After a delay to allow more clarity to develop about the impact of coronavirus on University finances, we will shortly be starting our annual pay negotiations with University senior management. The pay claim for this year has been drafted by the committee and will be presented to members on Tuesday the 3rd November for any…
At a well attended virtual branch meeting last week, members from Birmingham University UNISON passed a motion (reproduced in full below) to express their deep concern about plans to make up to 19 staff redundant at the University-owned Edgbaston Park Hotel. While all hospitality businesses are facing difficult times, the Hotel is owned by a…
We are calling on all staff working at the University to sign our open letter to the VC, that calls on the University to change course. It does this respectfully and moderately, backed up by scientific advice. We’re aiming for hundreds of signatures in a few short days. If you work at the University…
Press contact: James Brackley (UCU), jb4243@hotmail.com; Mike Moore (UNISON), mich_moore@hotmail.co.uk;07/09/2020 [STARTS] As the number of cases rise across the country and concerns grow nationally about the potential impact of reopening Universities, unions at the University of Birmingham have expressed serious concerns about plans to reopen the Edgbaston campus. There have been at least three confirmed…
All the scientific advice from both independent and government sources says that keeping schools open will be the absolute priority and other sectors should be really cautious about who they ask to return to in-person work. Because of this, we’re becoming increasingly frustrated with the approach at University of Birmingham to asking staff to come…
In March, before the lockdown started, the University made a commitment to its staff that it would notify them if there were confirmed cases of coronavirus on campus. On the 23rd of March the University both clarified and repeated this commitment by stating that: “We will continue to follow this notification process until the University…
This is a draft email for members to modify and send to their managers if they feel they are being asked to return without a clear reason behind it. We would encourage all members being asked to return without a good reason to send something along these lines even if you feel relatively relaxed about it –…
UNISON learned in early August of an ongoing restructure taking place at the Guild of Students, that could potentially lead to up to three members of staff losing their jobs. This comes at a time when most staff are still furloughed and the financial impact on the University is still unclear – it simply makes…
We’ve had a number of concerns recently from members regarding the local plans being made for returning to campus. It’s clear that there is a huge amount of variation across the institution, with some good practice where continued home working remains the default as well as unfortunately many examples where a return to on campus work is…
Reposting advice from our Facebook page Government advice throughout the pandemic has been fast changing and sometimes contradictory. Late last week the government indicated that new local restrictions will be put in place across a large area in the North of England, and further loosening of lockdown restrictions have been paused. While the government maintains that…
