1) USS and Four Fights
The industrial action ballots for USS and the Four Fights open on Monday, 18th October.
Members can make sure their details are correct by going to https://my.ucu.org.uk/app/utils/login_form
Once logged in, members can check their ballot paper mailing address is correct, for example.
For more information:
https://www.ucu.org.uk/article/11766/UK-university-staff-to-ballot-in-October-over-pay-and-pensions
As noted in a recent email to University of Bristol Senior Management, ‘[i]t is still possible to avoid widespread sector and institutional disruption this autumn if your representatives at UUK and UCEA return to the negotiating table urgently and make acceptable offers. UCU negotiators are on standby and ready to get started’ [link].
2) Reminder: ‘Surviving Your Casualised Contract’, Bristol UCU Anti-Casualisation Workshop, *Today* 17:00-18:00, Microsoft Teams
This event will take place on Microsoft Teams today@5pm. Join using the Teams link below:
https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_Mjg3Yzc0MjEtZGY0Yi00OTVlLWI1MGQtNjg1ZWU0ZjExNTI2%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22b2e47f30-cd7d-4a4e-a5da-b18cf1a4151b%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%226e72278d-905a-418f-b006-a50123aab84d%22%7d
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3) Campus Working
To download Bristol UCU’s own ‘We Expect That You Wear A Mask’ posters, click on the links below:
https://www.ucubristol.org.uk/files/2021/09/mask-poster-pink.pdf
https://www.ucubristol.org.uk/files/2021/09/mask-poster-purple.pdf
Teaching staff are encouraged to remind students of the University and Student Union’s ‘Stay Safe, Be Respectful’ campaign [link], with its key message ‘Wear a Face Covering Inside’.
Please email ucu-office@bristol.ac.uk if you have any concerns about the ventilation, capacity, social distancing, CO2 monitoring or hygiene in your teaching room/workspace.
Already members are writing to branch reps to inform us of ventilation levels falling into the red (repeated levels>1500ppm cO2 for 15 minutes or longer) in the middle of their teaching, and windows that do not open.
No doubt there is pressure on University Campus Division management to cope with an increased and justifiable concern about safety, and to deal with individual queries about the safety of over 600+ teaching rooms.
This is all the more reason to share the results of room risk assessments on the University intranet, accessible to all.
Risk assessments are being conducted on a regular, every 2-weeks basis. Sharing the results of these with staff and students would go a long way to reassure all that their workplaces are safe.
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