News – University of Birmingham branch

Press Release: University “putting city at risk” as Birmingham sees “worrying” rise in hospital admissions

September 8, 2020September 8, 2020 unisonbhamuni0

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 […]

Concerns regarding the return to work strategy

August 28, 2020August 28, 2020 unisonbhamuni0

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 […]

Covid cases on campus

August 26, 2020August 27, 2020 unisonbhamuni0

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 […]

Model Email Regarding Returning To On-Campus Work

August 21, 2020August 21, 2020 unisonbhamuni0

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 – […]

Redundancies threatened at the Guild of Students (6th Aug)

August 18, 2020August 18, 2020 unisonbhamuni0

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 […]

Advice for “shielding” staff and others with underlying health conditions (6th Aug)

August 18, 2020August 18, 2020 unisonbhamuni0

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 […]

Online members meeting – Tuesday 30th June 1pm-2pm

June 25, 2020June 25, 2020 unisonbhamuni0

UoB UNISON will be holding an online members meeting this coming Tuesday at 1pm via Zoom. You should have had the invite to the meeting by email and or text. If you are a member and haven’t had it please contact us on unisonbham@contacts.bham.ac.uk and we’ll send it through to you. The meeting will discuss […]

The Black Lives Matter movement has been a long time coming – statement from UoB Unison

June 12, 2020June 12, 2020 unisonbhamuni0

Many institutions, companies and organisations have been very vocal about racial inequalities in the UK and others just showed up last week. No one is perfect and we know that we- as the UNISON union branch at UoB can and want to do better. We don’t want to take what has been said/talked about and […]

Any return to work needs to be safe

May 14, 2020May 14, 2020 unisonbhamuni0

Many workers across the country have understandable concerns following the prime minister’s announcement at the weekend, with its reference to “encouraging” people to return to work. UNISON and other trade unions are clear that a return to work at any workplace can only take place if stringent safety measures are put in place to protect […]

Furlough at the University of Birmingham

May 1, 2020May 1, 2020 unisonbhamuni0

What does “furlough” mean? In UK employment law, “furlough” is a new employment status introduced as part of the Coronavirus pandemic. If you are furloughed: You cannot do any work for your employer (though you can take part in training and volunteer, as long as it doesn’t generate income for your employer). Your employer can […]