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National Union News

General Secretary Elections – Manifestos

General Secretary Candidates

Since our last update on the General Secretary Elections Howard Beckett, who the Branch voted to endorse, has withdrawn and backed Steve Turner in the election. The branch exec is making no further endorsements but would like to provide members with information on the remaining candidates.

You can find full information for the General Secretary Election on the Unite webpages and full details of the vote and candidates electoral communications at the GS website here.

Voting papers will be start being dispatched to your home address from today – 5th July 2021 – and must be returned to the Independent Scrutineer by Noon Monday 23 August 2021. The branch wishes all candidates well in the election.

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Newsletter University Community

Trade Unions Joint Statement on Lancaster University Menopause Policy

Lancaster University Women's Network Logo

Menopause is a workplace issue, it is a trade union issue, it is everyone’s issue and for that reason Lancaster University needs a menopause policy.  However, the employer is refusing to accept this.  The idea and research for a menopause policy was developed by Lancaster University Women’s Network from 2018 onwards and supported by the trade unions.  In April 2021 the policy document (which included a two-page policy and extensive guidelines) was, without warning, substantially amended and unilaterally downgraded by the employer to guidance only.  The guidance was presented as a fait accompli to the Network, to the unions, to the University’s EDI committee and on Monday (21st June) at the Vice Chancellor’s meeting. 

Every month the unions meet with the employer in a formal, minuted Communications and Consultation Meeting (CCM), chaired by the Director of Strategic Planning and Governance.  CCM meets this Monday (28th June 2021), and unions had jointly submitted a paper on the proposed Menopause Policy.  The unions had invited two of their women members, Pam Pickles and Rachel Beauchamp, recognised by their employer for their outstanding service, to speak to the paper.  The agenda item was pulled and their voices, speaking on behalf of members, have been silenced.

This is a joint unions statement in support of retracting menopause guidance and reinstating policy.  Policy and guidance are not the same, policy is enforceable, guidance is not.    

Following the establishment of Lancaster University Women’s Network in 2018 it became clear that support for and recognition of the challenges faced by staff in relation to the menopause and perimenopause was an issue. After gathering interest among the network and through wider university communications a grassroots group was established to pull together a menopause policy for Lancaster University. The group shared in their experiences and research on policies elsewhere and Pam Pickles took on the task of drafting a menopause policy for the university, spending several months researching, drafting and refining the policy while also consulting widely on its content. One of the drivers for Pam doing this was because of her own incredibly positive experience of going through a difficult menopause and being well supported by her line manager and colleagues, proof that there was good practice already at Lancaster – this wasn’t a project set to shame the institution but it was born out of celebration and positive experiences! It is to be noted that the group were not doing this work under the radar, the institution’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Team were informed from the very offset and were supportive of this work being undertaken.

In late 2019 this policy was handed to the university EDI Team for consideration and progression through the necessary channels to hopefully enact the policy for the university. Envisioning that this would be a relatively straightforward process – who would object to a policy that supports approximately 50% of the workforce?

After promises that the document was being reviewed and a lot of prompting from Rachel Beauchamp in LU Women’s Network there was finally some hope when the policy was presented by UNISON on behalf of the Network at the CCM on the 26th November 2020. The policy was positively received and promises were made on the development of a timeline for how the policy would be presented and worked through the various committees.

Then, silence. It all went quiet and there was an assumption that the policy was working its way through the various internal channels. In April the Women’s Network was presented with the guidance document – no explanation about the change from policy, during a meeting in May the unions spotted that the policy was now being referred to as ‘guidance’ and challenged the change in language, and then the June EDI Committee was informed that it would now be a menopause guidance document rather than a menopause policy. All of this is a result of decisions made within the University’s governance system, with zero discussion with the trade unions, Pam Pickles or the original group that started this work.

This isn’t just the trade unions that are being ignored in this fight. This is hard working, committed LU staff that are being pushed aside; those who committed their own personal time to form a group and research, develop and write a policy that has been completely disregarded without any explanation. Over Pam’s 18 years of service to Lancaster she has shown exemplary commitment to the institution; serving on Senate, winning a Dean’s award, completing internal training and development. She has done EVERYTHING that our employer would want a member of staff to do yet she hasn’t been included in any discussions or even offered a courtesy email on the development of her work. What message is that giving to those staff who are committed and are actively trying to make the institution a better place?

Over the past couple of weeks trade unions have been offered a number of reasons as to why this has progressed as guidance rather than policy:

  • Guidance is more flexible. For who? Policies are reviewed on a regular basis and if they require changes they can happen! What could really be meant is that guidance can be changed easily and quietly without anybody noticing.
  • Guidance avoids adding to an already long list of policies. This justification sends a worrying message – why cut off here? How many policies is too many? Who decided this number?
  • Guidance complements and supports our existing policies. If the existing policies were sufficient to support staff experiencing the menopause then why do so many staff feel unsupported, alone, punished and in some cases forced out of their roles?

These justifications were repeated again in a wider forum at the recent All Staff Meeting but they just don’t hold any weight. Why are they so resistant to this? What is it about the female anatomy that is so terrifying to our decision makers?

The 2020 People Strategy which is still being promoted on the institutional website states that the university pertains to ‘Celebrate diversity within our workforce, recognising how all staff contribute to and enhance the overall success of the university’ this certainly isn’t the case on this occasion. It identifies one of the core values as ‘Working together to support the development of the university’ again, not being shown here. Finally, it lists one of the institution’s behaviours as ‘Engage with, hear from and listen to all staff as the university continues to develop and pursue its aspirations’, humorous really under the circumstances!

Introducing a menopause policy at Lancaster University could have been an easy win. It could have been a perfect way to show support and solidarity with the workforce. It could have been a perfect way to show commitment to the Athena SWAN agenda. It could have provided some positive publicity to an institution that is still battling with a mean hourly gender pay gap of 25.03%. But it isn’t, the employer has dug their heels in and is refusing to have a discussion with us on this. Despite following all the correct processes it has even been removed as an agenda item on our next CCM. Why are they refusing to discuss this with members? What are they hiding? What are they wanting to avoid saying?

This is a fight that does not end here. Your trade unions are in agreement, staff are in agreement, there should be a menopause policy at Lancaster University and we will not be silenced with a weak tick boxing exercise of ‘menopause guidance’.

We encourage members to email the Vice Chancellor (a.j.schofield@lancaster.ac.uk) and Deputy Vice Chancellor (s.bradley@lancaster.ac.uk) to ask that the university demonstrates its commitment to EDI and support for staff wellbeing by adopting menopause guidance as policy as was originally intended.

Lancaster University Branches of UCU, UNISON and Unite

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Branch Meeting National Union News

General Secretary Election – Endorsing Howard Beckett

General Secretary Candidates

At our recent Branch Meeting, Unite Branch Member and Senior Lecturer in Politics Matthew Johnson endorsed Howard Beckett for General Secretary. Here he explains some of his reasons for the endorsement and shares his thoughts on the election now that nominations have closed.

I was extremely proud to speak in support of Howard Beckett and even prouder to hear that our branch had nominated him for General Secretary. This is a pivotal election and one that has been misunderstood. The trade union movement needs both to understand how to maximise workers’ interests within the law as it currently stands and to secure Parliamentary representation to reform the law to advance those interests further. For the past few decades, other large unions have been content to focus on the first point, representing their members without ever demanding fundamental change from the politicians they fund in Labour. 

In effect, too many unions have used their political funds and political power within the Labour Party simply to write blank cheques to politicians who have shown little or no commitment to reversing anti-union legislation implemented by the Tories over the past four decades. That is totally self-defeating. Being a ‘non-political’ union ensures that there is no organised voice in Parliament for workers. The consequence of that is that careerist Labour politicians feel no pressure to uphold workers’ interests and, in turn, workers feel no reason to vote Labour. That effect was apparent in Hartlepool, with a Labour leadership committed to the status quo and patronising Northerners with flag waving and beer drinking achieving a mind-boggling loss of support that leaves them second favourites in the forthcoming By Election in Batley and Spen. 

The only way that workers’ interests will be promoted is by pressuring and transforming the Labour Party, including by withholding funds. The Labour leadership is the definition of incompetence and arrogance and should be challenged by unions. That other affiliated unions are not opposed is because there is a revolving door between their positions of leadership and positions within the Labour leadership. We need a counter-balance that is actively committed to ending that. 

Of the four candidates, Howard Beckett is the only one so far to oppose Labour’s current direction. He has been described as ‘Starmer’s nightmare’ and he is the only one explicitly committed to using Unite’s enormous financial and political clout to secure a voice in Parliament. Using that clout to kick the Leadership into supporting policies popular enough to regain support among workers, particularly in the North, is the only way that we can achieve any meaningful, long-term security for workers. That is important for all Unite members to understand, including for those who do not vote Labour.

Since our nomination meeting, the ‘centre-right’ candidate, Gerard Coyne has reached the nomination threshold. This creates a dilemma for the three candidates, including Howard Beckett, who have presented themselves as ‘left’ candidates. If all three stand, Coyne may win, even though he had the lowest number of nominations. 

Discussions are currently ongoing between the three to determine whether one candidate can be endorsed to stand against Coyne. As the candidate who received the lowest number of nominations among the three, Howard Beckett has been called upon by supporters of Steve Turner, in particular, to stand down. While this seems to make sense, there are reasons for caution and reasons to continue to support the Beckett campaign.

With generally low turnouts in union elections between candidates regarded as status quo, and little or no relation between number of nominations and ability to attract individual votes, it may be that a campaign for change, such as Beckett’s, may actually attract participation of those who would otherwise not bother voting. This is one reason the Labour Leadership fear a repeat of Corbyn’s 2015 Labour Leadership Election victory in this case. Beckett has the ability to attract those members who understand the importance of having a political union and that may raise participation significantly. In a four-horse race between members, not branches, Beckett may stand a better chance of winning outright than Turner or Graham. Of the four, Beckett now has arguably the highest public profile, including as a result of Labour right wingers trying to discredit his campaign. Conversely, despite his supporters calling for Graham and Beckett to stand down, having all three stand may actually increase the chances of Steve Turner’s success, since many who would support Coyne in a two horse race, may lend their vote to Turner to keep out Beckett as the agent of change.

On the other hand, even if two candidates do agree to support a single ‘left’ candidate, a two-horse race can enhance the prospects of the candidate with lower preliminary support, in this case Coyne. Those who disagree with the leading candidate lend their vote to the opponent, irrespective of the opponent’s qualities, while those who might otherwise not vote can be motivated to vote against a candidate that polarises opinion. The forthcoming French Presidential run offs look likely to pit an Establishment candidate, Macron, against a Far-Right candidate, Le Pen, with polling suggesting that Le Pen will come extremely close to taking the Presidency. As such, coalescing around a single candidate may increase the chances of Coyne’s success. As such, there are no easy answers.

For those of us who support Beckett, the notion that he should back out to support Turner would be much more persuasive if Turner accepted the need of unions for a strong Westminster voice, challenged Starmer, and had a clear political strategy to push Labour to support workers. Then a clear line could be drawn between him and Coyne. As things stand, his position in supporting Starmer and the current direction of Labour means that potential supporters may fear that the distinctive role of Unite will be lost if he wins. 

The only way to maximise the interests of workers, then, is to continue to support Howard Beckett’s candidacy in case of a four-horse race and in the hope that, in a two-horse race, Turner adopts Beckett’s positions on the need for Unite to be a political union. I hope that you will join me in doing that.

You can find out more about our nomination meeting from our previous post and full information and updates on the election on the national website.

Categories
Health & Safety Rep Update

Tom Marsh – A Fond Farewell

After 5 years at the University Tom is moving on to a new job as a hospital porter in Kendal. During his time at Lancaster Tom has been a Health and Safety Rep and a valuable member of Unite’s Health and Safety Committee. He has undertaken Trade Union training courses to develop his skills and expand his knowledge. Tom has been involved with many successful projects and building inspections. When asked which he was most proud of Tom mentioned the Cleaners Welfare Facility:

Most notable was the refurbishment of the welfare facility for the cleaners in south west campus. What was a Health and Safety hazard was transformed after we responded to our members regarding the state of it and made representations to management. Finally it was refurbished and decorated with new flooring, new worktops, more electrical sockets and a new sink and drainer.

It’s been a pleasure and privilege to represent staff as a Rep. I hope I have made a small contribution to supporting staff with union and Health & Safety issues.

The Health and Safety Committee certainly think that Tom has made significantly more than a small contribution to supporting staff and making conditions better for members across campus!

I would like to thank Tom on behalf of our members for all the hard work he has done, especially with his role as a Health and Safety Rep. He will certainly be missed at the branch meetings and its been a pleasure working along side Tom both as a colleague and as a union rep.

Ian Curwen – Unite Health and Safety Committee Chair

Tom has been a real asset to the branch and its members and we’ll miss his input, dealing with issues and advice.

Andy Baker – Branch Chair

All reps wish Tom well in his new job and thank him for all the hard work he has done for Unite on campus. He is a real example of how important it is to have active reps, supported by the Union, to represent and improve the working conditions of members.

If you would like to find out more about being a Rep then please contact one of our current reps on the Reps Page or Health and Safety Page and they will be happy to discuss this further. There are many different roles that can be taken on to fit around your availability.

Trade unions DO make a difference, and WE are the union.

Categories
Branch Meeting National Union News

General Secretary Nomination

Unite The Union Logo

At our recent Branch Meeting we heard endorsements for three of the candidates for the upcoming election of a new General Secretary and voted on who we would like to nominate.

There were endorsements for Howard Beckett, Sharon Graham and Steve Turner. All three speakers spoke well about their preferred candidates with a range of views, opinions and priorities. The Branch found it interesting and were grateful to the speakers for making their endorsements.

There was support amoung the members for all 3 represented candidates but in the end it was Howard Beckett who formally received Lancaster University Branches nomination for General Secretary and we wish him well in the contest.

From the 5th of July voting papers will be dispatched from the National Office to your home address. Closing date of the election will be 23rd August and the exact details will be given on the paperwork you receive.

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Branch Meeting Community and Charity

Charity Donation – AFC Masters Brew Club

AFC Masters Logo

At our recent Branch Meeting we approved a donation of £350 for AFC Masters to go towards developing their ‘Brew Club’ Podcast – an initiative started during the pandemic to keep players and club friends connected. You can find out more about the club and how the donation will be used below. The club are very active on social media – why not give them a follow on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – to see what they get up to.

My name is Iain Massingham and I am the general manager of AFC Masters. We are a football club, based in Horwich near Bolton, for children and adults who have a disability. We have around 100 players aged from 4 years old right through to their 40s and beyond (myself included in that bracket). We have been running for 15 years now and focus on our three main principles of Fun, Friendship and Football.

During the pandemic we had to, understandably, stop football and up until very recently we hadn’t kicked a ball in over a year. Many of our players have been shielding and were very isolated over the 12 months so we quickly developed a programme of virtual and online activities to keep them entertained and connected with their friends. We welcomed new members to the club over this time who were going through similar circumstances and now as we start to return to the football pitch we hope to get them down to training.

One virtual activity we have been running is our podcast “Brew Club” which runs every Monday evening where we have a different guest who comes on to talk to our hosts, Eve and Mel. We have a leaning towards Mental Health and Wellbeing with the Brew Club and we have big plans to develop it as we move forwards. The funding kindly donated by your organisation would be put into enabling us to do this, and we would be more than happy to credit during the podcast itself.

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Branch Meeting Community and Charity

Charity Donation – A.C.E.

A.C.E Logo

At our recent Branch meeting we approved a donation of £350 to local Charity A.C.E – Achieve, Change, Engagement – to support their links with Lancaster City U18s. Below you can find out more about the charity and how the money will be spent.

We are seeking support for a local charity through the sponsorship of a football team based at Lancaster City.

Firstly, the charity, A-C-E (Achieve Change and Engagement) are a charity supporting young people aged between 11 and 25 with mental health and wellbeing problems, offering one to one support and therapy. As you will appreciate, times such as we are experiencing can have serious effects on young people. The charity supports over 350 young people at any one time and often have a waiting list of over 60.

We are hoping to provide the charity with an opportunity to increase their visibility in the local area and raise vital funds by linking them with the second of the organisations, Lancaster City FC U18’s football team. The team progressed from a local football development center and will represent Lancaster City FC in the North West Youth Alliance League playing fixtures across the north west of England as well as the national FA Youth Cup. Our hope is that a number of local supporters will become involved in both the charity and the football team.

The intention would be that the football team would wear shirts with the A.C.E logo. We have also secured a page within the Lancaster City first team match day programme next season to promote the supporters of this initiative.

We are hopeful that we can not only provide A.C.E with increased exposure through the shirt sponsorship, company links and social media but we would also be able to make a financial contribution to their ongoing support costs.  With your support, young people in the local area will be able to continue to access the excellent services offered by ACE and the team can continue with their football development. If you wish to discuss opportunities to become one of our supporters, do feel free to telephone or email.

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Branch Meeting

Branch Meeting 02/06/21

Birds on a Branch

The Branch held a meeting on 2nd June 2021 to update members on current issues, including the latest Pay Offer, and to make a nomination for the Unite General Secretary.

Chairs Update from Andy Baker

  • This was the 2nd online Branch meeting and hopefully the last. We are looking at holding an in-person branch meeting next time dependent on how the situation evolves over the coming months.
  • Unite Reps are getting involved in as much as possible across campus, influencing conversations about return to work and reimagining campus etc. We’re working with council and are involved in the Health and Safety Review.
  • Retirement and other changes have affected membership numbers so it’s important for us to bring in more members where we can. Increased membership increases our collective voice and influence in the meetings and discussions reps get involved in.

Pay

Final offer from UCEA is 1.5% for grade point 22 and above with a sliding scale of 1.54 – 3.6% for points below 22. The national committee is meeting to discuss their thoughts on accepting or rejecting the offer ahead of a consultative ballot.

Reps expenses and Charity Donations

Branch approved a daily allowance of £25 per day for reps attending training and meetings away from campus. Days can be long and this allowance will help cover basic meals and hot drinks. Branch also approved two charity donations to A-C-E (Achieve, Change and Engagement) in Lancaster and AFC Masters in Bolton – more information available in separate news articles.

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Member Benefits

Unite Free Will Service

  • Unite Legal Services Free Will Service is available to all members once they have been a member of the Union for 13 weeks.
  • The service enables you to have a simple Will prepared free of charge by a legal professional.
  • Using a high street solicitor to make a Will can prove to be expensive
  • Our experts will guide you through the Will writing process, explaining the stages clearly to you.
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Rep Update

Retirement & Pensions

Retirement is one of the most complex times of our life we will experience but strangely it one of the ones we have the most time to plan. We start work whilst in our younger years and retirement seems to be far in the future and so planning for it takes a back seat. We enjoy life and before we know it we are receiving long service awards, and reminiscing saying “when I was younger we could buy fish and chips and have change out of £5”.
Its important, what ever stage of life you are in, you take a step back and look at what provisions you have in place for retirement. Working here at Lancaster we have pension schemes that are supported by the employer and these vary depending on your role at the University. Your pension is specific to you and no two pensions will be the same and so this makes it seem complex, however, understanding the value of your pension and what benefits are associated with it is paramount.
To enable someone to give advice on financial matters they have to comply with strict legal controls. There are things you can do for yourself, however:

  • You can find out how much state pension you could get can here.
  • If you are on the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) you can then get a further forecast using the following link

Once you have registered and got onto the site you may have further questions. If it’s general advice, and not financial, then please contact our Pensions Rep – Kev Wallis (k.wallis@lancaster.ac.uk) – who will be able to help explain.

You may then decide you would like additional funds for retirement and would like to find out about Additional Voluntary Contributions AVC’s run by Prudential for LGPS.

Members who are on the USS pension scheme may also have many questions, if you forward them to Kev, we will endeavour to find the relevant people to speak to.

Plan for the future now, tomorrow quickly becomes the past!