The branch committee met today and have scheduled a date for the next branch AGM. Fuller details will be publicised in due course but if you can mark this in your diaries now please we’d be really grateful.
Date: Tuesday 14 January 2013
Time: 10:00
Venue: to be advised
Light refreshments will be available.
Securing a strong turn-out is really important. We need as many members to come along as possible so that we can avoid the situation that happened last January. (Not enough people turned up to constitute a valid meeting under our branch rules and the meeting had to be re-arranged for later in the year.) Even if you are not able to attend all of the meeting please come along, register yourself, stay as long as you can, and then by all means leave early if your time is very pressured.
Two more quick things:
A very big thank you to everyone who took an active part in last Thursday’s strike action (by staying away from work altogether and/or joining one of the picket lines). Our retired members did us proud by standing out for quite some time in some really unpleasant weather and we’re especially thankful to them.
While it’s slightly old news we felt it would be worth highlighting some research carried out by UCU towards the end of last summer. Kent is in the top 5 English universities in terms of the use of “zero-hours” contracts. The word “top” is no compliment in this context; though naturally these working arrangements can and do suit a lot of people who need to be able to be flexible and balance their working hours with their home life and other commitments. This includes plenty of students who work on campus. Even so this is something that the branch feels the University should be trying more actively to avoid and we are aware of people who have been on these contracts for several years….
This issue was raised at the recent Joint Staff Negotiating and Consultation Committee (JSNCC) and you can read a bit more about the topic here: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/ucu-homes-in-on-widespread-use-of-zero-hours-deals/2007035.article .
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