News

The branch is very pleased to report that the AL Contract Negotiating Group (ALNG) have reached an agreement and the proposed new AL contract will be put to a ballot of our AL members from 7 January 2019 to 24 January 2019.

There's an update on the OU intranet (link for OU staff only): https://intranet.open.ac.uk/ouintra/story.aspx?id=33223

At our Annual General Meeting on 15th November the results of the election to the Executive Committee were announced. Caitlin Adams will now be taking over as branch president. The meeting expressed its profound gratitude to Lesley Kane for her leadership during this challenging year and especially for her tireless efforts in the AL contract negotiations. We are delighted that she remains a member of the Executive Committee as Immediate Past President and in her capacity as a member of the National Executive Committee.
 

We are joining forces with Unite the Community to sponsor a coach on Saturday 17th November 2018 from Milton Keynes station (10:30 departure) to the Stand Up to Racism demonstration in London.

Tickets are available here: eventbrite.co.uk/e/stand-up-to-racism-unity-demonstration-against-the-far-right-tickets-51704973969

We held a Hustings event on 23rd October for both candidates, in our election for a new branch President, to speak to members. We can now share the audio file from that event.

Audio of our Hustings event - soundcloud

The election for a new Branch President closes on 31st October - please use your vote!

We are holding a branch election for a new President on our Executive Committee - members will have received an email from the Electoral Reform Services on 11th October.

Here are election statements from the two candidates:

Caitlin Adams

Lesley Kane

Excessive workload in parts of the university is often flagged up to us by our reps and caseworkers.

UCU has developed a workload survey which we are inviting all members to fill in at this address: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/8PBG6GR, to find out how widespread this is, and to find out how many of you are feeling under pressure.

At the Branch meeting on 17th September our guest speaker Carlo Morelli from the UCU and University of Dundee gave an overview of the Pay and Equality ballot and also answered questions about the pension scheme (USS).

The branch executive therefore thought this was a good time to send an update on the pensions dispute. We are also planning to hold a branch meeting in October in order to consider the branch’s position on USS once further information is available.

We have sent the calling notice to all OU UCU members for the annual election of our Executive Committee.

It is the time of year once again to start the process of electing our UCU branch officers and committee members. The deadline for nominations is 4pm on Friday 5th October 2018, and the election results will be announced at our Annual General Meeting on 15th November 2018.

One of our AL reps, Kevin McNerney, did a talk in our Adobe Connect room on 28th August at 6.30pm.

The talk was called OU Employment Contracts: enigmas wrapped up in mysteries and there is a recording of it at this address: https://learn3.open.ac.uk/mod/connecthosted/view.php?id=135696.

The link is for OU staff only, click the "view previous recordings" option in the top right hand corner of the page.

The rules on pay in lieu of notice (PILON) changed in April 2018 and now all payments in lieu of notice will be taxable, whether contractual or non-contractual.

So if someone works their notice, they will obviously be paid and taxed on their salary in the normal way up until the date of termination. Any compensation payment they are then given is tax free up to £30,000.