Warwick UCU Meet the Team
Warwick UCU has a dedicated Committee and people working in departments to make your working environment better and allowing us to listen to you and take your concerns to higher levels of management. There is a more official Committee of elected members to represent you, and more informal sub committees (link to follow) that work alongside our Assistant Secretaries to help our work.
Committee
The Committee are a group of elected individuals who work to ensure that your voice is heard. Members of the Committee regularly meet with Senior Management to raise concerns and work on making your work environment better.
Chair: Becks Andrew
The Chair will chair all general meetings and all committee meetings of the Branch and perform such other duties as are laid upon the Chair by any rule or are decided by the committee. In accordance with normal practice, the Chair may, between meetings of the committee, take any action on behalf of the committee which is both urgent and necessary. Such Chair’s Action must be reported for approval to the next committee meeting.
Becks Andrew works in Professional Services and has been at Warwick, more on than off, for 15 years. She completed her PhD in 2021 and continues to research as an independent scholar. She can be contacted by emailing chair at warwickucu dot org dot uk.
Branch Secretary: Paul Trimmer
The duties of the Branch Secretary are to call general and committee meetings of the Branch; to ensure that minutes of those meetings are kept by the Branch Administrator; to arrange notification of local election and ballot results to all members. They are responsible for ensuring UCU guidance and best practice is followed.
Casework Coordinator: Caroline Proctor
The Assistant Secretary (Casework), also known as the Casework Coordinator, coordinates the branch response to cases arising from contact with members. They work with the Branch Administrator to record cases, identify and support branch caseworkers, and liaise with Regional and National UCU offices as required. 'Cases' are what happens when our members are affected by formal processes of the University (such as disciplinary, grievance, sickness management, probation, ends of contracts, redundancy and other issues such as concerns with bullying, harassment, workload and equality).
Treasurer: Justine Mercer
The Treasurer will have custody of the funds of the Branch and authority to make payments from them in accordance with the rules as the need arises. The Treasurer's duties will be to keep the books of the Branch; to present the accounts of the Branch for auditing as necessary; to present these audited accounts to a general meeting of the Branch, to publish them to all members of the Branch, and to submit a copy forthwith to the honorary treasurer of UCU.
Assistant Secretary (Anti-Casualisation): Alex Baker
The Assistant Secretary (Anti-casualisation) role will have knowledge of and a commitment to issues related to casualised staff and act as a point of contact within the committee for non-casework issues regarding casualisation. The role holder will be encouraged to attend national and regional meetings on casualisation and provide a focussed perspective on casualisation to the Committee. The role will ideally be filled by a member whose main employment is casualised or who has, in the two years prior to their nomination, been in casualised employment.
Assistant Secretary (Communications): Myka Tucker-Abramson
The Assistant Secretary (Communications) is responsible for working with the Chair and the rest of the Committee in preparing all-member communications and managing the social media presence of the branch. They head the Communications sub-committee (see below) and have a say in any mass communications produced and sent by the Branch.
Assistant Secretary (Departmental Contacts): Michael Macaulay
The Assistant Secretary for Department Contacts is responsible for recruiting and maintaining an accurate list of Department Contacts - named individuals in each department who act as a point of contact for members in their department, provide information to Committee via the Assistant Secretary (Department Contacts), and encourage a sense of community and engagement within departments). This role is currently filled by the Membership Secretary. Please see our Get InvolvedLink opens in a new window page for a current list of vacancies.
Assistant Secretary (Disabilities): Dan Walker
The Assistant Secretary (Disabilities) will act as a point of contact within the committee for non-casework issues regarding disability. They are aware of current discussions surrounding disabilities at the University and beyond and bring this perspective to Committee meetings, raising items and issues as required.
Assistant Secretary (Environment): currently vacant
The Assistant Secretary (Environment) provides a dedicated perspective of Environmental issues at Committee discussions. They are involved in pressing the University for sustainable and greener practices and working with other local and national organisations and initiatives over environmental issues.
Assistant Secretary (Equalities): Gabrielle Lynch
The Assistant Secretary (Equalities) will have knowledge of and commitment to relevant issues with regards to Equality. They provide a dedicated perspective on Equality to Committee Meetings and are responsible for assisting the Communications Assistant Secretary when national equalities events are publicised. They liaise with the Casework Coordinator when casework involves equality issues.
Assistant Secretaries (Health and Safety): Andrew Marsh
The Assistant Secretaries (Health and Safety) will act as a point of contact within the committee for non-casework issues regarding to all forms of Health & Safety, including mental and physical health. They will be encouraged to sit on the Universities Health and Safety committee to represent UCU. They oversee Health and Safety implications of decisions brought to Committee and provide a perspective on Health and Safety to discussions at Committee.
Assistant Secretary (Membership): Michael Macaulay
The Assistant Secretary (Membership) is responsible for managing any membership records that are necessary at local level. They provide membership information promptly to UCU in accordance with instructions from UCU Head Office or Regional Office to enable statutory and rule requirements of membership records to be met. The Membership Secretary works with the Branch Administrator in matters of recruitment and community creation among existing members.
Assistant Secretary (Migrant Staff): Marina Veličković
The Migrant Staff Representative is responsible for raising awareness of the situation of migrant members and monitoring the situation of migrant members, proposing campaigns and acts as a point of contact for related casework. They provide a perspective to Committee about any issues affecting migrant staff and how items discussed could affect this community.
Assistant Secretary (Pensions): Justine Mercer
The Assistant Secretary (Pensions) has knowledge of and commitment to issues related to pensions. Where appropriate, they provide liaison between the branch and UCU on the subject of pensions.
Assistant Secretary (PGR):
The Assistant Secretary (PGR) has knowledge of and a commitment to situations relating to PGRs, whether funding, rights or employment related. They coordinate PGR branch activities, promote UCU membership amongst PGRs, and are the point of contact within the committee for non casework issues regarding PGRs. They will represent PGR rights with regards to casualisation and precarity, as well as keeping informed on the situations of international PGRs and UCU’s national ‘PGRs as Staff’ campaign, with whom they will maintain productive relations.
Assistant Secretary (Professional Services): currently vacant
This role provides a professional services perspective on the work of the committee to ensure that these staff are not the forgotten workers at the University. While the Committee contains professional services members of staff, this role is designed to bring a focus to this section of our work and ensure the voice of staff are heard at a Committee level so we can pass this through to the University.
Assistant Secretary (non-specific):
Non-specific Assistant Secretaries are on the Committee to ensure we have other voices not potentially represented by the specific roles above. This may be, but is not limited to, any diversity in persons, departments/faculties, or people wanting to get more involved but feel unable to take a specific position on the Committee. We welcome anyone interested to contact chair at warwickucu dot org dot uk for further details.