University of Birmingham branch
The trade union representing support staff and academic-related staff on campus. The union is as strong as the links between its members.
Update 07.09.21 – Additional point added on areas where face coverings are required As September begins we find ourselves in a broadly similar situation to last year – coming out of a summer where restrictions have been minimal into a new academic year, in which the key driver seems to be to keep things as […]
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While it’s a bit of a relief that Monday will not see radical changes to safety arrangements at the University, there were a couple of issues in the Vice Chancellor’s recent announcement on the University’s plans for the transition period to the start of the new academic year. Firstly and possibly most urgently there is […]
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UCU and UNISON, the unions representing mental health support workers at the University of Birmingham, are seriously concerned about changes made to counselling provision at the University last month. After years of underfunding and understaffing the University has elected not to replace counsellors after all but one of the existing post-holders left in March via […]
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Since our last safety update at the start of term, we’ve been consistently pressuring the University to take the national lockdown seriously, by reducing activity on campus as much as possible, reducing the number of support staff required as a result. While we’ve had some engagement from the University on which buildings remain open, which […]
Continue ReadingOur email reporting concerns 22.01.21 Dear Simon, Gillian, Mark, I am writing on behalf of UNISON members further to discussions this week regarding serious safety concerns that we feel have the potential to put employees of the University at risk of serious and imminent danger, and particularly those working within the University nurseries and the […]
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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 […]
Continue ReadingAll 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 […]
Continue ReadingIn 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 […]
Continue ReadingThis 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 – […]
Continue ReadingUNISON 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 […]
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