Our H&S officer and representatives have raised numerous concerns on behalf of our members with management over insufficient room ventilation. Management have agreed to deploy new monitoring equipment to check air flow/quality. If you have concerns about poor ventilation in any area that you work or lecture in, and the potential increased risk this may have with regards Covid-19, could you please contact ucu@cardiff.ac.uk so that we can liaise with University Health & Safety staff to deploy monitoring equipment in that

The University management has shared the results of the staff survey on the intranet. While management highlighted the three most positive results (including that 58% of staff reporting feeling that UEB is transparent in its communications) we would like to point out to the less positive results that feed into some of the concerns we have been raising for a long time and point to a leadership crisis that should be properly acknowledged and addressed by UEB:

• 39% of staff feels more engaged with the University and its leaders this year compared to the last;
• 40% of staff agree that the UEB have listened and responded to their views;
• 45% agree that senior College leaders provide effective leadership;

We urge UEB to effectively engage with UCU and the other unions to improve this. In particular to take seriously the concerns we raise in the name of our members, such as the current concerns on the safety and coercion to work in campus, instead of rebutting them on the basis of lack of knowledge if those concerns have not been raised through the University managerial mechanisms.

The only way we know that you have moved School/Department, or even have left the University, is if you tell us. Please could you remember to update your membership details if your circumstances change.

We also ask that you check your membership status, particularly if you are on Standard Free Membership, or are a Student member who has started some teaching.  If you have questions about your membership status, please contact the membership team at Head Office (membership@ucu.org.uk) or the branch office (ucu@cardiff.ac.uk). You can check and amend your membership details here.

The academic-related, professional services staff committee hosted a webinar called ‘Keeping universities running during the pandemic – the importance of supporting ARPS staff’ on Monday 16 November. If you weren’t able to join live, you can watch the webinar on Youtube or watch it on Facebook  .

Guru Nanak Gurpurab is a worldwide celebration of the birth of Guru Nanak (also referred to as Baba Nanak) the founder of Sikhism and the first of the ten Sikh Gurus.

He was born into a Hindu family in 1469 in Nankana Sahib, Pakistan.  When he was 30, he mysteriously disappeared for 3 days and when he returned, he started preaching the Sikh faith.

The word “gurpurab” is a mixture of Guru, which means teacher and Purab, which means celebration. It’s celebrated in November or December and this year on 30th November.

We held a Cardiff UCU Health & Safety meeting for local reps on Monday (16th) ahead of the JCNF to hear from Health & Safety and Dep Reps to gather information about members’ Health & Safety concerns and whether staff are being formed to work on campus. Reports highlighted the huge variability in approaches, with some reps reporting that staff are being forced and threatened with disciplinary action if they do not return to campus and others reporting a more supportive and collaborative approach. There were also reports of insufficient equipment for home working, being unable to access on-campus facilities and increased workloads. We will hold subsequent meetings about supporting and co-ordinating the branches Health and Safety work – please email ucu@cardiff.ac.uk if you would like to help.

UCU HE branch officers have received a letter from Professor Jonathan Rosenhead, Chair, British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP). The group have written to alert us to an emerging crisis for UK universities that is likely to have significant repercussions for academic staff and their right to free expression and academic freedom and to invite us to act. This follows the significant pressure on UK Universities to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism, with the threat from the Secretary of State to impose punitive financial penalties on any HEI which does not adopt the definition by the end of this academic term. While this is initially targeted at English universities, it will be rolled out to Wales.

You will be aware the IHRA definition of antisemitism, with its attendant examples, is highly controversial, and was condemned in motions adopted overwhelmingly by UCU Congress in both 2017 and 2018 (the motions are available on request). The definition, and the illustrative examples attached to it which conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism, have been heavily criticised by the Institute of Race Relations; eminent legal experts including ex-Court of Appeal Judge Sir Stephen Sedley; Liberty; leading academic experts on anti-Semitism, including Anthony Lerman and Brian Klug; 40 global Jewish social justice organisations, and more than 80 UK-based BAME groups.

The right to free expression is at the centre of public concern, and in particular freedom of speech on a range of topics concerning Israel/Palestine. For scholars and teachers at universities, this is of particular concern since it also is likely to have an impact on our freedom to research and teach in the Academy, subject to the law, without let or hindrance from powerful influences or the state. If the Government’s intervention in this case is not resisted it will very likely become a precedent for similar interference on other issues.

We ask members to have conversations in their schools and with their managers, highlighting concerns about the challenge to academic freedom. We will be talking to the VC about this, and reiterating our commitment to opposing anti-Semitism and all forms of racism through our equality and dignity at work policies.