As people are called to meetings about possible redundancies, we feel it is important not to attend alone. Everyone has the right to ask someone to accompany them to meetings.

UCU branch committee members will do our best to attend as many meetings as we can (where members request this support). But, given the current scale of redundancies there may be too many meetings for only our branch committee to attend. We suggest that other UCU members can also step in to support colleagues.

Who should attend?

It must be someone from within the University of Derby (unless they are a trade union representative).

You could offer to support someone you know well and work closely with, or anyone from across UoD.

Remember, if you know the people involved, you need to avoid bringing other issues into the meeting – this is for the member to lead.

What can you do if you attend with someone?

Your role is mostly to support.

If you can, meet beforehand to discuss what the priorities are. It can be an emotional time, so agree what points the member wants to raise so you can remind them in the meeting.

Take notes. You can ask for clarifications if needed. There will also be official minutes taken, so you don’t need to record everything that is said.

The member whose meeting it is must lead the conversation, but you can support them to make their case and ask questions.

Don’t try to talk about your own or other cases in this meeting. Don’t use this meeting to raise new grievances.

If needed, you can ask for a break or to re-convene the meeting.

Confidentiality

Do not share with others details of what was done or said in the meeting. Always ask the consent of the member before talking about the meeting with others.

Feeding back

If you are attending meetings, it is really helpful to the branch for you to give some feedback about how it went, so that we can gain insights about how the process is working and be ready to offer further support where it is needed.