Higher education committee (HEC) agrees programme of action

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The higher education committee (HEC) has now agreed the following programme of action aimed at improving the offer from 1.1%:


    

  • A two day national strike Wednesday 25 and Thursday 26 May.
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  • An instruction to members to work to contract with effect from 25/05/2016. Full guidance will be issued this week on what you should and should not do.
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The HEC has also agreed to make preparations for further action aimed at student admissions and at the setting and marking of students’ work should the employers not improve their offer.


Finally, outside the action,  the union will also be appealing to all members to resign, giving due notice, from currently held external examiner positions and not to take up new ones until the  dispute is settled.


					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Higher education (HE) ballot: your pay is shrinking, please vote today

			
						

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 Higher education members are being balloted on the 2016 pay offer and you should by now have received your ballot paper in the post.





The ballot closes on 4 May. Please don’t leave it to others to speak for you – cast your vote now.




					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Local update for members

			
						

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Colleagues


    

  • Pay Claim  2016 – ballot for industrial action
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  • Congress 2016 – representatives needed
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  • UCU subscriptions – Change to Direct Debit
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  • National recruitment week #3
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  • Your membership record – are your details up to date?
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  • Get involved with your local branch
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Pay Claim 2016 – ballot for industrial action:  Further to Sally Hunt’s recent email we would like to remind members that, following an unacceptable response to the Unions’ pay claim, UCU will be balloting members for industrial action.  Ballot papers will be sent out on 14 April and the ballot will run until 4 May.  If you have not received your ballot paper by 21 April please contact the UCU office.  It is really important that we get a good turnout for this ballot so PLEASE USE YOUR VOTE.  Further details of the pay claim can be found here:  https://www.ucu.org.uk/he2016


Congress 2016 – representatives needed:  UCU Congress is the national decision-making body of the union.  This year it is being held from Wednesday 1 June to Friday 3 June at the ACC Liverpool.  As a branch we are entitled to send three delegates along to Congress and it is important that we fill our quota.  We are currently seeking members who would be interested in attending to represent the views of the branch.  All expenses are paid by UCU and, as a formal delegate, you are entitled to paid time off to attend.  Could you please let me know by 22 April if you would like to attend; if you need any further information please give me a call to discuss.


UCU subscription – change to Direct Debit:  Do you currently pay your UCU subscription via salary deduction?? In an attempt to weaken trade unions and leave staff without effective representation the new Trade Union Bill proposes to cease such arrangements within the public sector.  We are therefore asking you to change your payment method to direct debit as soon as possible.  There are some quick and easy steps to follow – please contact the UCU office for further information.


National recruitment week #3:  Following two very successful national recruitment weeks which have resulted in an increase in our local membership, UCU will be running a third event w/c 16 May.  We are keen to engage with as many departments/disciplines/professional services as possible so if you would like us to hold a recruitment stand in your building/department please get in touch so that we can plan this.  We would also ask for offers of help during this week to make the event as visible and successful as possible to enable us to engage with members and non-members alike.  If you would like to get involved or have any ideas please get in touch.


Your membership record: As always, may I ask that you spend a few minutes reviewing your membership record to ensure that your information is up to date.  This is particularly important in relation to your subscription band should you need legal support from the union, as this may affect your eligibility.  You can access your record here: https://members.ucu.org.uk/ 


Get involved to build your local branch: And finally, we are constantly seeking active members to help build the branch.  There are several ways you can do this from becoming a local officer or departmental representative to representing members or just putting up leaflets.  In particular we are seeking representatives in several departments at the moment (including Physics and Astronomy, Engineering, Ocean & Earth Science, Law, Business, Education) – could you help?  Every little helps so do please consider volunteering a small amount of your time.  Thank you.


					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
On the run

			
						

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Over the last few months, I have been trying to get lighter and fitter. The weight reduction is driven mainly by a diet of fish and vegetables: mackerel, fresh sardines, herring etc., often from the Monday stall outside the student union. The exercise for fitness has mainly been by running. I would commend to you the Saturday morning 5km Parkrun on Southampton common; hundreds of us gather north of the Hawthorns by 09:00 and are finished before 10:00. It’s all free, and led by a cheerful band of volunteers including retired mathematicians Gareth and David. Quite a few runners are recovering from injuries or sickness; it does not matter how slow you are, you will be encouraged and supported. All very much in the positive spirit of trade unionism.


Yesterday, however was a bigger run, the Eastleigh 10k. From the Union, we had Moray, our regional official; Amanda, our branch administrator; David, our retired treasurer, and at least one more member from our lab. We were running alongside, amongst a couple of thousand others, Adam Wheeler, our former Deputy Vice-Chancellor. Of the group, I was both slowest and second-oldest.


Denis Nicole

Branch President


					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Today’s general meeting

			
						

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Thank you all for coming to today’s General Meeting in building 45. I hope you found it interesting and useful. This has been a busy week for your branch committee; events in Modern Languages have been moving quickly.


I have uploaded the slides from the meeting, complete with the motions as amended. Please:


    

  • continue to let Amanda know any information you find out about changes to working practices, or anything else you think important;
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  • tell us how you got on with the new L4-6 appraisal. Was teaching given due prominence?
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  • Think about coming to UCU Congress as a delegate, and
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  • prepare to take action to support our pay claim.
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Remember that changes to USS pensions and National Insurance will cost you money this year. Colleagues in the Final Salary scheme will pay 0.5% more; newer colleagues in CRB will pay an extra 1.5%. And you will lose about a further £500 in NI payments. So, if we don’t receive at least a 2% pay rise, many of us will actually be paid less in the coming year.


Denis Nicole

Branch President


					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
TUC heartunions campaign – Big Workplace Meeting

			
						

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Big Workplace Meeting today showing solidarity amongst the University of Southampton’s trade unions – ‪UCU‬, UNISON and Unite – in support of the TUC’s ‪#‎heartunions‬ campaign. Thanks to all those who came along and joined in the discussion.


There’s still time to sign the petition against the TU Bill:  https://campaign.goingtowork.org.uk/petitions/david-cameron-don-t-threaten-the-right-to-strike 


IMG_5798 IMG_5799 IMG_5800




					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
The Big  Workplace Meeting – 12.30pm 9 February

			
						

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Please come and join the campus trade unions at our Big Workplace Meeting in support of the TUC heartunions campaign.  The meeting will be addressed, via live videostream, by Frances O’Grady, TUC General Secretary, who will discuss the progress of the trade union bill and its implications.  Further details of the campaign can be found here: http://heartunions.org/


It will take place on Tuesday 9 February at 12.30pm in room 54/8031, Highfield campus.  Please do join us.  Why not download a poster/leaflet to display and encourage your colleagues to come along.


The Big Workplace Meeting poster A4


The Big Workplace Meeting flyer A5, printed 2 up


Also please take the time to sign the petition against the Bill here: https://campaign.goingtowork.org.uk/petitions/david-cameron-don-t-threaten-the-right-to-strike


 


					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
`Rate for the Job’ – are you paid fairly?

			
						

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As part of our national campaign for fair pay within higher and further education, UCU have launched a new part of the website to collate and publish salary levels from around the country in order to create an upward pressure upon pay and support our national negotiators.


Use ‘Rate for the Job’ to:


1. Compare your salary to similar staff in your and other universities


2. See how the value of your pay has been affected by recent below inflation pay rises


3. Check how big the gender pay gap is in your institution


Help us to share this initiative by directing non-members colleagues to our blog and inviting them to partake or, better still, to join the union. https://www.ucu.org.uk/join


 


					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
We need you to help Build the Union at Southampton

			
						

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We are looking for active members to build the UCU branch at Southampton University. There are a variety of ways that members can get involved.


A branch representative


The main role of the branch or departmental representatives is to sustain the branch. This can be broken down into five main areas:


    

  • Recruiting – attending induction events, identifying non-members
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  • Organising – talking and listening to members’ and non-members’ views to find out their problems and concerns; identifying areas of low membership density; encouraging members to get involved; distributing leaflets and newsletters; involvement with branch strategy.
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  • Representing members – either collectively or individual members. This involves keeping up to date with procedures, agreements, policies and contractual conditions at your workplace; representing members at formal meetings with management; taking up collective issues with management.
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  • Campaigning – on local, regional or national issues of importance to UCU, such as workload, stress, equality issues.
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  • Other tasks – such as keeping records of meetings with the branch or members; attending meetings with other unions in your workplace.
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A local/workplace contact


A contact is someone who is willing to take on a range of smaller tasks that help raise the profile of the branch among your immediate colleagues and who ensures that members in your work area feel that the union is present, relevant and listens to them. Some tasks associated with this role are to:


    

  • Distribute union literature on behalf of your branch or the national union to department or work area colleagues.
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  • Act as a point of liaison between members in your immediate work area and the branch.
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  • Distribute union messages to non-members
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A local caseworker


When members are facing problems at work, they can expect the help of local caseworkers to discuss their concerns with, and to accompany them to formal meetings if necessary. As a local caseworker, you would:


    

  • Listen to members’ concerns and identify what outcome they are seeking.
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  • Provide one to one support for individual members facing workplace issues.
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  • Accompany members to meetings with managers to try and resolve issues informally.
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  • Accompany members to formal hearings such as disciplinary, capability or grievance.
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We understand that you may not feel you have the time to devote to one of these roles, but without local reps, contacts and caseworkers the branch would have a lot less influence at work. Research shows that union members in the UK receive higher pay and better terms and conditions than non-members. It is the power and influence of the union that comes from working collectively and the more people the branch/LA represents and the more unified they are, the more authority and bargaining power we have. So please do think about how you can get involved to Build the Union.


Please contact the local branch to discuss how you can help. Call Amanda on x 22364 or email ucu@soton.ac.uk


					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
UCU national workload survey

			
						

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UCU are running a national survey on workloads.  This is an issue that members frequently raise with the local branch with excessive workloads leading to work-related stress and absenteeism.


In order that we can understand more about workloads across the education sector, could you please complete the 2016 survey; it should take around 10-15 minutes and can be accessed via this link:


UCU workload survey 2016  


Everyone who completes the survey will go into a prize draw for a £100 John Lewis voucher.  Please feel free to forward this email to any interested colleagues who may not be UCU members.