The AGM for the Collegiate Campus will be held on Tuesday 28 February.
The AGM for the City Campus will be held on Wednesday 1 March.
Full details to follow shortly.
UNISON HALLAM CHRISTMAS SOCIAL
Save the date – this year’s social will be on Wednesday 7 December at the Millennium Galleries opposite the main entrance at City Campus.
We’ll email you full details soon, but expect free goodies, lunch and fun, as well as a chance to learn more about dealing with restructures and managing sickness absence and stress in the workplace.
More details to follow.
NOT WRITTEN YOUR WILL YET? DO IT FOR FREE WITH UNISON
Making a will is important, whatever your age. If you don’t leave a will, the law decides how your possessions are passed on – and it might not be what you had in mind.
But making a will can be an expensive business, typically costing between £150 and £300 with a solicitor.
Luckily, as a UNISON member you and your family are entitled to make a will free of charge. Simply fill in the simple online form and download your will at the end.
WIN THE COST OF CHRISTMAS 2016!
Register for UNISON’s pre-paid plus cashback card by 19 December 2016, and you could win back the cost of Christmas (calculated by experts to be £796).
Look out for more details when we launch the new card on 16 November.
‘£350M FOR THE NHS’ SWAYED DISABLED VOTERS IN EU REFERENDUM
Research by the Papworth Trust has revealed how propaganda about the NHS swayed disabled voters who didn’t know how many of their protections were from the EU, a Unison conference was told.
The suggestion that the UK could spend the money it sends to Brussels on the NHS was a major reason that many disabled voters backed the call to leave the European Union in June, ‘gambling’ with protections that few realised the EU had guaranteed for them.
FIVE WAYS TO AVOID OVERSPENDING THIS CHRISTMAS
Christmas can be overwhelming. With UNISON members already feeling the pinch of rising costs, it’s concerning that consumer debt saw its sharpest spike since 2006 in the run-up to Christmas last year.
But don’t panic. UNISON have compiled a handy five point guide to keeping financially afloat this Christmas. Read more.
WHO WRITES YOUR JOB REFERENCE?
Did you know that if you request a reference from your manager at Sheffield Hallam when applying for another job, it might not actually be them that completes it?
And if you are asked for a reference by one of your team members, make sure you follow our HR procedures.
All employer references must be completed by HR, not by members of staff across the University. Personal references are different – see the full guidance on the HR website.
READ THE VICE-CHANCELLOR’S THOUGHTS ON EQUALITY
Do you read the Vice-Chancellor’s blog? It’s a good way of learning about the thinking behind University decisions, and it sometimes includes information that you won’t find elsewhere.
If you’ve not read it before, a good place to start is this piece on equality, a topic close to our heart at UNISON.
The VC’s blog is updated every Monday. You can subscribe at https://blogs.shu.ac.uk/vc/
HESGE DECISION ON INDUSTRIAL ACTION
UNISON’s Higher Education Service Group Executive (HESGE) met on 20th September to discuss the results of the industrial action ballot on the 2016/17 national pay offer.
A long and considered discussion took place, which took into account the close vote in the ballot, a disappointing turnout and the knowledge that it was likely that if UNISON did take strike action it would not be with all other unions (due to notable differences in positions and timetables). Joint union action has been key to previous successful action.
Taking this into account it was reluctantly agreed that UNISON would not take industrial action on this occasion. The HESGE felt that the ballot results and views from regions meant that the union could not deliver a sufficiently strong strike to force the employers to improve their derisory pay offer.
UNISON is committed to national pay bargaining and will continue to campaign to improve members pay, terms and conditions in higher education. Further discussions will take place at UNISON’s forthcoming HE branch seminar, which will also focus on the need to build membership and engage members in future industrial action ballots.
NEW BRANCH ACTIVISTS
Recent branch elections: Tom Kidston steward in D&S, Michael Scarborough steward in SU and Rhys Edwards communications officer.