Doncaster raceday – 2 for 1 tickets

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Enjoy a day at the races with UNISON’s exclusive two for one ticket offer for Doncaster raceday (3 August).

To avoid disappointment, book early for the exclusive special ticket offer for UNISON members:

  • First 3,900 tickets sold to UNISON members – £13 for 2 tickets (children go free)
  • Above this allocation, additional tickets will be available at a cost of £30 for two tickets (children’s tickets two for one = £11 for two tickets)

Click on the link below for more information:

Doncaster raceday leaflet [pdf file]

Join UNISON in May and June and attend a free workshop

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UNISON has launched an offer aimed at new members, to support activists recruiting and organising.

The pilot project means that new members joining in May and June will be offered a choice of four free workshops to be run from September onwards.

The workshops include: Welcome to UNISON; Internet Skills; Facing Change Together; and Your Skills, Your Future – a chance to think about your personal development and next steps. They will also be available to existing members as part of the broad range of learning opportunities UNISON offers. This includes courses like English for Speakers of Second Languages (ESOL), confidence building and communication skills.
UNISON’s head of learning and organising services Jo Cain said: “We know that UNISON members really value our learning offers like Return to Learn, which has now been running successfully for 25 years.

“If we can get new members involved in the union through learning as well then it not only helps us recruit but organise as well.”

To find out more about UNISON’s learning opportunities, email learningandorganising@unison.co.uk.

There will be a UNISON stand at the main entrance to City Campus from 11am – 2pm on Wednesday 5th June where non-members can join UNISON.

Phased returns

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The University has agreed a new approach to phased returns.  Staff returning to work following illness are sometimes recommended to phase their return to work by building up their hours gradually over a period of weeks.

There has been mixed practice across the University in how phased returns are managed.  In many cases staff were expected to use annual leave or temporarily reduce their contracted hours when phasing their return to work and HR initially proposed that all phased returns should be managed in this way.

Following representations by UNISON however, a new approach has been agreed.  For the first four weeks of a phased return staff will be paid for their normal contracted hours and will not have to use annual leave for any time not worked.  In the vast majority of cases this will be sufficient for staff to build back up to their contracted hours.

We believe this is a positive outcome that will benefit our members who are struggling to return to work after illness.

Negotiating staff policies

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SHU unions work in partnership with the University to develop new staff policies and review existing ones.  Policies are discussed and developed at the Employment Policy Development Group (EPDG) and agreed at the Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC).  UNISON also has a representative on the University’s Health, Safety and Welfare Committee (HSWC).

On this page we will post news on recently agreed policies and those that are coming up for review.  We welcome members’ views – you can comment below or contact the specified officers who sit on EPDG and JNC, Dan Bye and Fran Belbin; or for HSWC, contact James Eaton.

New SHU Equality and Diversity Group

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This year our Equality Officer, Rosa Sadler, has been working with the UCU Equality Officer and the University Equality and Diversity team to establish a new Equality and Diversity group for staff and students. The purpose of the group will be to share issues, concerns, and ideas relating to equality and diversity with the University Equality and Diversity Board (EDB) which is a sub-group of the University Executive Board. We hope that this will cement a position for the voice of staff and students within the University’s equality and diversity strategic planning and policy making framework.

The E&D Team asked us to draft a proposal for the group at the beginning of this year and since then Rosa has worked closely with her UCU equivalent, Ruth Barley, to write a paper detailing what we would like the purpose and role of the group to be. We then sent it to members of staff and students who have been involved in equality and diversity groups in the past so that they could comment on the proposals and make suggestions.

Once this consultation process had taken place we were able to seek feedback from the University on the proposal. After some redrafting we hope to be in a position to present it to the EDB for approval in June so that the group can be in existence for the start of the new academic year.

The group will have open membership so if you are interested in being involved please watch out for more information in September. If you would like any further details about the group please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Rosa at r.sadler@shu.ac.uk

AGM survey results

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Many thanks to all the members who took part in our AGM survey.  We had 112 responses in all which is a good basis to plan future AGMs around.

Responses indicate that the current timing of AGMs (lunchtime of the first Wednesday in March) is best for most members.  Our communications about the AGM seem to be working too, as more than 90% of respondents knew it was taking place.  Unfortunately 38% were too busy to attend, and a further 22% were not in the University on the day.

Suggestions for addressing this include raising awareness of the importance of the meeting and staff’s entitlement to attend.

We also asked about incentives to attend, and found that the free lunch we currently offer after the AGM is the most popular incentive (51% said this would make them more likely to attend).  45%  would also like to hear a speaker from a relevant issue or campaign, and 31% would like a UNISON goody bag.  We’ll certainly look into having speakers in the future, this might offset some of the less interesting but necessary AGM business!

Most respondents were from City Campus and happy with the current location.  However staff from Collegiate Campus and Hallamshire Business Park did comment that the additional travelling time means that an hour is insufficient to attend the meeting, and that they would be more likely to attend if it was held on their site.  Next year we will look into holding an additional meeting at Collegiate and/or HBP; this will also mean there is an alternative date available for staff who aren’t in the University for the City Campus meeting.

Thanks again for all the responses and the helpful suggestions that were made by many of you.  The branch will be discussing these further when we are planning events throughout the year, and we look forward to a quorate AGM in 2014!

Membership benefits

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Joining UNISON also brings other benefits:

UNISON members receive free legal advice and representation on:

• Personal Injury at work (including assaults)
• Personal injury away from work
• Road traffic accident injury
• Holiday injury
• Slips and trips
• Industrial disease or illness
• and Employment law advice accessed through your UNISON branch

UNISON Members and their families are offered free legal advice and representation on:

• Personal injury away from work
• Road traffic accident injury
• Holiday injury
• Slips and trips away from work
• Industrial disease or illness incurred away from work
• Special terms for clinical negligence cases
• Reduced rates for conveyancing and family member wills

Joining UNISON

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There are two ways to join UNISON.

  • Complete the application form and return to UNISON, Sheffield Hallam University Branch, The Joint Union Office, Sheffield Hallam University, 38-40 Howard Street, City Campus, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S1 1WB.

If you join this way, your subs will be paid through your salary.

If you join this way, your subs will be paid via direct debit.

If you would like to talk to us about joining UNISON at SHU then please contact us.(https://unisonshu.org.uk/contacts/).

If you join UNISON at Sheffield Hallam University, you are adding your voice to that of hundreds of your colleagues. This boosts the credibility and strength of the Branch when we engage in negotiation and consultation with our employer.