Committee Members
President
Declan Brady (011582) 30336
Declan has worked for the University of Nottingham for over 25 years and has been a union member for most of that time.
Role of Chair Person
The Branch chair shall preside over all meetings of the Branch and shall ensure that business is conducted in accordance with the rules and Branch standing orders. If the chair is absent from a Branch meeting, those present shall elect a substitute to take his/her place for that meeting. The chair shall be entitled to vote on all matters to be decided by the Branch but he/she shall not have a second or casting vote.
Secretary:
Russell Kearney
Russ has been at the University of Nottingham since 2006 working for Information Services. Prior to this he has worked in other educational institutions, retail & the civil service and been a member of Unison & PCS.
Role of Branch Secretary
The Branch secretary shall be responsible for the general administration of the Branch including maintaining the Branch membership, financial and other records in the manner required by the Executive Council, taking and preserving Branch minutes and conducting all correspondence on behalf of the Branch. On taking office the branch secretary shall provide an address where members can contact him or her. This information shall be posted on the Union’s website.
Safety convener
John Corrie (0115 95) 16265
John has been at the University for over 30 years, always in the Environmental Science group, but this has involved spells in different schools & working at both University Park & Sutton Bonington Campus. He is currently the “Team Leader” in the Gateway Building, which means that he is Building Manager, plus Safety Officer & Chief Technician for Agriculture & Environmental Science in the School of Biosciences (SBS). He is primarily an analyst with a chemical/soils bias. He acts as a mentor for new appointees in SBS and is the Welfare Officer for a local sports club.
For our union, He has been a Workplace & Safety Rep from his early days and on the committee for longer than he cares to remember. He's now in his 2nd spell as Safety Convenor & so sits on the University Safety Committee. He has been `lead` contact for Unite and has a lot of experience in dealing with HR and in disciplinary type issues. He is also on the TS Regrading & Hay Scoring panels.
Treasurer and Membership Officer
Mark Dale (0115 95) 15532
Mark has been a member of the union for over 25 years and has been the branch treasurer for the past 15 years. He is a member of the Universities grading panel sitting on both job matching and HAY scoring panels, part of his branch role is to organise and allocate Union representation to sit on these panels. As with most other elected officers part of the role is to try and help members by supporting and representing them in times of need.
Role of Treasurer
The Branch treasurer shall be responsible for dealing with financial transactions concerning the Branch, ensuring that all payments are made in accordance with the rules of the Union, receiving contributions from members who pay at the Branch and banking monies. He/she shall provide the Branch secretary with a record of all financial transactions and shall ensure that they are accurately recorded in the Branch records and that all monies are dealt with in accordance with the rules and the instructions of the Executive Council.
Equalities Officer and Learning Representative
Lenford Vassell Tel: 07973172426
Lenford Vassell is currently a security Officer based within the Estates Security Section. He began employment with the UoN on 5th September 2011. Prior to this, having worked within the criminal Justice System for over 26 years he was made redundant in 2009 by Derbyshire Probation Trust. After three years of agency and consultancy work he decided to leave the Criminal Justice System and embark on a totally new career, namely Security work, as noted earlier he applied for and was successful in gaining employment with the UoN security Section of Estates.
He has over 30 years experience of trade union membership and has actively campaigned on behalf of members rights. Additionally, he has and continues to represented a number of Probation Officers at disciplinary and grievance hearings, up to and including tribunal as a workplace rep and or Professional Association Rep.
Having being elected as Equality & Diversity Officer within UoN (Unite), part of his current role is to promote equality and justice for all employees by ensuring UoN comply with their Duties as required by LAW particularly as contained within the Equality Act 2010. Clearly the members of Unite are a priority, to this end he invites all members of staff, particularly within his section to feel free to contact him via details above for advice, support and or discussions about becoming a member of Unite. He is available to meet with members or potential members to discuss his role and that of trade unions, particularly Unite The Union (the largest Union in the UK).
It is worth noting that currently, in relation to O&F staff, Unison have recognition to negotiate pay and conditions of service for O&F staff members, however, we all have a RIGHT to belong to any trade union and as members of a trade union your union have a duty to all members in relation to representation and support in relation to any disciplinary or grievance members may be experiencing.
Communications Officer
Cheryl Ruse +86(0)574 8818 6523 (currently based in China)