Meeting Dates announced for 24-25

Hi all

Our regional Committee meeting dates for 24 -25 are below , all meetings are online on a  Thursday 4.30-6pm

Teams meeting invite and paperwork will emailed to senior branch reps nearer the date by the Regional Office.

  • 26th September
  • 16th January
  • 24th April AGM * depending on response from delegates this may become a F2F + social on Sat 26th potentially in Norwich

Don’t forget we will also have our usual stall at Burston Strike School day on Sunday Sept 1st – see here for more details – https://burstonstrikeschool.wordpress.com/2024-rally/

Look forward to seeing you there

This year at Burston – Supporting UEA & Remembering Steve Boyce

This year at Burston Strike School Rally the UCU Regional Committee stall had a theme of Defend UEA with Mark Walmsley the Branch Chair / President joining us on the stall as well as being invited to speak on the main stage to update the crowd on the UEA dispute.

We also remembered our dear comrade Steve Boyce who passed away earlier this year who was a regular at Burston – see the separate Tribute To Steve page – https://ehcr.web.ucu.org.uk/steve-boyce-rest-in-power/

Supporting the HE Strike Rally

Great afternoon with our Uni colleagues at the national strike Rally & March in London . Fantastic turn out. Great to meet some comrades from across the region including members from @openuniversity @UCUEHCRegion @AngliaRuskinUCU @UEA_UCU @CranfieldUcu @oubucu @CambridgeUCU and many more Solidarity from all in FE across the Region

EHCR Clusters / Contact

Dear all

One the main objectives of the Eastern & Home Counties Regional Committee is to promote and foster solidarity between branches across sectors. To that aim we have produced a contact list with a difference that we are referring to as Regional Cluster Contacts. We have attempted in conjunction with the Regional Office to group institutions geographically and put them in a numbered cluster. The aim is very simple; that institutions within clusters (if they haven’t done so already) contact each other preferably meeting on a semi-regular basis so that they can exchange information, ideas, friendship and when necessary, offer practical support & solidarity.

This is not meant to be too formal an approach or be an increase to your workload but just to be a resource to assist local branches to reach out and make contact. The list will be updated at the beginning of every academic year and stored in 2 places for convenience which will be the Regional Office website and the Regional Committee’s website. (all contact info on the list is already in the public domain btw for those concerned about GDPR)

We do hope you find this resource useful and look forward to seeing you at our next Regional Committee meeting.

Reg Cttee BRANCH clusters with rep contact details

Regional Committe Meeting Cancelled

 

Dear all

To avoid any confusion, this is just to confirm that the Regional Committee meeting due to take place on Saturday 18th is cancelled due to Covid-19 crisis.. At this time rather than duplicate we would encourage all branches to log-on to the Regional Office briefings via Zoom so you can directly share experience and get advice from other branches and the Regional Team.  

Next one is Wednesday 29th 2-4pm – contact the office easternadmin@ucu.org.uk if you are not receiving notice of these or need support on using Zoom etc.

There is also lots of advice via the UCU website https://www.ucu.org.uk/covid19

Hopefully it won’t be too long until we are sharing some of Nadia’s great cake and meeting with you in person.

Take care & stay safe

Eastern & Home Counties Regional Committee Exec.

 

 

 

Nita Sanghera

Nita Sanghera

Nita Sanghera passed away on 16 January 2020. This is such sad news for her family, her loved ones, and for the union. Nita worked tirelessly to create opportunities for working class students in her role as an Access to HE lecturer at Bournville College. After serving on the West Midlands regional committee, the Black Members’ Standing Committee and the NEC, she was elected vice-president for the further education sector in 2018. At the end of May this year, she would have become the first black woman president of UCU. It is a tragedy that we have lost her.

Our Chair Peter Monaghan wrote this;

On behalf of UCU members at Cambridge Regional College and the Eastern & Home Counties Regional Committee. It was with great sadness we learned of the early passing of Nita. I personally first met Nita at Congress in Liverpool where we chatted over a drink prior to the congress dinner. I was struck not only how astute she was politically but also with the ease that anyone in her company felt. Over the years since whenever our paths crossed at whatever meeting she might be busy chairing etc. she always had the time and courtesy to stop and catch up which speaks volumes about the person she was. She will sorely missed and our condolences go out to her family and friends.

 

 

We are pleased announce UCU Eastern & Home Counties Regional Committee Sponsorship of the Townsend Theatre Production of socialist classic novel The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressel. This exciting adaption for the theatre as a one-man show will take place at the Mumford Theatre in Cambridge on Saturday November 3rd at 7.30pm. https://www.anglia.ac.uk/arts-law-and-social-sciences/mumford-theatre/whats-on More info and a flyer are also attached

For UCU members and their supporters we have a limited number of free tickets but we would ask that you make suggested donation of £5 (usual price £12.50) to the UCU Fighting Fund via this link https://www.ucu.org.uk/fightingfund    ** If you can afford more please do but if you can’t then please don’t worry and come anyway! **

These tickets will be on a first come-first served basis so we recommend you get tickets early to take advantage of this offer. Once they are gone, they are gone and we will be releasing them to other unions and supporters next week. To get tickets go to this EventBrite link to register https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ragged-trousered-philanthropists-ucu-fighting-fund-tickets-mumford-theatre-31118-tickets-50804528713

Any profits UCU EHCR makes in the sponsorship of this event will go to the UCU Fighting Fund – UCU uses its fighting fund to support members involved in disputes, including the provision of strike pay where appropriate.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Many Thanks

Pete Monaghan

UCU Eastern & Home Counties Regional Chair