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News Archives

Seven months of prioritising health, safety and wellbeing. Plus…

Published: 29th October, 2020

It’s been hard work keeping up with all of the University exectutive board’s emails of the past 7 months. For those who couldn’t quite manage it, here’s our handy summary. April 2020 The health, safety and wellbeing of all staff and students is our top priority. Plus, here’s an emergency workload model that we’ve designed…

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Campus Safety – Important Information

Published: 5th October, 2020

Email sent to all members of Leicester UCU, 5 October 2020 Following our declaration of a formal dispute with the University over its position on on-campus working, and related Health & Safety concerns, Leicester UCU has received concerning reports from members about their experiences working on campus last week, highlighting flaws in the University’s safety…

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Lives and Livelihoods: in dispute with Executive Board

Published: 2nd October, 2020

Communication sent to all members of Leicester UCU, 2 October 2020 Following an unsatisfactory response from the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, on 30 September 2020, to our requests regarding on-campus working arising from the EGM on 24 September 2020, Leicester UCU has formally notified the University’s Executive Board of a local dispute. We are writing to you today to…

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Despair, heartbreak and moral disgust: covid reflections

Published: 30th September, 2020

A University of Leicester employee former University of Leicester employee offers some personal reflections One of the hardest things about being made redundant at University of Leicester, during the Covid disaster, was witnessing the despair of lowly paid colleagues losing their jobs too. It was also heartbreaking to have to discontinue my charity donations. I’m…

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As teaching approaches…

Published: 28th September, 2020

A University of Leicester employee reflects on our good fortune. As the first teaching term of 2020/21 is about to start, I feel more anxious than I normally feel at this time of the year. My anxiety mainly originates in the fact that, despite the increasing number of daily new coronavirus cases in the UK…

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Promises, Promises

Published: 27th September, 2020

Our employer has initiated what it’s calling a Safe Citizen Promise. We have some comments.

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Raising the alarm on our University’s ‘Safe Working’

Published: 24th September, 2020

Leicester UCU has serious concerns about the University’s response to the UK’s move from Level 3 to Level 4 COVID-19 alert level (announced 21 September), which has major implications for the health and safety of all members of the University community and the communities in which we live.  [There is an emergency general meeting –…

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Response to Open Letter

Published: 5th August, 2020

On 23 July we sent an Open Letter to the University of Leicester’s Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor. Their response, received on 29 July, is below. The University recognises the valuable contributions all our staff are making during this very difficult time. We take the sector-wide issue of casualisation and precarity seriously and understand the issues this…

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Leicester UCU endorses Gareth4VP

Published: 4th August, 2020

We’re pleased to announce that the committee of Leicester UCU today endorsed branch co-secretary Gareth Brown in his bid to become UCU’s vice-president. You can read more here about Gareth’s campaign and his vision for our union. You can also follow him on Twitter. Whether or not you vote for Gareth, we think this election…

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No more room on the 16th floor

Published: 27th July, 2020

Two Leicester UCU colleagues, both activists and picket line stalwarts, both precariously employed, were recently made redundant by the University of Leicester after many years as part of our university community. Both were recognised for their expertise, the quality of their work and, in particular, their ability to engage effectively with students from non-traditional backgrounds….

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