The Friday email: 3 March 2023

Respect FE e-ballot: please vote now!

Voting is now underway in the union's Respect FE e-ballot consultation and members at participating further education (FE) England branches were sent an email this morning (subject line: 'Respect FE: UCU consultative ballot') containing a unique link to vote and show support for a national strike action ballot over pay, workload and national bargaining. 

Please vote now and support your union's campaign for a better deal for college staff. Voting closes on Friday 24 March 17:00 and the result will be considered by a special FE sector conference on 1 April where branch reps will decide whether to proceed to a national aggregated ballot for strike action.

You can watch last night's UCU Live launch event on YouTube here.

UCU Rising: get the vote out!

Voting continues for higher education members in our reballot for the pay and conditions and pensions disputes. You can let us know if you have already voted or require a replacement ballot here.

Next week is National Get The Vote Out Week, with all focus on getting the vote out in our workplaces. Make sure that you are sharing pictures from your local meetings and phone banks and letting us know what YOU are doing to ensure that we deliver another resounding ballot result. 

We are hosting a UCU Live event on Thursday 9 March at 19:30 highlighting the great work that you are doing locally to get the vote out and what we are doing centrally. Set a reminder now on YouTube and Facebook and watch live on Thursday on Twitter. 

On Wednesday 15 March, which we have announced as another day of strike action, we are holding Chase The Vote Out Day. Make sure that you are painting the pickets pink with posters, beanies and banners and that every member you speak to has voted YES.

For any queries about the dispute or the re-ballot please check the UCU Rising FAQ as well as the sub-FAQ on the re-ballots.

Adult and community education update

Thank you to everyone who joined the largest adult and community education (ACE) event in recent years on 23 February, and extra thanks to UCU president Janet Farrar and vice-president Maxine Looby for their support. Activists and UCU staff shared their experiences and practical advice for building branches and setting organising priorities in the sector. We had updates from the Greater London Authority (GLA) on the latest funding news for the sector in London, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) on national TUC priorities and UCU Training on the benefits of having a union learning rep in your branch. UCU is keen to facilitate cross-branch working by building a network of ACE educators and further events will be scheduled. Please join us at the national ACE conference on 11 March to continue the conversation.

Workload campaign and training

Sign up for the Workload reps 1 training session 'Introduction to the workload campaign and the role of the workload rep' on either Wednesday 15 March or Thursday 23 March. This short course is open to UCU health and safety reps, branch officers and activists who want to tackle the causes of workload stress in the workplace. It is envisaged that after the course you will be actively involved in any branch workload campaign.

UCU LGBT+ research conference 2023

The 2023 UCU LGBT+ research conference will be held as a hybrid event on Friday 19 May at the University of Manchester. This is an open event; delegates do not have to be UCU members. However, if the in-person places are over-subscribed, UCU members will be given priority access. To register please follow the link to the online form.

Call for papers is still open until Friday 10 March please submit abstracts by following this link.

SOS NHS coalition national demonstration, 11 March

The SOS NHS coalition has called a national demonstration in London on Saturday 11 March to respond urgently to the NHS crisis and to bring striking workers from the NHS, different sectors and different unions in one big action. UCU is supporting the event and UCU president Janet Farrar will be speaking.