Dear fellow RUCU members,
I hope you’ve all had a decent and thoroughly well-deserved break over Easter. As you will probably know, the Branch has an Annual General Meeting every June, at which there are reports on the Branch’s finances, membership and activity over the year. The AGM also sees the announcement of the results of elections for its Officers and positions on the Branch Committee.
This is the formal announcement, required under local rules (https://reading.web.ucu.org.uk/local-rules/), of this year’s AGM, which will take place on Thursday the 10th of June at 13:00. I will circulate an agenda for the meeting 14 days beforehand, on the 27th of May, as also required under local rules, and so will need to have received any items for the agenda by 5pm on 26th of May. Any items for the agenda, including motions, received after 5pm on the 26th of May will not be included.
The Branch always needs more people to do the work that enables it to effectively represent, protect and promote your interests as members of staff at the University. That work is often very rewarding. I am very proud of the work we did last summer to protect jobs at the University and to get significant concessions from management over workload management and transparency. Similarly, those who negotiated an end to the worst excesses of casualisation among teaching staff that the agreement ratified before Christmas represents can justly be very happy with their efforts on the behalf of members.
If you would like to participate more in the Branch’s work, please consider standing for election as an ordinary Committee member or as one of the Branch Officers. According to local rules, our Returning Officer, Moray McAulay, one of our regional UCU officials, needs to receive nominations by the 13th of May. Please send your nominations to Colette Maxfield, our Branch Administrator, who will pass them on to Moray. Nomination forms are available on the Branch website at http://reading.web.ucu.org.uk/files/2020/05/RUCU-Nomination-form-for-Committee-and-Officers-2020-21.docx.
Each nomination should be supported by two members of the Branch. Please include the two members in your email to Colette, so that they can email her to confirm they support the nomination. Positions for which there is only one candidate will be elected unopposed, while any elections required will be carried out through an online ballot of members in the four weeks between the close of nominations and the AGM.
Please let me, Colette, Sally Pellow, our Branch President, or any other Committee member know if you have any questions.
Best,
Rob Jubb
RUCU Branch Secretary