The Friday email: 30 April 2021

Vote YES for action to #RebuildFE

Members in many English further education colleges are being asked to vote in an online consultative ballot and if you have received an email from independent scrutineer Civica, please cast your vote and vote YES to indicate you are prepared to support strike action in a statutory ballot. Click here to see if your college is included or to request a replacement eballot link.

Read more on our campaign here and please watch and share our short video to hear why workers are fighting back.

A new attack on USS pensions and how we can stop it

The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) is facing a renewed attack by the employers' representatives, Universities UK (UUK) and Jo Grady wrote to members this week about the implications and how we can unite to stop further cuts to pensions. You can read more details about the proposed cuts in our briefing here.

Celebrate May Day 2021: International Workers' Day

UCU is supporting the #KillTheBill weekend of action against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill and May Day protests are taking place across the country which you can view on this interactive map.

There is also a London May Day online event including speakers and entertainment here.

UCU members fighting back

UCU branches across the UK are fighting to defend jobs and conditions and you can read our roundup of local disputes here including a new petition on cuts at London South Bank University.

LGBT+ liberation in contexts of hostility

UCU LGBT+ will host an online event about action for LGBT+ liberation ahead of the international day against LGBT+ phobias. There are experiences of anti-LGBT+ feelings at every level, this event looks at actions for support, empowerment, and solidarity. The event is on Wednesday 12 May from 4.00-5.30pm.

TUC long Covid survey

The TUC has launched an online survey for workers who are experiencing or have experienced long Covid to better understand what additional workplace support is needed. ONS data has revealed that 1 in 5 people who've tested positively for Covid-19 have had symptoms that have lasted for 5 weeks or longer and that 1 in 10 have had symptoms for 12 weeks or longer. With over 4 million people having tested positive for Covid-19 those experiencing long Covid could be as high at 800,000.

Experiences of LGBT+ staff in higher education

UCU has been supporting research on the experience of LGBT+ staff in higher education (HE). Join us at 4pm on Tuesday 4 May to hear from the project researchers about their initial findings and plans for further work in this area. Register here.