1) Gender Pay Claim
Bristol UCU reps and University reps had our second formal meeting about the Gender Pay Claim on Thursday last week.
We are pleased to report that things are beginning to move in the right direction. For example, it was agreed that we would receive a response to our Bristol UCU draft of the joint UCU/UoB statement within a week, and that we would be able to release it within two weeks.
It was also agreed that we would arrange three further meetings to go through our Gender Pay Claim point by point early in the new academic year.
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2) Staff Voice & #wearetheUniversity
The paper published in last week’s Newsflash last week was listened to carefully and received positively by the Vice Chancellor and HR Director at our Staff Voice session, with a commitment to discuss many of the suggestions made.
Joint trade unions have also been invited to attend the University’s autumn planning session in October. We will be pulling an action plan together, and will report on that plan to Bristol UCU member before October.
Our regular University Joint Consultative and Negotiating Committee (with Unison and Unite reps) yesterday was also very constructive. Amongst other things, a paper we submitted on New Ways of Working (NWOW) was taken very seriously by the Chief Financial Officer, with a promise to review this programme and to include trade union representation in the future.
Branch Vice President James Thompson also presented our paper on Workload Modelling, and union reps have agreement that this will be discussed in the autumn. It is our intention to lodge the proposals in our paper as part of a formal claim.
Thank you to all members and reps who have fed directly into these meetings. Your voice is being heard. If you are interested in becoming more involved, email ucu-office@bristol.ac.uk.
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3) Bristol Votes To Reject Pay Offer and For Industrial Action – Pay and Equality Ballot
Bristol UCU members have spoken.
In the recent consultative e-ballot, 86% of Bristol UCU members voted to reject our employer’s current pay and equality offer. Just under 67% voted to take industrial action.
Turnout in the ballot was well over 50% – 57.2%. Reassuring, but we can go higher (!) when we vote in the formal Industrial Action Ballot opening in August.
#wearetheUniversity.
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4) Consultative Ballot – Second Brexit Referendum
Beginning Monday, 3rd September and closing mid-October, UCU is running an consultative ballot on whether UCU should support a second referendum on the final Brexit deal as negotiated by the UK government.
A dedicated webpage is being created for members and branches to write or share articles and blogs with others before making a decision.
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5) Closing of Local Strike Hardship Fund
Branch officers have decided to close the Local Hardship Fund from the end of August. Any claims submitted after the end of August will not be processed.
Please also note that claims submitted to the Local Hardship Fund in the first three weeks of August (1st to 19th) will not be processed until Fund signatories and administrators return from well-earned holidays.
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