We held a briefing meeting for members this morning to hear your views about the new proposals from UCU and UUK, published last night. Please note that this was not an EGM as we need to give three days’ notice for this under branch rules.

Earlier this morning a quorate UCU executive committee met to discuss the proposals and agreed the following statement:

“We are minded to support the suspension of the action to put the deal to our members with the information they will need to make evidence based and critically informed decisions because this is a complex situation and we need to hear all voices.”

This statement was then read to the members at the briefing. There was a discussion of the proposals at the meeting, and members raised a number of issues and concerns. We will feed these issues, and others that come to us via email, back to UCU nationally. It was very clear at the meeting that we need more information to inform our decisions. We are also aware that not everybody from the branch was able to attend the meeting or express their views. At this stage, the branch does not feel able to either support or reject the proposals.

UCU HEC will be meeting this afternoon at 2pm to discuss the proposals and will make the decision whether to suspend or continue with the strike and ASOS action. Please note that should the action be suspended UCU members will be balloted on whether or not to accept the proposals.

We will be in touch with you once we know more and can begin to answer your questions with confidence.

Thank you for your patience and continued support.