Need help?
If you just want initial advice or if your enquiry is an informal one, you can go direct to any member of the UCU Committee. Your Departmental UCU representative may also be able to help with any minor queries, however they are probably not the best people for anything more serious. If and when UCU becomes involved in any formal way it is important that you receive support from someone who is not employed in the same department.
There's a lot of useful information on the national UCU Support Centre - see https://ucu.custhelp.com/ You need to go through the branch first before UCU regional officers will provide individual casework support (so they won't answer questions directly on this page) but if you'r problem is one for which there isn't already an FAQ answer, they will use the information you provide to create a new FAQ.
If your issue is more than just an informal enquiry or has gone beyond the stage of needing initial advice, you should contact Birkbeck UCU by email. Alternatively you can contact the UCU welfare officer - Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick on 0207 631 6777.
We can often provide presliminary guidange by return. If you need more sustained support we will ask for more information and then put you in touch with the most appropriate Committee member to help. This will normally be someone from a different Department from yourself.
If your problem is likely to involve any kind of formal representation or advice then please make sure that Birkbeck UCU has a record of the issue; this will enable us to keep track of personal cases and to make sure that you don't 'slip through the net'.
Make sure you keep a record, and preferably a copy of all relevant documents or emails, with a note of key events. At some stage you will need to provide more detailed information. You can download a form here which will show you the kind of information you may need to assemble. You may find it helpful to look at this now. You will need to think about which College policies might be relevant to your problem and to any solutions. These can be found on the HR website.
In addition to all the above, UCU subscribes to Recourse - see http://recourse.org.uk/ - a charity providing practical and emotional support to staff in HE. If you need to discuss your problem with someone outside Birkbeck or UCU then you can call their confidential Support Line on 0808 802 03 04. You don't have to give your name unless you want to.
Please note that if you are not presently a UCU member it is not possible to join just in order to receive immediate free assistance. Union membership is about contributing as well as taking. There is a 90 day membership qualifying period for access to UCU legal advice and to local union representation and assistance; moreover employment issues which pre-date UCU membership registration are not eligible for formal assistance.
Remember that the help and advice is provided voluntarily by other union members in the first instance. The support you receive from the union will only be as good as you have helped to make it for others. So it makes sense for you to get involved now.
If you need help you can:
- Search for information on the national UCU Support Centre
- contact Birkbeck UCU by email.
- contact Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick on 0207 631 6777.
- Or, for informal advice, you can contact any member of the UCU Committee
- For confidential support outside Birkbeck and UCU contact Recourse on 0808 802 03 04
Note: UCU Committee members and Representatives are all volunteers. We take on union duties in addition to our 'day jobs' because we believe the work is important - to the benefit of Birkbeck as an institution, its staff and students, and to the health of society generally. The union will only be as good as you help to make it, so we invite you to get involved now.
»Back to Birkbeck UCU home page