Dear Brookes UCU Members,
The Branch Executive Committee met last Tuesday. Of course, the major news is of the upcoming USS Strike, but we also have updates on the Joint Staff Committee meeting, as well as meetings from the Workload Planning group and the Associate Lecturer policy group. We’ve also had some productive meetings with Unison and the Student Union.
Next Branch Meeting
Before getting to all of that, I’d like to remind everybody of the next branch meeting, scheduled for ***Wednesday 7 March at 12pm (Gibbs 217)***.
USS Strike
At the branch exec meeting, we discussed how to support colleagues at the University of Oxford (see strike dates below). We discussed the possibilities of encouraging and organising for members to attend pickets, as well as donating or setting up a Hardship fund. We are waiting for the secretary of the University of Oxford UCU branch, whose exec was also meeting Tuesday, to confirm to us their plans and pickets details. We will communicate these asap.
In the meantime, we would like to encourage members to append the following message to their email signatures, as a show of support and solidarity with UCU colleagues that are participating in strike action.
“I am in a post-1992 institution and therefore not on strike but I support my colleagues in
UCU currently in dispute for fair pensions and conditions. For more info see
Why We’re Taking Action.”
Reports on Exec meeting 6 February 2018
Minutes for the Workload Planning review group meeting (WLP), the Joint Staff Committee meeting (JSC), Catering, and the Associate Lecturer (AL) policy have been uploaded to Rules and Minutes page. Please have a look in the following weeks and we can discuss in more detail at the Branch meeting on 7 March.
Officer Elections
Branch Officer elections are coming up. Calls for nominations should be made by 31 March, so that we can declare nominations to all members by 17 April. Confirmation and election of positions are made at our AGM branch meeting on 2 May. If you are interested in a position, please contact us! We are looking to restructure the division of roles and hours in the exec, and will be looking to enhance the position of faculty/department reps, so please get in touch even if you think the position you’re interested in is filled, as these might be shifting next year. We need all the help we can get!
Student Union, UNISON and UCU meeting
On Friday 2 February, your co-Secretary Maïa Pal met with two Student Union officers, Sam Cockle-Hearne (Vice-President Welfare) and Becca Harrington (Women’s officer), as well as two UNISON reps, Jon Appleton and Edwin Thomas.This follows from our previous meetings with Student Union officers last semester and last Spring. In November 2017, Andy Kilmister (Co-Secretary) and Maïa Pal met Diko Blackings (President) and Harriet Cherry (Vice President for Academic Experience) and it was great to be introduced and discuss our general roles and issues with the new officers.
On Friday, we had our first ‘3 Union’ meeting as UNISON were also represented. After some very productive discussions, we institutionalised the meetings, and have 3 more dates booked to meet before the end of this academic year.