    The training centred on evidence gathering as a starting point in any workload campaign. This could be from multiple sources: UCU surveys, absence figures, member discussions, and our own LUCU workload survey. Key questions might include:

    • What are work-related stress levels like?
    • How much unpaid overtime are staff doing?
    • Are workload model allocations realistic?
    • How much presenteeism (working when unwell) is happening?

    LUCU is currently taking steps to help tackle high workloads through our Workload Project Group, which incoming workload reps would be invited to join. If you’re interested in becoming a Workload Rep, have questions, want to get more involved, or simply share your workload experiences to help us create change, please contact us.

  • Challenging Excessive Workload in Education – CPD Training

    In order to tackle rising workloads and the resulting work-related stress that many members of staff are experiencing, we need to take a collective approach to pushing back on excessive workload.

    Lboro UCU branch has organised an online CPD workshop, open to all LU staff, which will help staff with the tools to take a collective approach and push back on excessive workload. Masters and PhD students at LU are also welcome to attend the session.

    The CPD course will take place online on Wednesday 4th June from 12:30 – 2pm. Please come along and invite your colleagues (including those who may not be UCU members) to join us.

    The full aims of the interactive workshop are to:

    • identify why excessive workload is so damaging to education and staff
    • Identify collective responses to tackling excessive workloads
    • Develop an understanding of workload as a health and safety issue
    • Make members aware of the UCU campaign on workload and how they can contribute

    Sign up to the training here and please share this link with any other staff at Lboro who may be interested in coming along – https://cpd.web.ucu.org.uk/events/challenging-excessive-workload-in-education-loughborough/

  • 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.

  • Leicester & District Trades Union Council Events

    Your Rights, The Law, and Empowerment Event

    Unite Community Leicester has organised an event “Your Rights, The Law, and Empowerment” on Sunday 19th January 2025 from 11am – 4pm. Everyone is welcome to join them at: Secular Hall, 75 Humberstone Gate, Leicester (LE1 1WB).

    Lawyers will give three presentations to update you on laws around protest and strike action, with each focusing on one of the following topics: “Unions”, “Palestine” and “Climate & Ecological Emergency”. The event is supported by Leicester & District Trades Union Council (L&DTUC). For more information, please see this flyer.

    Organising the next Workers Memorial Day

    The Health, Safety and Welfare (HSW) subcommittee of Leicester & District Trades Union Council (L&DTUC) will meet to start organising the next Workers Memorial Day event. The meeting will be on Tuesday 21st January 2025 starting at 6pm and, it’s hoped, will not last much more than an hour. All trade unionists are welcome. You do not need to be a trades council delegate to get involved. The organising meeting will be held on Zoom. If you’re interested in contributing, please use this link to join the meeting.

  • Decarbonise & Decolonise CPD Training (Rescheduled)

    Lboro UCU branch has re-organised the CPD workshop, open to all LU staff, which will introduce participants to the interconnectivity of the Decarbonise and Decolonise agendas and identify opportunities to take action. Masters and PhD students at LU are also welcome to attend the session.

    The CPD course will now take place online on 5th February from 12:30 – 2pm. Please come along and invite your colleagues (including those who may not be UCU members) to join us. This can be used as evidence of training, and some staff might also find the workshop helpful for feeding into their PDR EDI Performance Objectives.

    The workshop will give an overview of climate justice, and how this links to the concepts of ‘decolonising’ and ‘decarbonising’ as the structural and systemic roots of the human-induced climate crisis. We will explore examples of climate injustice, and how this often intersects with issues like race, gender, class and indigeneity.

    We will also look at examples of when sustainability actions and initiatives have not taken an intersectional approach, with discussions on how we can avoid this in education to create sustainability activities that recognise and work to challenge the harmful legacies of colonialism and imperialism.

    The full aims of the interactive workshop are to:

    • provide an introductory understanding of climate justice and its connection with decolonising and decarbonising
    • support participants to identify opportunities to apply decolonising and decarbonising for climate justice to the education sector
    • encourage participants to develop their own practice to consider climate justice and intersectionality
    • explore the role of UCU branches and members in mobilising action for decolonising and decarbonising.

    Sign up to the training here and please share this link with any other staff at Lboro who may be interested in coming along – https://cpd.web.ucu.org.uk/events/ucu-decarbonise-and-decolonise-loughborough-2/

  • Decarbonise & Decolonise CPD Training

    Lboro UCU branch has organised a CPD workshop, open to all LU staff, which will introduce participants to the interconnectivity of the Decarbonise and Decolonise agendas and identify opportunities to take action.

    The CPD course will take place online on 11th December from 12:30 – 2pm. Please come along and invite your colleagues (including those who may not be UCU members) to join us.

    This can be used as evidence of training, and some staff might also find the workshop helpful for feeding into their PDR EDI Performance Objectives.

    The workshop will give an overview of climate justice, and how this links to the concepts of ‘decolonising’ and ‘decarbonising’ as the structural and systemic roots of the human-induced climate crisis. We will explore examples of climate injustice, and how this often intersects with issues like race, gender, class and indigeneity.

    We will also look at examples of when sustainability actions and initiatives have not taken an intersectional approach, with discussions on how we can avoid this in education to create sustainability activities that recognise and work to challenge the harmful legacies of colonialism and imperialism.

    The full aims of the interactive workshop are to:

    • provide an introductory understanding of climate justice and its connection with decolonising and decarbonising
    • support participants to identify opportunities to apply decolonising and decarbonising for climate justice to the education sector
    • encourage participants to develop their own practice to consider climate justice and intersectionality
    • explore the role of UCU branches and members in mobilising action for decolonising and decarbonising.

    Sign up to the training here and please share this link with any other staff at Lboro who may be interested in coming along – https://cpd.web.ucu.org.uk/events/ucu-decarbonise-and-decolonise-loughborough/

  • LU “Planning for Retirement” Training

    Loughborough University Organisational Development have shared details of a new ‘Planning for Retirement’ Workshop session which will run on 19th December (9:30 – 12:30) via Microsoft Teams.

    Workshop overview:

    To encourage a positive and realistic approach to a financially secure retirement and help employees make informed choices about retirement. Employees, regardless of grade considering retirement or for those who have just started thinking about retirement plans.

    During the course you’ll learn how to:

    • Help you plan for the lifestyle changes ahead
    • Maximise the benefits of your State and workplace pensions
    • Make the most of your tax-free cash
    • Understand the income options available from your pension
    • Achieve your retirement goals.

    You can book onto this training via the My.HR website under the Learning Section. If you can’t attend this date but still would like to attend a session at some point, please select ‘Add to Waiting list’ on the bottom of that page and you should receive a notification if more sessions are added.

  • Becoming a LUCU Caseworker

    We have written before in the newsletter about the important work done by the Branch’s volunteer caseworkers in support of members facing a variety of difficult situations at work. We are always looking for more people to join the team. There is an “Introduction to Casework” training session, organised by UCU regionally, taking place online on 14th November. If you are wanting to join the casework team, you would benefit from attending this session. If anyone is interested in finding out more about the training course and about what our caseworkers do, please contact our Casework Coordinator, Andrew Dix (A.Dix@lboro.ac.uk).

  • Response to transphobic statements in Rishi Sunak’s conference speech

    Colleagues and Students,

    You may be aware that Rishi Sunak made transphobic comments in his speech to the Tory conference this week, stating “we shouldn’t get bullied into believing that people can be any sex they want to be. They can’t.  A man is a man and a woman is a woman. That’s just common sense.”  As an academic community we recognise that the Appeal to Common Sense is a logical fallacy employed in desperation when an assertion cannot be properly defended.

    As the committees for Loughborough UCU branch, and the Staff LGBT+ Network, we would like to make absolutely clear that we condemn Rishi Sunak’s comments.  We recognise that gender is a complex, multi-dimensional aspect of everyone’s identity, and is unique to each of us.  To characterise the experience of being transgender as “being any sex [you] want” is a deliberate over-simplification and mis-representation designed to scapegoat a marginalised community for populist appeal. As is the suggestion that this group are “bullying” the majority.  And while anti-trans sentiments are often portrayed as defending women, they are in fact propping up patriarchy and the disempowerment of women, by emphasising the idea that men and women are fundamentally and radically different.  We support members and non-members of any gender identity; everyone is part of our community.  We are also committed to playing a key role in shaping and delivering the University’s EDI agenda, which includes recognition, respect and support for all individuals in their gender identity. 

    If you are interested in learning more about the complexity and nuance of gender identity, we recommend the LGBT Awareness course available through Organisational Development and presented by LUCU Treasurer and LGBT+ Network Trans and Non-binary Lead, David Wilson, as well as their post on the University’s LGBT Blog Trans visibility as an act of resistance.

    In solidarity

    Loughborough UCU Committee

    LGBT+ Staff Network Committee