The Friday email: 16 September 2022

UCU Rising: this is how we win

Thousands of you have already told us you've voted YES in the UCU Rising strike ballot and there is now a growing confidence that we will smash the Tory anti-union threshold and bring every university in the country to a standstill and win a historic deal for higher education staff. You can let us know that you've voted or request a replacement ballot paper here.

Last night we launched a new video highlighting the grotesque injustice of vice-chancellors claiming eye-watering salaries and lavish expenses whilst staff struggle on insecure contracts and crushing workloads. Please watch and share and keep up the momentum and the pressure on the employers.

If you've not yet voted there is still time to do so and join the thousands of workers across the country saying 'enough is enough.

Respect FE: support our strike

Members at 26 colleges will take ten days of strike action starting on Monday 26 September unless employers make a significant pay rise to deal with the cost-of-living crisis. This will be the biggest set of strikes ever in further education (FE). The strikes will take place over four weeks in the first half term of the academic year. The full dates of strike action are: 

• Monday 26, Tuesday 27 and Wednesday 28 September (3 days) 
• Thursday 6 and Friday 7 October (2 days) 
• Monday 10 and Tuesday 11 October (2 days) 
• Tuesday 18 Wednesday, 19 and Thursday 20 October (3 days). 

If you are at one of the participating colleges please get in touch with your local UCU branch, get involved and download leaflets and posters here. Hard copies, stickers and picket line materials are being dispatched to branches next week. A frequently asked questions (FAQs) webpage will also be available shortly.

Local disputes update: UCU members fighting back

Staff at University of Roehampton are being balloted for industrial action over redundancies and brutal changes to workload allocations that will result in increases of up to 40% in teaching. Meanwhile Imperial College UCU are voting on action over pay. Imperial College, which is outside national pay bargaining and is one of the wealthiest HE institutions in the country, has admitted that management is choosing to spend the bulk of its £162m surplus on buildings rather than staff. Unison and Unite hope to be joining UCU shortly. 

Read all the latest updates on local fightbacks and how you can support them here. 

Black activism today: learning from our history, Wednesday 19 October

UCU black members standing committee are holding an online Black History Month event 5.00pm - 6.30pm, on Wednesday 19 October and you can register here. The theme is how black representation was fought for and won in our union and what black activism looks like today. There will be plenty of opportunity for your contributions.

Government proposal to regulate FE staff in England 

The government is proposing to regulate FE staff in England, through extending the 'fitness to practice' framework that applies to teachers in schools and sixth form colleges, to the FE sector. 

Leaving higher education? The state of work in UK universities  

Researchers based at the universities of Bristol and Swansea are currently investigating why academic and professional services staff are leaving UK higher education to take up alternative forms of employment. Individuals who have left academic or professional services posts in a UK university since January 2020 or are thinking of leaving academic or professional services posts are invited to respond here.

Support jailed Saudi women's rights activist, Salma al-Shehab

UCU has written to the UK foreign secretary regarding the case of Salma al-Shehab, a PhD student at the University of Leeds who has been sentenced by the Saudi authorities to 34 years in jail for her peaceful Twitter activity. Please sign this open letter requesting urgent action by the UK government.