As well as negotiating and bargaining on your terms and conditions nationally and locally, UCU can help you individually if you have a problem at work. You can contact your departmental representative, if there is one in your department, and/or contact our office. We will advise you on ways to address your problem, offer support such as attend meetings with you relating to your problem, suggest for you to request a caseworker, if deemed necessary, or direct you to other sources of support and guidance.
You will find quite a lot of information and advice about problems at work on the “Getting Support” page of the national UCU website. As a UCU member, you can also get support from the Education Support Partnership which runs a telephone helpline – 0800 0562 5610 – to help people deal with stress and anxiety, bullying, career and money worries, and a range of other issues.
If you are facing bullying, sexual harassment and/or discrimination at work, please visit our Bullying and Sexual Harassment in work page and/or our Disability and Discrimination page, where you will find relevant information and the contacts of our Equality and Diversity officer, our LGBTQ officer, our Disability officer, our Trans contact and our Sexual Harassment contact.
Casework
If you have a problem at work, your union can help.
As well as negotiating and bargaining on your terms and conditions nationally and locally, UCU can help you individually. The branch has a team of caseworkers who are available to advise and represent UCU members with issues relating to your employment at Cardiff University.
Cardiff UCU caseworkers are colleagues of yours who are employees of Cardiff University and members of UCU. They undertake casework on a voluntary basis and receive training and support within the branch and from Regional Office – UCU Cymru
Caseworkers are drawn from across the University, from Academic and Professional Services staff. You will be allocated a caseworker from a different School/Department from your own, and your case will be dealt with confidentially. The team is led by the branch Casework Co-Ordinator, Paul Brennan, who is also a long-standing caseworker.
The caseworker will talk to you about your situation and your options. Sometimes this is as far as it goes. If you want to pursue the matter, the caseworker will help you do this and will accompany or represent you at meetings if you wish them to do so.
If you need legal advice, you need to request this through UCU Regional Office and your caseworker will tell you how to do this. Please be aware that there are strict time limits for pursuing legal claims, and you should contact us without delay.
If you want to discuss a situation at work, please call the branch office on 029 2087 4443 (or extn 74443). The branch can then, if appropriate, allocate you a caseworker. You will be asked to complete a Casework Request Form for this.
Alternatively, if you already know that you need a caseworker, you can download the form. Please complete sections 1 and 2 and email it to caseworkrequests@cardiffucu.onmicrosoft.com, which is monitored by our office staff and Casework Lead. You can also contact our administrator/organiser Rowan Campbell (rcampbell@ucu.org.uk) with general workplace concerns.
You will find quite a lot of information and advice about problems at work on the “Getting Support” page of the national UCU website. As a UCU member, you can also get support from the Education Support Partnership which runs a telephone helpline – 0800 0562 5610 – to help people deal with stress and anxiety, bullying, career and money worries, and a range of other issues.