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UWE UNISON

Branch Annual Report 2020

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Executive Overview

The following report outlines the activities and actions taken by your Branch Executive since

January 2020.

This has been an extraordinary year where our focus has been dominated by Covid-19. Like

most people, we’ve had to change how we work. All branch meetings have moved online,

which, as many of you will remember, had its teething problems, but we worked at it and by

the end of the year had them running smoothly. Nationally UNISON colleagues have been

working hard to move training for Stewards and Health & Safety Reps online. Health & Safety

became more important than ever in the branch, ensuring that areas were ‘Covid Secure’ to

allow staff to return to campus.

Job evaluation continues to be a part of university life and prior to lockdown many of the

branch reps attended HERA training from the Education Competencies Consortium (ECC) who

were the creators of the HERA job evaluation scheme and the UNISON Senior National Officer

for Higher Education.

The branch had lots members step up into representative and officer roles during the last year

and given that we have not been able to offer the same kind of one to one mentoring and

shadowing that we would normally be able to offer, and with some of the officers’ training

being cancelled, these reps have done a fantastic job and been great additions to the branch.

Not to forget reps who stood for re-election, they too have really excelled this year, people

taking on more responsibility and getting more involved in the many activities that we have had

to undertake as a branch this year.

The Branch Executive would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who has been

actively involved in the Branch during this very challenging year.

National Pay negotiations 2020

The pay freeze proposed by the employers was rejected by the joint trade unions and the 2020

pay negotiations continue into the new year.

Joint working with UWE

Covid-19 working group

From early March, as the pandemic hit the UK, we set up weekly meetings with HR and our

sister unions with the specific purpose of discussing the issues around covid-19. These meetings

moved to fortnightly during the summer and these will continue well into 2021. We have been

raising issues as and when they’ve occurred. We are monitoring the selection and

implementation of the coronavirus job retention scheme (furlough). We have been consulting

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on temporary policy alterations implemented in response to the pandemic. Our key concerns

are that the health, safety, welfare of our staff group are protected along with our terms and

conditions of employment, and that policies are communicated widely and fairly implemented.

Joint Employee Relations Committee (JERC)

The Joint Employee Relation committee is the formal mechanism for finalising negotiations and

dealing with disputes. Much of the work and issues covered at JERC are first dealt with in the

Joint Union Forum (See Below) which provides a forum for consulting and discussing matters

such as policy development and HR strategies and plans.

We have not signed any new agreements this year. However following our initiative started in

2014 UWE has now fully signed up fully as a living wage employer, this includes insuring UWE’s

supply chain meets the foundation living wage conditions, affecting subcontractors and

suppliers.

Joint Union Forum (JUF)

Throughout the year, we have attended the Joint Union forum to raise issues experienced by

our members and to receive reports from management on matters relating to the University's

strategic development. We also discuss the implications of external issues, such as the

outcomes of national negotiations, legislative changes and developments and discussing

matters of joint interest including; organisational changes, changes in roles, staff resources

allocation and reward and promotion policies.

Over the last year, the following issues have been part of the discussions at the JUF;

Grading issues around grade E professional service colleagues being tasked with people

management responsibilities, when our job evaluation guideline state that this is only from

grade F . We are seeking to maintain the correct level of pay for the level of responsibility and

not wanting to see any drift in our grading structure. This is an ongoing discussion.

Our equality coordinator proposed a Menopause policy to the JUF, this was well received by the

University and our sister trade unions that they are working with UWE and our sister trade

unions to implement.

There are also a number of JUF working groups, which focus on long-term projects or combined

policy development affecting several areas:

Bullying

Following on from the work the group had undertaken during the previous year, we set about

defining the role of the navigator. This work was presented to the Joint Union Forum to a

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favorable reception. This is now sitting with HR to look at funding, there is still work to do in

this area and we expect the group to meet again during 2021.

Disability

The group have not been active during the last year and we will follow this up in 2021.

As a working group that UNISON requested, we have previously taken a very active

involvement in working with colleagues from our sister unions, the Equality, Diversity &

Inclusivity team, HR, Senior Diversity Champion for Disability and other specialist knowledge

management reps to deliver the actions that we set out to achieve.

Grievance

This was a short task and finish group looking at the University grievance policy. We are seeking

the correct implementation of the current grievance procedures. This is also ongoing.

HR/TU Business meetings

Meeting with HR to discuss operational issues and HR policies that only affect APT&C Staff.

Facilities/TU Business meetings

Meeting with the Director of Facilities and Senior Management Team to discuss operational

issues in the many areas of this service.

Student Journey Directorate/TU meetings

Meeting with the Pro-Vice Chancellor for Student Experience and the Directors of Future

Students and Marketing, Strategic Communications, Student and Academic Services and

Student Success Service to discuss operational issues in those areas.

Restructuring Proposals Consultation Meetings

Meetings with Directors of Service, Heads of Departments and HR for consultation on proposals

for restructurings across different many different areas of the university.

Branch attendance at Regional Committees South West Regional Council - Rob Prince, Steve Regester and Christian Scott

South West Higher Education Service Group Executive - Christian Scott, Dave Pomroy and Carol Meghji

(Elected as Chair of the committee)

South West Black Members Committee - Leyhana McCarthy

South West Retired Member Committee - Helen Hopwood

South West Welfare Committee - Matthew Macleod

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Branch delegations sent to the following Conferences Higher Education Service Group Conference 2020 - Carol Meghji

National Black Members Conference 2020 - Leyhana McCarthy

National Women’s Conference 2020 - Nasim Dumont-Namin

Branch Treasurer – Rob Prince

For the year ended 31 December 2020 2020 (£) 2020 (£)

I ncome

Branch Funding 16,305.35

Investment Income Received 141.56

Retired Members Subscriptions 45.00

Other Income 837.75                     

Income total 17,329.66

E  xpenditure

Other administration 921.17

Conferences and group meetings 1,347.86

Branch Committee 0.00

Other Meetings 1,093.85

Publicity 1,103.92

Education -141.00

Donations 2,152.00

Affiliations 686.35

Local Activities 60.00

Transfer to Industrial Action Fund 797.02

Other Expenditure 53.15                     

Expenditure total     8,074.32 

Surplus for the year     9,255.34 

For the year ended 31 December 2020 2020 (£) 2020 (£)

I ncome

Transfer from General Fund

Income total E  xpenditure

Surplus for the year

797.02                     

797.02

       797.02 

For the year ended 31 December 2020 2020 (£) 2020 (£) 2019 (£) 2019 (£)

F  ixed Assets

Equipment, Fixtures & Fittings 965.45                      1,562.47

Total Fixed Assets 965.45 1,562.47

C  urrent Assets

Third Party Debtors 1,034.77 553.72

Building Society 75,141.56 66,276.93

Current Account 7,382.34 7,218.70

UWE Budget Account -195.52                      -991.24

Total Current Assets 83,363.15 73,058.11

C  urrent Liabilities

Branch Funding 0.00 60.19

Third Party Creditors 0.00 325.00

Locally Collected Subscriptions -4.30 -45.15

Total Current Liabilities -4.30                      340.04

Net Current Assets   83,367.45  72,718.07

Total Assets   84,332.90  74,280.54

A  ccumulated Funds

Accumulated General Fund at year beginning 69,316.71 64,317.50

Surplus/Deficit 9,255.34                      4,999.21

Accumulated General Fund at year end 78,572.05 69,316.71

Accumulated Industrial Action Fund 4,963.83 4,216.04

Surplus/Deficit 797.02                      747.79

Accumulated Industrial Action Fund at year end     5,760.85  4,963.83

Total Funds at End of the Year   84,332.90  74,280.54

2019 (£) 2019 (£)

747.79

747.79

       747.79 

Balance Sheet

94.07

  12,052.67 

    4,999.21 

Industrial Action Hardship Fund

1,322.35

690.00

594.45

526.43

747.79

1,228.90

2,702.29

148.70

1,348.01

2,649.68

257.98

75.00

374.47

17,051.88

Unison UWE Branch 10226 General Fund

Income and Expenditure Account

2019 (£) 2019 (£)

16,344.43

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For the year ended 31 December 2020 2020 (£) 2020 (£)

I ncome

Branch Funding 16,305.35

Investment Income Received 141.56

Retired Members Subscriptions 45.00

Other Income 837.75                     

Income total 17,329.66

E  xpenditure

Other administration 921.17

Conferences and group meetings 1,347.86

Branch Committee 0.00

Other Meetings 1,093.85

Publicity 1,103.92

Education -141.00

Donations 2,152.00

Affiliations 686.35

Local Activities 60.00

Transfer to Industrial Action Fund 797.02

Other Expenditure 53.15                     

Expenditure total     8,074.32 

Surplus for the year     9,255.34 

For the year ended 31 December 2020 2020 (£) 2020 (£)

I ncome

Transfer from General Fund

Income total E  xpenditure

Surplus for the year

797.02                     

797.02

       797.02 

For the year ended 31 December 2020 2020 (£) 2020 (£) 2019 (£) 2019 (£)

F  ixed Assets

Equipment, Fixtures & Fittings 965.45                      1,562.47

Total Fixed Assets 965.45 1,562.47

C  urrent Assets

Third Party Debtors 1,034.77 553.72

Building Society 75,141.56 66,276.93

Current Account 7,382.34 7,218.70

UWE Budget Account -195.52                      -991.24

Total Current Assets 83,363.15 73,058.11

C  urrent Liabilities

Branch Funding 0.00 60.19

Third Party Creditors 0.00 325.00

Locally Collected Subscriptions -4.30 -45.15

Total Current Liabilities -4.30                      340.04

Net Current Assets   83,367.45  72,718.07

Total Assets   84,332.90  74,280.54

A  ccumulated Funds

Accumulated General Fund at year beginning 69,316.71 64,317.50

Surplus/Deficit 9,255.34                      4,999.21

Accumulated General Fund at year end 78,572.05 69,316.71

Accumulated Industrial Action Fund 4,963.83 4,216.04

Surplus/Deficit 797.02                      747.79

Accumulated Industrial Action Fund at year end     5,760.85  4,963.83

Total Funds at End of the Year   84,332.90  74,280.54

2019 (£) 2019 (£)

747.79

747.79

       747.79 

Balance Sheet

94.07

  12,052.67 

    4,999.21 

Industrial Action Hardship Fund

1,322.35

690.00

594.45

526.43

747.79

1,228.90

2,702.29

148.70

1,348.01

2,649.68

257.98

75.00

374.47

17,051.88

Unison UWE Branch 10226 General Fund

Income and Expenditure Account

2019 (£) 2019 (£)

16,344.43

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Black Member’s Officer – Leyhana McCarthy

Within my role as Black Members Officer this year, I have attended the Branch Exec & HR Business Meetings. I facilitated monthly meetings and shared useful information with Black members within the branch. At the start of the yea I attended the National UNISON Black Members Conference in Bournemouth where I met with other Black members and branches from across the country. I have also attended South West regional meetings and undertaken several training courses/webinar.

Communications Officer - David Ashby-Styles

The Campaigns and Communications Group has continued to meet regularly and support the

great work of our branch officers, it has been a more challenging year for obvious reasons and

as such we haven’t been able to organise as many events as we normally would.

As we look forward to our 2021 pay claim, it will be the Campaigns and communications group

that co-ordinates any action and events.

We have increased the posting on our website, Twitter and Facebook, mostly in supporting

members with information about COVID-19 and support with working from home.

We are always keen to hear from members who want to put on or support events and have

been working on providing more support for members who want to get involved.

Find us on social media

We are on Facebook and Twitter and items posted to the website also appear there. Please

'like' and 'follow' us for all the latest news!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/UWE-Unison

http://twitter.com/UWEUNISON

http://www.youtube.com/user/uweunison Visit our branch website at www.unison.org.uk

Education Coordinator – Liza McCarron

Liza agreed to be co-opted to the branch executive during the last year, taking on the role of

Education Coordinator, unfortunately, the office training course hasn’t run during the last year

due to covid, however, Liza has been an active member of the branch executive and

contributed well to meetings.

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Environmental Officer – Steve Regester Lockdown certainly changed the way we behaved and largely this has been to the benefit of the

natural world we live in.

The lockdown meant tha apart from a TUC Green Steward training event at City Hall all the mettings seminars I have attended were online, this has meant that I could attend more. I have represented you at most of the UWE Sustainability Group meetings as well as two Just Transition seminars and a presentations by the members of Estates on the Lean project and Circular Economy. What are these you may ask? The UWE Sustainability group aims to improve our sustainbility goals , this year the group has activeely helped define the environmental aspects of the Vision 2030 action plan and this has been ratified by the board of governors into Uni policy. Just Transition is a movement concerned with creating a fair and just transition for workers as we move away from environmentally challenged activities e.g. retraining boiler fitters to cover newer renewable energy based technical roles. The Union is interested in hearing from any member who may be facing role change or redundancy due to technology change driven by environmental policy. The Lean Project is a greening project aimed at an area immediately to the east of the Frenchay campus stretching past the River frome and up to the Science Park. Uwe is supporting this. The Circular Economy is an effort to reduce waste to the absolute minimum it is set to become UWE policy and is undergurded by the four R’s which are:-

Reduce …Don’t buy stuff we don’t need

Reuse …..after one user has finished with an item can it be used somewhere else

Repair….. can it be fixed to work again

Recycle …can it be broken down into material useful for another purpose.

Only then should waste items be disposed of, in as environmentally friendly way as possible. I’m sure you will here more of these later this year we, Union reps have made sure that management are aware that the Staff will be crucial to driving this. This year my focus will be on ensuring the good practices we’ve got into due to Covid are sustained, for example do we really need to come into work every day. Is face to face so very important for every contact. Are we as a UNI doing enough to encourage a better healthier lifestyle for the ppeople who work and study here? Steve Regester-- Environment Officer 2020 steve.regester@uwe.ac.uk ext. 86314

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Equality Coordinator – Alice Smith

It has been an interesting year to say the least, with many challenges for us all along the way.

Often meaning our best laid plans for the year had to change, adapt or be put on hold.

However, we have still managed some great things this year within the Equality Sphere.

It was a pleasure coordinating a group of new equality officers and look forward to what we

achieve in the coming year.

Outcomes from 2020:

Increased interactions with members via self-organised groups

Regularly raised issues with the lived experience of disabled staff and implementation of

Reasonable Adjustments which lead to UWE reviewing and improving of the reasonable

adjustment policy in which I have had an active role in including the creation of a disability

passport, guidance for disabled staff (so there is guidance not just for managers) a simple

overview of the process and much more. This soon to be launched organisation wide.

Bringing Menopause as a workplace issue to the University executive, I presented a

draft policy for proposal which was warmly received by the university. One of the key parts

of our proposal and draft policy was that menopause at UWE must be looked from an

intersectional point. We are looking to hold a panel event next year on menopause,

particularly looking at menopause from a diverse range of experiences.

Represented UNISON alongside our branch Secretary on the Equal Pay review

Attended the Equality Diversity and Inclusivity Committee on behalf of UNISON

Represented UNISON on UWE’s Disability History Month Working group

Was a panel member for a Disability History Month event on Invisible Disabilities and

COVID 19

Jointed UWE UNISON’s negotiating team for the Joint Union Forums, Joint Employee

Relations Committee as well as attending Business meetings as a stand in.

The UWE UNISON Equality team have also been engaged with the Trans and Non-Binary

Policy review and working group

The branch hosted a series of events for Bristol’s virtual pride week lead by Tamsila one

of our LGBT+ Officers

I was also a work place steward this year and this has helped provide a stronger

oversight of equality issues and link the equality reps to the Stewards group

2021

In 2021, while we are still navigating very challenging and changing times I have three key aims

for the branch in terms of Equality

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1. Continue to engage with members and build upon this last year across all the equality

areas

2. Further embed an intersectional approach within our work

3. Continue to hold the university to account where staff across all protected

characteristics especially disabled and black members consistently and continually have a

worse staff experience, appraising where UWE UNISON can work to create improvements

and change for our members.

Health & Safety Officer – We didn’t have an elected Health and Safety Officer this year and so the Branch Secretary and

Communications Officer have undertaken this critical portfolio.

We have worked closely with colleagues in the university’s health and safety team carrying out the

many covid secure audits across the university campuses. We have also worked with managers to

understand the safety procedures for each work area and gone through numerous risk assessments and

operating procedures.

We had four new Health and Safety representatives join the branch last year. These reps have either

completed or in the process of completing their TUC stage one health and safety certificate online. Our

Branch Secretary also completed the stage one training earlier in the year. All of the Health and Safety

Reps have represented the membership incredibly well over the last twelve months during these very

difficult and trying times.

International Officer - Dave Pomroy

The Branch has supported a number of international campaigns this year through affiliate

membership including the newly formed Brazil Solidarity Initiative, Cuba Solidarity Campaign,

Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War Coalition, Venezuela Solidarity Campaign, Justice

for Columbia, Labour behind the label, and CODIR; the Iranian Unions Solidarity Campaign. You

can read more about our affiliates on our website.

One of the areas I have focused on in the past 12 months has been UWE’s EU staff network. The

rights of EU/EEA citizens have come under review as we moved through to the final stage of the

withdrawal process from the EU and the ending of the free movement of people, particularly

how best to support our EU colleague’s rights to remain in the UK.

Donations were made to Bristol Holocaust Memorial Day, Bristol City of Sanctuary, Bristol

refugee rights (Pride without borders) and Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP).

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Labour Link Officer – Will Gibbs

Nothing over the last year has unfolded as anyone would have expected at the end of 2019.

This time a year ago I was hoping that the Labour could start to rebuild after the general

election with a new leader and victories in upcoming local elections.

The leadership election was able to proceed and congratulations to Keir Starmer and Angela

Rayner (a former Unison workplace rep) on their victories. Sadly one of their tasks in the last

year that had been known about before the start of 2020 was to respond to the Equalities and

Human Rights Commission report into antisemitism in the party. The conclusions of this report

are serious and shameful for the party and reflect unacceptable failings towards its own

members and the Jewish community that it is legally and morally required to address. The

process of addressing these issues is still ongoing and will hopefully bring the changes needed

as soon as possible.

Obviously the other anticipated event of elections did not take place. All local elections have

been postponed until 6 May 2021. Recent reports are that the government does not want to

delay elections again but councils have not had guidance on how to conduct elections under

Covid restrictions. I will look to relay guidance when it becomes available on what will be a

unusual campaign whatever the level of restrictions that are in place. There will be all-out

council elections and a mayoral election in Bristol, as well as police and crime commissioner

and metro-mayor elections that cover the wider region around Bristol. If anyone is interested in

helping with a campaign near them and has any questions about what to do or who to contact

please feel free to get in touch.

Labour link is the part of Unison that organises our partnership with the Labour Party. All

Unison members have the option to allow some of their membership fee to go towards political

campaigning and can choose for this slice to be used for general campaigning (the general

political fund) or campaigning with the Labour party (the affiliated fund). If you choose for your

slice of membership to go to Labour then you become an affiliated member. The Labour link

structure acts as a two way street, getting Unison to support the Labour

LGBT+ Officers – Dan Heland & Tamsila Tauqir

2020 was the 51st anniversary of the Stonewall uprising for the LGBT+ community in New York

and a catalyst for global Pride events, this was a feature in one of the articles published on the

UWE Unison website and social media. I also highlighted how this event was led by Black and

Trans members of the community and in a year highlighting the Black Lives Matter movement,

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it is an important reminder that racism continues to permeate many mainstream queer spaces

too. Resources on being a better ally were listed in the article.

Over the last year UWE UNISON has held four virtual events in September during the

rescheduled Bristol Pride. This involved film discussions and a live event with Bristol Pride

Without Borders on the experience of LGBT+ refugees to the city along with a joint online

resource which is still available; UWE Unison Pride season trailer

Resource on LGBT+ refugees to the UK are available here.

The Branch has also hosted a couple of virtual meetings for UWE UNISON LGBT+ members.

There is ongoing engagement with Trans members to input on the university developing a trans

positive policy and guidance for staff and students and this will continue into 2021.

At the end of the year in December an article was posted on the UWE UNISON website

recognising world HIV/Aids awareness day and highlighting the new NHS availability across

England of PrEP. PrEP is a preventative course of drugs taken by HIV-negative people to prevent

infection and the article is a reminder to members that requests for time off for medical

treatment and care can be requested.

Membership Officer – Daisy Moss

This year we’ve had 36 members leave the branch, 63 joiners and 2 reinstated members.

This means our density is stable and growing. To improve our effectiveness as a Union,

particularly in the current political climate, we need more members in more areas of the

University and the Student’s Union.

2020 has brought us all tremendous challenges and exposed leaders’ shortcomings in many

areas of our lives. If you’re feeling powerless one positive thing you can do is talk to people

about why you joined and encourage them to join UNISON. Just by being a member of

UNISON you’re contributing to UWE UNISON’s ongoing efforts to improve and maintain

good working conditions whilst also being able to get advice, support and help at work when

you need it most.

If you’d like to get more involved there are lots of opportunities to get active in UWE UNISON

although this would be done remotely at the moment.

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Volunteering in the branch can give you the chance to make a difference to your work area as

well as the chance to meet people who share your values and understand. You’ll get free

training and learning opportunities (including time off while you learn) and the chance to

improve working conditions for yourself and others. For more information please contact the

branch at unison@uwe.ac.uk

Retired Member’s Secretary – Helen Hopwood

The number of retired members has again increased this year and now stands at 49. Helen

sends best wishes to the branch and whilst she is stepping down from the role of Retired

Member’s she will still be a valued member of the branch.

Stewards Convenor - Rob Prince

We’ve had a number of new stewards elected over the last year, and two have completed their

training and one will be starting shortly. Even though we’ve been working remotely for a

majority of the last 12 months, your stewards have continued to support member in return to

work meetings, getting reasonable adjustments and through restructures. They have also been

involved with cases ranging from grievances to disciplinaries.

We are always looking for people to help us represent, support and stand up with our members

especially in areas without a steward such as Finance, Estates, Facilities, RBI and ACE, so why

not join the team. Please speak to me, a steward, or the Branch Secretary if you want to

enquire about what the role entails and the training you will be given to support you in this vital

role.

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Welfare Officer - Mathew MacLeod Newly elected to the role in 2020, Matthew has undertaken online training for the role,

attended the South West Regional Committee and been an active member of the branch

executive.

Women’s Officer - Nasim Dumont-Namin I started my role as Unison women’s officer UWE Branch in February 2020. I attended the

National Women’s Conference at the end of February 2020 which took place in Bournemouth.

Since the lockdown started, I attended webinars ran by UNISON South West on various subjects

about tackling racial harassment in HE, Access and Homeworking and the impact on Disabled

people and menopause and a session on Flexible working.

I organised two online meetings for women members within the branch which were very

successful with good numbers of attendees at both. We discussed a range of subjects that were

important to the members and shared ideas on future sessions.

I am working with the branch Equality Coordinator and colleagues in HR to develop a

Menopause policy at UWE to support members who experience this. My plan for the coming

year is to arrange a series of sessions on Menopause and having menopause specialist to offer

useful information, Q&A and advice to our members. I am hoping to include talks by a

nutritionist and other professional.

Young Member’s Officer – Thomas Layton Thomas joined the branch executive this year and has been a valued member of our monthly

branch exec meetings. He has facilitated meetings with other young members in the branch to

listen to their views and represent them in the branch.

Like many of the other officer’s training, Young Member’s Officer training was cancelled this

year and so was the Young Members Seminar weekend.