UNISON BRANCH COMMITTEE
Position |
Contact |
| Chair | Martin Loftus |
| Secretary, Membership Officer, Communications Officer | Ivan Bonsell |
| Treasurer | Dawn Whitaker |
| Labour Link Officer | Sarah Pickett |
| Equality Co-ordinator | Emily Brooks |
| Health and Safety Officer | Maurizio Valeri |
| Lifelong Learning Co-ordinator, Education Co-ordinator | Cathy Peters |
| Black Members’ Officer | Jean Bosco Ndayizeye |
| Women’s Officers | Debbie Neale, Jodie Jones, Charlene Tanton |
| Retired Members’ Secretary | Mike Adams, contact: abo.adams@tiscali.co.uk |
Area Stewards / Health and Safety representatives |
Contact |
| Eastbourne | John Kitcher |
| Eastbourne | Marco Troiani |
| Eastbourne | Antonia Berelson |
| Falmer | Mandy Williams |
| Falmer | Sian Williams |
| Falmer | Richard Smith |
| City Campus | Richard Clayton |
| Moulsecoomb | Ivan Bonsell |
| Moulsecoomb | Martin Loftus |
| Moulsecoomb | Maurizio Valeri |
| Moulsecoomb | Kevin Pullinger |
| Moulsecoomb (Health and Safety Rep) | Alan Dilley |
| Moulsecoomb | Lise Loftus |
| Moulsecoomb (Health and Safety Rep) | Nixon Dube |
| Students’ Union | Sarah Pickett |
Vacant positions (click to view information about roles) |
Contact |
| Young Members’ Officer | Contact us if you’re interested in this role |
| International Officer | Contact us if you’re interested in this role |
| Welfare Officer | Contact us if you’re interested in this role |
| Disability Officer | Contact us if you’re interested in this role |
| LGBT+ Officer | Contact us if you’re interested in this role |
You can phone the office on +44 (0) 1273 64 2450
Hi I’m an existing UNISON member and have been for many years and would love one of the pride lanyards. I attended Salford’s pride event but they had non left – a little annoying as a load of children were wearing them who can’t possibly be members! Please can you let me know how to get one? Many thanks Jill
Hi Jill,
We’re in the process of getting some more because we’ve temporarily run out. Are you a member of our branch? If not, just email your address to us, iadb@brighton.ac.uk, and we’ll post you one.
Dear UNISON and Unison members at Brighton University,
We voted 78.1% in favour of strike action over pay on a 51.4% turnout, but unfortunately, the national turnout was nowhere near good enough, so the debate continues over what we should do in the future.
UCU members at the University have been asked to take 14 days of further strike action during February and March and these have now been confirmed as:
Week 1: Thursday 20 and Friday 21 February
Week 2: Monday 24, Tuesday 25 and Wednesday 26 February
Week 3: Monday 2, Tuesday 3, Wednesday 4 and Thursday 5 March
Week 4: Monday 9, Tuesday 10, Wednesday 11, Thursday 12 and Friday 13 March.
I would like to support UCU and would like to suggest that as Unison members we refuse to cross the picket line on one or more of the dates to help them. Too many of us are used to support the students during these strikes so they are not as effective. Let’s make them more effective for our UCU colleagues.
Hi Louise,
Thanks for your comments. You make some important points.
You’re right that we did vote overwhelmingly for strike action alongside UCU and if we had done that as a disaggregate ballot we would also be calling on our members to take strike action. We would, of course, have considered the best tactics to use, given the situation of all our members. It’s frustrating that this didn’t happen since we, mistakenly in the opinion of this branch, opted for an aggregate ballot. We’ve since dealt with that by committing UNISON to organise disaggregate ballots next time and we’re already looking to the 2020-21 pay settlement. We can’t afford another situation where we do without a real terms pay rise.
As it stands, we’re in a ridiculous situation where UCU are striking over the same issue that we voted to strike over, but we can’t legally take action.
There are two concrete things UNISON members can do:
1. Make sure that you’re not doing any work that a UCU member would normally do. We can’t and won’t cover for striking UCU members which would weaken the effectiveness of the strike. This doesn’t mean ignoring students, but it does mean not doing things that aren’t happening because of the strike action.
2. Donate to UCU’s hardship fund. This is being used to support UCU strikers who are in financial hardship as a result of the strikes. If you can afford to give a day’s wages then this will go to support them, and for UCU members, losing 14 days’ pay on top of that already lost is a massive financial sacrifice to make sure this strike is won. If you can’t manage a day’s wages, please contribute whatever you can.
It’s important that we do whatever we can, legally, to support UCU. Happy to discuss further if you have any questions.
Ivan