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ALL MEMBERS MEETING INFORMATION

Members Meeting: Thursday 14th January, 1pm

We hope you are all keeping well in these challenging times, and managed to have a nice break over the festive period.

Before Christmas, we wrote to you to invite you to our next meeting on the 0% Pay Offer following UNISON’s consultation. We are still going to provide an update on the Pay Consultation and welcome contributions and thoughts from members.

However, in light of the events of the past couple of weeks and the new national lockdown announcement, we think it is also important to allow members the space and time to discuss this too. The lockdown will bring new challenges and may see previous issues return so it’s important that we are all able to share our concerns about the workplace and more generally. Some of us may have found our workload or working environment has changed, whilst the continuation of existing arrangements for others may bring its own problems.

UNISON stewards from across the University will be at the meeting to answer any questions you may have and address any concerns, so please do join us.

If you have any thoughts, questions or concerns and are not able to attend or do not wish to raise them in a meeting, please feel free to contact the branch on unison@sheffield.ac.uk and this will be picked up by a steward.

University of Sheffield UNISON Branch Committee

ALL UNION MEETING AND IMPORTANT INFORMATION

ALL UNION MEETING: THURSDAY 30 JULY 2020, 1PM

We would like to invite you to a collective Campus Trade Union members meeting this Thursday. This is for UCU, UNISON, Unite and GMB union members only and so has a sign up list .  The Campus Trade Unions will send  login  details out to everyone who does register.    Our next UNISON branch meeting will take place w/c 10th August (exact date tbc), members will be contacted next week with further details.

BRANCH UPDATE FOR MEMBERS

As UNISON branch committee we wanted to give some background on the situation the University has put us into, as staff at risk of being dismissed and re-engaged on poorer working conditions.

Continue reading ALL UNION MEETING AND IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Further to the VCs email about the Voluntary Severance Scheme

Further to the VCs email about the Voluntary Severance Scheme – a small number of members have asked about how the VS scheme compares to the University’s compulsory redundancy arrangements.

Statutory redundancy and payments are based on length of service being one week of pay per year and 1.5 weeks of pay per year of service over the age of 40. The maximum allowed payment for statutory redundancy is a little over £16,000. Link to website to calculate actual statutory entitlement is here: https://www.gov.uk/calculate-your-redundancy-pay

The University agreed with the Campus Trade Unions a process whereby they will pay an enhanced redundancy, which is double statutory redundancy – which normally includes engaging with the redeployment process. In a redundancy situation we would  therefore expect staff to receive double their statutory entitlement.

The current Voluntary Severance Scheme being offered is for eligible staff to choose to voluntarily leave their contract of employment early, for which the employer will compensate by a minimum of 5 months’ pay, up to a maximum of 10 months’ pay. One month per year of service (any notice payment is included in that offer).

You can find out more about the scheme including how to apply here: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/hr/vss

And you can calculate how much you would be paid: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/hr/vss/readyreckoner

No Trade Union official can ever say whether one person’s situation makes it best to choose this option or not to.  It is an individual choice.  All we can do is show the means of comparing financial outcomes of actual redundancy versus voluntary severance. Each member should use the calculators from gov.uk and from the University, to understand their individual circumstances – as rate of pay and length of service impact on the individual’s figures.

Of course the voluntary scheme is aimed at saving money and the termination date speaks to that.

There may well be concerns or worries about whether  compulsory  redundancies will happen going forward.  We have no information about that at this time.

Please contact the branch office if you have any concerns or queries that are not answered on the University website – unison@sheffield.ac.uk

University of Sheffield UNISON Branch Committee

UNISON MEMBER LEARNING COURSES 2020

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Member Learning courses taking place between January-March 2020

Autism Awareness (Open University) 5 February 2020

(Apply by: Monday, 6 January 2020)

Non Residential at UNISON Regional Centre Leeds

Cost to Branch: FREE

Mental Health Awareness (Open University) – 7 February 2020

(Apply by: Monday, 6 January 2020)

Non Residential at UNISON Regional Centre Leeds

Cost to Branch: FREE

Dyslexia in the Workplace New – 25 February, 2020

(Apply by: Friday, 24 January 2020)

Non Residential at UNISON Regional Centre Leeds

Cost to Branch: FREE

Neurodiversity in the Workplace New – 26 February, 2020

(Apply by: Friday, 24 January 2020)

Non Residential at UNISON Regional Centre Leeds

Cost to Branch: FREE

Building Confidence in Women – 7, 8 March 2020

(Apply by: Friday, 7 February 2020)

UNISON Regional Centre Leeds, with 1 night residential at DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, Leeds

Confidence Building (Power to be You) – 19 March 2020

(Apply by: Friday, 21 February 2020)

Non Residential at UNISON Regional Centre Leeds

Cost to Branch: FREE

Pre-Retirement Workshop – 31 March 2020

(Apply by: Friday, 28 February 2020)

Non Residential at UNISON Regional Centre Leeds

Cost to Branch: FREE

To Apply

  1. Please complete a application form which can be downloaded from our website at:-    http://www.unison-yorks.org.uk/education.html  and return your completed application form to your branch for approval.

 If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch.  My direct line is 0113 218 2330.

Tanya Shearer

Education Administrator

UNISON Yorkshire and Humberside

BRANCH STATEMENT

UNISON,  University of Sheffield Branch  are declaring their full support for the industrial action UCU are taking.
UNISON  had a 66% strike vote,  and if the rules around  ‘turnout’  numbers,   not been imposed,  we would have been on the picket lines with you.  Our sister union Unite are in a similar position.   So while we cannot be out on strike with you in body, we are with you in spirit, and in voice.
UNISON thanks UCU  for the bold action it is taking.   We are stronger when we all stand together and make the discontent known.  We have to fight injustice,  fight pay cuts,  fight the attack on pensions,  fight the unmanageable workloads,   fight for job security.   We demand fair and equal pay.   Too long we have been subjected to unfair treatment.
This is our united message to employers:   You say Low Pay  –  We say NO WAY…     You say Cut Back – We say FIGHT BACK.
UNISON call upon UUK and UCEA to return to the bargaining table with a genuine and reasonable starting point.  UNISON  call on Employers to commit to ensuring job security and manageable workloads for all staff.
Thank you,  everyone standing here and everyone taking action.
In Solidarity.   UNISON   University of Sheffield Branch.