At our AGM earlier this year, the following were elected to Branch Officer positions:

Dan J Bye – Branch Secretary

Tracey Holland – Branch Chair

Blodwen Grayhurst – Treasurer

Lucinda Wakefield – International Officer / Acting Health & Safety Officer

Anna Wiggins – Women’s Officer

Ana Yousaf – Equality Officer

But a number of Officer positions remain unfilled and are empty posts.  They are:

Vice Chair

Communication Officer

Membership Officer

Welfare Officer

Education Officer

Young Persons’ Officer

The more posts we can fill, the more the Branch can achieve, so we are keen to hear from members who are interested in taking up these opportunities.   They are a great way of developing your own skills and experience, as well as making a contribution to the union’s collective strength.   Each Officer role has a particular specialism, but Officers can also get involved in case work and negotiation more generally.

Remember, paid time off is allowed to carry out union duties, and training and support is available for the roles from UNISON and the Branch.

To find out more about the purpose of the roles, see:  https://www.unison.org.uk/about/our-organisation/activists/branch-roles/.

Between AGMs, the Branch Committee can co-opt any member who is eligible to most of the vacant posts. So if you are interested please get in touch with Dan Bye, Branch Secretary, or another Branch Officer, for a chat!

In the run up to Christmas 2020, the Students’ Union launched a consultation on proposals to restructure the organisation and cut staff numbers.  40% of Students’ Union staff were formally placed “at risk”.  The proposals could not have come at a worse time for our members, already feeling demoralised and facing an uncertain future in extremely tough times.

UNISON, with the assistance of UNISON regional staff, supported members to put forward alternative proposals, launched a petition and passed a vote of no confidence.   Newspaper coverage of the campaign was secured.  Following the work of members, Region, the Branch and SU stewards Demaine Boocock and (albeit briefly) Jemma Dalton, the consultation was extended and the implementation ended up being delayed until the end of April.  The redundancy offer, initially only the statutory minimum, was improved, pay protection was agreed and other concessions were made.  Some of our alternative suggestions were accepted by SU management, which helped protect jobs.

Although UNISON achieved a number of successes, lockdown made engaging with students much harder and it is disappointing that in the end the decision to close the Students Union bar and most other commercial activities was confirmed.  Five UNISON members were among those who already left have or will be leaving the SU.

UNISON has already met with SU members to discuss next steps.  We intend to hold SU management to account for the fallout from the restructure, and demand action to address the poor staff morale that was revealed by the belated release of the results of a staff survey conducted in 2019.  We are also drawing up a list of workplace issues we want to see addressed, and will be meeting with SU leadership to take this agenda forward.

Staff at Sheffield Hallam University’s Students’ Union are fearful for their jobs, following the start of formal consultation this week on proposals to restructure the organisation and slash staff numbers.   40% of Students’ Union staff have been formally placed “at risk”.

Management claim that the proposals are necessary to increase student engagement, prioritise representation, and decrease operating costs.   Staff in the Union’s commercial operations, helpdesk and marketing teams are hardest hit under proposals which would see an expansion in the use of placement students on zero-hours contracts.  But UNISON members at the Union point to years to underinvestment by Sheffield Hallam University, the impact of COVID-19 on commercial activities, and longstanding staff dissatisfaction with the leadership and direction of the Students Union.

The proposals could not come at a worse time for staff already feeling demoralised but working extremely hard for students during the COVID-19 pandemic.   UNISON opposes compulsory redundancies and is working with members on alternative proposals to defend jobs.

Last week you will all hopefully have received through the post a ballot paper for you to vote in OUR union’s General Secretary elections.

In a member-led union, UNISON encourages you to be heard and to have a say in who you think should be our next General Secretary.

SHU UNISON have nominated Paul Holmes for General Secretary because:

• Members of the Branch know him through his regional work in South Yorkshire:
• Paul has the best record of leadership and fighting for members.
• Paul is the members’ candidate, from the shop floor.
• Paul will take the job on his current wage of £32,000, declining the £138,000 available.
• Paul will massively increase funding to branches so we can support you better.
• Paul has a track-record of winning disputes and elections, other candidates do not.
• Paul’s leadership will be inclusive, developing talents from across our whole union and involving retired members.
• Paul is popular across UNISON and can win.

The Ballot will run from 28th October until 27th November 2020.

The ballot is postal-only. Make sure you vote!

As you may know already, Dave Prentis is retiring as UNISON general secretary at the end of the year, and an election is currently underway.

The prospective list of candidates for election as General Secretary are: Paul Holmes, Christina McAnea, Roger McKenzie, Hugo Pierre and Peter Sharma.

To get on the ballot, candidates must be nominated by at least 25 of UNISON’s 834 local branches who are participating in the election.

Our branch agreed at the branch committee on 9th September to hold a nomination meeting, which was scheduled for 16th September.

Seven members of the branch committee attended the meeting, and only one nomination (for Paul Holmes) was made. A vote was then held on whether our branch would nominate Paul Holmes as a candidate, the results were as follows:

For: 5

Against: 1

Absentions: 1

The nominations process is now closed, and the general ballot of UNISON members will now run from October 28th to November 27th, with the result being announced on January 11th. 

Article published in Sheffield Telegraph

The Sheffield Telegraph recently published an article about the number of support staff leaving the University following the implementation of the Professional Service Operating Model for Student and Academic Services.  As a major employer in the city, the loss of so many jobs at SHU is clearly significant.

The article prominently carried a quote on the situation from Branch Secretary Dan Bye, referring to the overwhelming support for UNISON’s motion of no-confidence in the implementation process, a motion we believe has been vindicated by events since the new year.