Ivan Bonsell | University of Brighton UNISON Branch

Return to work?

There has, inevitably, been much discussion about what a return to work might look like. Some of our members have never been away of course, providing essential services (payroll, security, student support, equipment maintenance and delivery etc.), while many of us have been trying to carry on from home, dealing with multiple problems. As it…

UNISON and post Covid-19

A Post-Covid19 recovery should prioritise people and the environment over profit, tackling the climate crisis at the same time. It will be a complex task encompassing many social, economic and ecological factors. Higher education is part of this large puzzle and the picture we should all be aiming to build is one of a fair…

Campaign for Higher Education, part 3

Our campaign continues with an on-line meeting on Zoom: 5.30pm, Thursday 14th May John McDonnell MP Kath Owen (UNISON NEC, personal capacity) Stefan Simms (NEU National Executive, personal capacity) Zoom meeting code is 899 5733 8736 More details on Facebook. The meeting will discuss the crisis facing universities and what we can do about…

Campaign for Higher Education, part 2

You’ve signed the petition, now write to your MP. I have. It only took me a few minutes and she sent me a standard response within a day, but you can do the same. If your MP is less inclined to churn out a press release about how great the government’s (non) response to this…

Campaign for Higher Education, part 1

Whatever happens over the next six months or so, it’s very likely that the number of new students entering the higher education system will be down. UNISON, alongside other trade unions, students’ unions and industry watchers all recognise that this could become a major problem. Our branch is supporting UNISON’s campaign to defend higher education…

No allowances for working from home

We’ve asked about whether the University would be willing to make payments to cover the additional costs of working from home. Their response was that whilst people can claim for “legitimate expenses, such as paper and printing”, the cost pressures the University is under mean that there’s no ability to fund general costs, such as…

No new money for universities – what does that mean for us?

The government has effectively announced that it will not bail out universities in financial difficulty. Instead, the proposal is to bring forward funds from student loans to aid cash-flow and implement a cap on student numbers, so that the more attractive institutions do no recruit significantly more students at the expense of other universities. If…

COVID-19 Update, Friday 24th April

As we near the end of the fifth week, there’s a load of stories in the media about the future of higher education. We’ve been debating the possibilities, but it’s probably still too early to say whether students will physically be in the University’s buildings in September. If that does not happen, or maybe even…

Coronavirus update – four weeks of unprecedented change

It’s now been four weeks since the University closed most of its buildings, moved teaching on-line and asked most of us to begin working from home. WFH has become a new, common acronym, as many of us have got used to not travelling to and from work. It makes you appreciate the small geographical area…

Latest Coronavirus news, Friday 3rd April

It’s starting to feel more like the “new normal” now, as we hit the end of the first fortnight of working from home (WFH), working on a very quiet university site or at home with little or no work to do, depending on your circumstances. It’s still a very odd situation and obviously a very…