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Your Bristol UCU Strike Special Newsflash, 15th March 2018

Your Bristol UCU Strike Special Newsflash, 15th March 2018

1) Tonight’s Social and Members’ Meeting

Don’t forget that we have Hamilton House booked for this evening from 5.00 – 9.30 for a social. We have got a band to entertain us.

Please note: we have a members’ meeting at 5.30 at the same venue.

2) Joint Statement – University of Bristol and Bristol UCU

You will have seen the VC’s message this morning linking to our joint University of Bristol and Bristol UCU statement:

https://www.bristol.ac.uk/university/media/pensions/vc-bristol-ucu-joint-statement.pdf

There is also a video of President Tracey Hooper reading the statement our the Wills Hall Conference Centre, before the start of the Board of Trustees:

https://www.facebook.com/bristol.ucu/videos/889571774549414/

3) Emergency General Meeting, 13:00-14:00, Monday, 19th March, LT2, Chemistry

We have booked an EGM on Monday to debate a motion on ‘University of Bristol UCU Priorities Regarding the Current USS Negotiations between UCU and UUK’:

http://bristolucu.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/files/2018/03/Motion-–-University-of-Bristol-UCU-Priorities-Regarding-the-current-USS-Negotiations-between-UCU-and-UUK.pdf

Please send any amendments you wish to propose to ucu-office@bristol.ac.uk. Please note that only amendments relevant to the motion will be considered.

4) Return To Work

We return to work on Monday, but will still be continuing with Action Short of a Strike (ASOS). As a reminder these are:

work to contract;
not cover for absent colleagues;
not reschedule lectures or classes cancelled due to strike action;
not undertake any voluntary activities

You need to notify HR of your absence. You can either fill in all the word forms at:

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/students/industrial-action/#staff

or you can submit a single email to industrial-action-response@bristol.ac.uk detailing your total absence. If you have not already done so remember to ask for your pension contributions to be paid.

We suggest – to help payroll – that you break this down into each week’s absence, making it absolutely clear if you are a full or part-time member of staff. Remember that you will be deducted 1/365 per full day of action taken. Part-time staff will be deducted:

Total salary x 1/365 for each full day of action taken.

If you are part-time, we suggest that you say something like:

Week 1 – Monday 19 – Friday 23 February

I took strike action on Thursday 22 February for a total of 7 hours. I work 0.4 FTE (14 hours)

Week 2 – Monday 26 – Friday 2 March

I took strike action on Monday, 26 and Wednesday 28 February (14 hours). I work 0.4 FTE (14 hours).

Hourly paid tutors – please notify HR in the same way.

We are still in negotiations with HR regarding HPT pay deductions and are hoping that they will agree to either allow for rescheduling of teaching (if the member of staff wishes to do so and it is feasible) in which case the HPT will be paid in full. If the teaching is not rescheduled then we are asking for preparation and assessment to be paid.

We will update you as soon as we have clarification. Until we have this we cannot process hardship fund applications but will be able to make payments almost immediately once we have clarification.

Timing of deductions. We have also asked HR and the Senior team if they will consider allowing longer for pay deductions to be taken. Leicester University have agreed to deduct over 7 months (2 days per month) and to allow staff to apply for interest-free loans.

5) Applications – Board of Trustees

The University is seeking two members of Support Staff and one member of Academic Staff to join the Board of Trustees from 1 August 2018 until 31 July 2021. We would like to encourage UCU members to stand for these positions.

To apply, please send a short CV (no more than 2 pages) and personal statement (no more than 500 words) to governance@bristol.ac.uk by Wednesday 21 March 2018, 5pm.

For informal enquiries regarding these roles, please contact the University’s Head of Governance, Ms Katy Gullon (katy.gullon@bristol.ac.uk)

For more information about the application process, including a person specification, please visit the Governance Opportunities website.

6) Staff Survey

Don’t forget to complete the staff survey. We’ve been told that it’s not been buried, just not being prioritised at this time!

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/positive-working/staff-survey/

7) #Bristol-USS-Strike Photos

Our very own Bristol UCU ‘Henri Cartier-Bresson’ has taken a number of photos over the last few weeks, telling ‘a story of commitment, wit, creativity, resolve, determination and fun!’.

Please feel free to share

March 05+06+07

https://fluff.bris.ac.uk/fluff/u2/chjge/RF3koDgAz6TYeMFxpT6lAwh5z/

March 12

https://fluff.bris.ac.uk/fluff/u2/chjge/x_ipO0ZrvsQQ4qfWF939NQh7Y/

March 15

https://fluff.bris.ac.uk/fluff/u1/chjge/bbuju_sgtubqTy6rIaXNCQiAb/

February

https://fluff.bris.ac.uk/fluff/u2/chjge/rcu7YPvxsz78YxsN5Zlz0QhtK/