Negotiating and working groups

All-member Working Groups

Recruitment, Organisation and Campaigns Committee (ROCC)

This group was established with the aim of making the branch more visible and improving our membership density, we invite all Walton Hall, Associate Lecturer and regional/national centre reps to ROCC meetings.

We currently have working groups on these subjects, please email the branch mailbox if you are interested in joining one of these groups:

Four Year Business Plan (4YBP)
+1.3 FTE proposals (FTE = full-time equivalent)
Research-focused staff
New Branch Banner
Richer Tuition model
Workload Intensification
Campus 2030
Divestment and Complicit Investment
Sustainability (including Community Wealth Building)

Negotiating Groups

Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC)

This is the negotiating committee with OU management that has a broad remit covering a wide range of employment related matters.

The union side members of the JNC team is as follows (updated July 2024):

Pete Wood, Branch President
Lesley Kane, Hon. Secretary

When any of these are unavailable, other branch officers or executive committee members may stand in and we also have the facility to take observers to the JNC meetings.

Joint Trade Union Forum (J-TUF) meetings with People Services (operational JNC meetings)

Pete Wood, Branch President
Lesley Kane, Hon. Secretary
Other Exec committee members attend the meetings when needed.

Associate Lecturer Operations Working Group (ALOWG)

The ALOWG is no longer having meetings (September 2024), the replacement group will be published here shortly.

Lesley Kane, Hon. Secretary
Isabella Muzio, Exec Ordinary member
Jenny Kermally, ALs Officer
Chenoa Putter, Vice President
Kieran McCartney, Staff Tutor
Penny Oderberg, Exec Ordinary member
Other Exec committee members attend the meetings when needed.

Policies Under Discussion, Negotiation or Consultation

Due to limitations with the website we can't put borders around the table cells, which makes the following quite hard to read. Hopefully if you're this deep into the detail you'll muddle through, but do email us if you need an Excel file as a reasonable adjustment (borders will show on some web browsers).

The following polices are currently the subject of active engagement between UCU and management. It is not intended as a comprehensive list of all policies that UCU would seek to influence. If you know of anything requiring addressing, please make us aware.

Policy/Procedure Name	Deadline for response	Status	Notes
Fixed Term Contract Policy & Procedure		Active	Negotiation nearing completion and ballot.
Redundancy Policy		Active	Work in progress, slowed by other People Services priorities.
Starting Salary Policy & Procedure		Active	Approved at UCU ballot. As of 17/12/24 it is being prepared for use in People Services.
Reward Policy; Reward Procedure		Active	New version of a scheme analogous to the old Going the extra mile (GEM) Awards due to be reinstated.
Sickness Absence Policy; Sickness Absence Procedure	n/a	Active	Expected in early 2025. Union seeks alternative to the Bradford Factor
Associate Lecturer Annual Leave Policy	n/a	Active	Negotiations close to completion
Personal Relationships Policy	06/12/2024	Active	Updated to reflect requirements from OfS re staff and student relationships.
Safeguarding Code of Conduct	n/a	Active	UCU requested that Code and 'Managing Allegations' policy & procedure be reviewed together. Subgroup of Safeguarding Steering Group (SSG) to review.
Safeguarding Managing Allegataions Policy & Procedure	n/a	Active	As above
Sexual Harassment policy		Active	Initial meeting imminent (23/01/25)