At our last General Members Meeting held on Thursday 27 September, the branch passed the most comprehensive set of local demands to underwrite the ongoing national dispute over pay and ‘pay-related’ issues. Some of the demands were deferred for further consultation with members and reformulation. We invite members to send in alternatively worded demands.

How our local demands have developed

The wording of the demands is the outcome of several statements of principles sourced over two years from members and grass roots campaigns throughout the country. It’s very exciting that we have been able to synthesise them in a single document and set of practically actionable demands.
However, this exercise has streamlined some of the demands excessively.

Demands under consideration

Therefore, we invite you to send in alternatively worded demands on the following topics to secretary.bucu@yahoo.com:

Local demands for

• Representation quotas and resources for members with protected characteristics on appointment and promotion panels at all grades;
• A stand-alone demand about a welcoming working environment for members with dependents and caring responsibilities;
• Detailed absolute limits on marking and assessment workloads.

You can try to formulate these demands by thinking about the following questions:

1. What is the fair level of childcare provision that the employer should provide?
2. What is the appopriate quota for members with protected characterisitcs on appointment and promotion panels? Additionally, what kind of resources and workload adjustments should be available for the university and its employees to fulfill this responsibility?
3. What is a fair limit on the workload and instensity of assessment and marking?

We look forward to your contributions and hope to put several options to members.