Dear Members
We hope you are well, and have managed to take some form of break over the summer. Here’s the latest newsletter from the Lancaster University branch of UNISON. This has been emailed out to members, along with minutes from our Branch General Meeting on 17 Sep 2020, and the anonymised summary from our members’ themed discussion on 8 Sep 2020.
Hannah Monaghan, Communications Officer
Dates for your diary
- Members’ themed discussion on University ‘cost savings’ – 14 Oct 2020, 10:00-11:00 via Teams
- Branch General Meeting – Thurs 10th Dec 2020 11:30-12:30, via Teams
Invites will be emailed to members and meetings will be posted in the Members’ Team.
Returning to work on campus – update from Callum Forsyth, Unison Health & Safety Officer
I want to give you all an update on how we’ve been involved in the Health & Safety process at the University. UNISON, along with the other trade unions, are attending weekly meetings with HR and the Safety Office. It’s through these meetings that we can request relevant risk assessments and ask managers to attend so we can feedback any concerns, while also discussing broader issues across the University, such as issues around public transport.
As activity ramps up on campus towards the start of term, we’re aware that more and more staff will be asked to start working on campus. I want to go over what you should you do if you have any worries or misgivings. If you’re being asked to change your working pattern or where you are working, you should be provided with the risk assessment. It’s not good enough for the risk assessment to have been done and not communicated properly with all staff involved. Once you do get the risk assessment, if you have any concerns or want to check if it is sufficient, please email unison@lancaster.ac.uk and we can have a look at those documents. Ultimately, you have the right to work in a safe environment and it is the duty of the University to provide that. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions or concerns regarding health and safety.
Finally, I want to advertise some useful links:
- The University’s “Returning to campus” page covers a lot of general guidance and links to specific information and resources: https://portal.lancaster.ac.uk/intranet/cms/campus
- The Health & Safety Office’s site for returning to onsite working, which covers a lot of the guidance in greater detail, and also has great resources for creating a safe environment at work. Manager’s should be using these resources to make sure Health & Safety is consistent across campus: https://portal.lancaster.ac.uk/intranet/services/people/health-and-safety/covid-19–return-to-onsite-work/about-covid-19
- The Unison Health & Safety page, which not only has a wealth a great resources, it also has lots of information on how you can get involved yourself as a Health & Safety rep: https://www.unison.org.uk/unison-health-and-safety/
Lancaster Race Equality Network (LUREN)
We would like to reminder members of LUREN, a supportive network of both staff and students which actively coordinate and collaborate campaigns for race equality at Lancaster University The microsite contains the latest news and ways to get involved.
Update on Strategy
UNISON (and other unions) met with the VC, Director of HR and Director of Strategic Planning & Governance on 1 September to discuss the University’s draft strategy paper. UNISON stressed that PS staff are largely overlooked in regards to the paper and the discussion, and we mentioned the importance of the University commitment to race equality. We also voiced concerns about workloads and efficiencies if the University pursues further growth, as well as suggesting that the paper separated out environmental sustainability from financial sustainability as both are of equal importance. As a union, we want to see the University being more committed to environmental sustainability. Staff are encouraged to feed into these discussions.
Labour CLP Affliation
The branch executive have agreed to affiliate to two local Labour party constituencies: Lancaster and Fleetwood and Morecambe and Lunesdale. This will enable us to take issues important to UNISON members into the party founded by trade unions to ensure we have a voice in the local and national corridors of power. It also gives us the chance to find out about matters that affect members being discussed on local councils and in Parliament. This enables us to boost our organising, representational and bargaining issues by campaigning and lobbying to shape the environment in which we work. It is in line with what other branches, our region and national union are doing at various levels. We will be contacting members who have affiliated via Labour Link in due course.
Your concerns
As always, we encourage you to contact us if you have anything you want to discuss, whether formally or informally. Our union is strong due to our membership, which is you! You can contact us on unison@lancaster.ac.uk and follow us on Twitter at @LU_UNISON .