About us

Policy Making

As a local branch, we elect 5 delegates for the UCU national Congress, which meets once a year and determines national policy.  There are other national committees representing particular interest groups and sectors, for more information see the UCU national website.

Local policy is set by branch members at our branch meetings, and you can see which policy motions have been approved recently on our Motions page.  If you would like to suggest a change to policy, contact the branch office for information about drafting a motion. Email ucu@open.ac.uk or telephone 01908 6(53069).

Branch Structure

The OU branch elects an Executive Committee each year, with representation from all member and staff categories. The Executive is supported by the following sub groups:

• Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) - where the union and management negotiate over issues affecting staff.  UCU members are appointed by the branch Executive Committee.
• Recruitment, Organisation and Campaigns Committee (ROCC) – focussing on recruitment and campaigns.
• Joint Trade Union forum (JTUF) where UCU and UNISON meet with People Services to discuss current employment issues. 

Other Union Roles

Our local reps are a key link into the union for members, and take on different roles from publicity, to negotiating with local management, to identifying collective issues for action by the branch.  Our aim is to have at least one AL rep in each region, and at least one rep in each office location and unit.

Find your local rep on our Reps and Contacts page.  If you are interested in becoming a rep and would like to talk to someone about it, please contact the branch office.

Health and Safety reps are shown on the Reps and Contacts page and there's further information about Health and Safety on our Health and Safety page.

Our caseworkers are trained to help individual members with employment issues.  If you would like to know more about becoming a caseworker, please contact the branch office.  If you need help with an issue, please go to our Get Help page.

Open Saver: The Open University Employees' Credit Union

Open Saver is a credit union, membership of which is exclusive to employees of The Open University. It is a small, not-for-profit and co-operative ‘bank’, set up and run by OU employees for OU employees. UCU is not directly linked to Open Saver, but we share many members and values. To find out more visit their intranet page (OU staff only) or there is a web page here.