The Friday email: 7 July 2023

UCU Rising: keep up the pressure as talks resume

Earlier this week the employers' representatives UCEA confirmed that they are willing to enter urgent negotiations with us to find a way to settle the dispute in universities. Arrangements are now being put in place for the meeting and we will update you as soon as possible. In the meantime our campaign and the marking and assessment boycott (MAB) continues. Yesterday we sent a clear message to University of Westminster and Queen Mary University of London bosses that we will resist punitive salary deductions and our protests and the UCU battle bus received great support from staff, students and the general public.

With negotiations now back on with the employers it's crucial that we keep up the pressure so please continue to hold the line on MAB and give your negotiators the leverage they need to deliver a deal. If you are not in an HE institution or not involved in marking, please support your colleagues by donating to the fighting fund.

Respect FE: build the pledge, prepare for action

Our Respect FE campaign is off to a brilliant start and you can watch the live launch here. Over 1,700 of you have already signed our pledge calling for a new deal for further education (FE) staff in England, but we need this to be even bigger. Please keep sharing with colleagues and friends and download leaflets and posters from our website. Whether you work in FE or just want to show your support, we encourage all our members and the wider community to sign and promote this important pledge.  

We hope college employers will use this opportunity to work with us and the other FE unions, but regrettably it is often only when unions organise and take action that employers sit up and listen. That's why we are preparing for an industrial action ballot in early September. So before you break up for the summer holiday, please check and update your details on MyUCU to ensure that you will receive your ballot paper and other important information.

Build the Union month: October 2023

Preparations are being made for the biggest recruitment campaign in the union's history this October. This recruitment drive will involve every part of the union and every branch; we will all have a part to play. Keep an eye on our Build the Union resources page, which is being updated with the latest information and materials. 

There is no need to wait until October to start recruiting your colleagues, so all members are encouraged to speak to colleagues today, listen to their concerns, explain how the union can help, and get them signed up. The bigger the union, the bigger the wins. 

Fighting back against redundancies at universities

UCU members are fighting back against redundancies at a number of institutions. Please give them your support:

• University of Kent management reneged on an agreement with UCU to ensure job security among arts and humanities academics. The announcement came in the wake of a proposal to put large numbers of professional services staff at risk. We encourage all UCU members to sign this petition
• staff at the University of Brighton are fighting back against management's plans to sack over a hundred members of staff; they won their ballot with 90% voting for strike action on a 61% turnout. You can donate to the branch's fundraiser here
• having announced 77 redundancies across professional services earlier this month, University of East Anglia (UEA) announced details of its academic redundancies this week. 86% of these cuts fall in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, with 31 jobs set to be cut. Branches are encouraged to pass motions in support of UEA staff (template available here) and donate to the UEA UCU hardship fund.

Online training for the workload campaign

Online training for workload reps continues over the summer. For more information on the workload campaign and the role of the workload rep please contact Alex Lancaster. To register on workload reps 1 or 2 training sessions please follow the links below:

• Wednesday 26 July
• Friday 11 August
• Wednesday 6 September
• Friday 8 September
• Wednesday 11 October.

The impact of generative AI on UK academic and professional services staff

Researchers based at the universities of Bristol, Swansea, Keele and Munster are interested in the thoughts of academic and professional services staff on the ways with which generative AI tools, like ChatGPT, are being used in UK universities and potentially impacting working practices. Please complete this short survey which should take no longer than 10 minutes.

Update on USS Capita data breach

Please click here for an update on the work being undertaken following the announcement by USS on 11 May 2023 that details of USS members held on Capita servers were accessed by hackers in March 2023.

UCU's LGBT+ work

UCU LGBT+ has had an active time with Prides (Birmingham and London), the LGBT+ research conference and TUC LGBT+ conference.

At the TUC LGBT+ conference our motion, which was composited with the GMB motion, about trans and non-binary rights, got voted to go to TUC Congress. It is confirmed that UCU will be at Trans Pride this Saturday (8 July) and UK Black Pride (20 August).

Türkiye: Selma is free!

Selma Atabey, the former co-chair of SES (Health and Social Care Workers Union of Turkey), was released on 5 June after almost one year in prison. UCU was part of an international trade union delegation that followed the hearing. Click here for a short video made by colleagues from Public Services International. 

Durham Miners' Gala, 8 July

UCU banners will once again be marching with Bearpark and Esh Colliery Band and the Esh Winning Colliery banner at the Durham Miners' Gala.

We will be leaving from outside the Fighting Cocks on North Road at 08:30, Saturday 8 July. This is a short walk from the railway station and bus stops. Note also that 08:30 is the departure time, so delegates should make sure they arrive in good time to get banners and set up. We recommend you arrive 08:00-08:20. Details for Saturday are also in this tweet from UCU Northern region office.