The Friday email: 3 May 2024

Reclaim HE: defending jobs and higher education

Please support the following university branches where UCU members are defending jobs and education:

• Goldsmiths, University of London: Goldsmiths UCU members have overwhelmingly voted to take industrial action in a fight to stop the sacking of more than one in six academic staff (over 130 jobs) at the institution. A marking boycott began on Friday 19 April
• University of Kent: Kent UCU members have backed strike action in defence of jobs. 58 staff are at risk of redundancy as part of a programme that would see courses close across the institution
• University of Lincoln: staff at University of Lincoln are poised to take a stand against brutal cuts. A consultation over potential strike action closed on 1 May; 73% of members voted and 91.1% were in favour. This is a great result and preparations are now being made for a strike ballot to prevent compulsory redundancies. The looming threat targets over 220 employees, including one in ten academic staff
• Middlesex University: Middlesex UCU members have held an indicative ballot with a majority in favour of taking industrial action over management's failure to consult over significant structural changes and refusal to commit to no redundancies
• University of Portsmouth: UCU has raised concerns about the failure of the university to disclose legally required information in the current redundancy consultation that could put as many as 398 academic staff at risk
• Sheffield Hallam University: a strike ballot opened on Monday 15 April. The university has said 225 academic jobs will be axed, with up to 80 staff facing compulsory redundancy
• University of Surrey: University of Surrey has announced 45 professional services and academic staff are at risk of redundancy. This comes on top of 130 staff taking voluntary severance over Easter. We call on the employer to stop and rethink the current strategy, pause all redundancy plans and offer UCU a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies
• University of Winchester: a ballot for formal industrial action has now opened and will close on Tuesday 14 May. The dispute is over proposed job cuts of up to 40 jobs and detrimental changes to the workload allocation model.

Our Reclaim HE campaign launch event will take place online on Thursday 9 May (18:00-19:30) via Facebook, YouTube and X/Twitter.

A new deal for further education: latest updates

• Barking and Dagenham College UCU members have declared a dispute over pay and workload and held a hugely successful lunchtime rally on May Day this week attended by our president elect Maxine Looby. 
• Staff at five colleges in the North East will strike on 16 and 22 May in a long running dispute that has already seen staff down tools for eight days. The action will target the college group's open day unless an acceptable offer is made. More information here.
• Northern Ireland college lecturers have won a pay award worth 11.2% after taking 16 days of strike action and you can read all the details here.

UCU Palestine solidarity action: Ceasefire Now

UCU members across the country took part in solidarity activities this week as part of May Day for Palestine, reiterating our demands for an immediate ceasefire, return of hostages and urgent unrestricted provision of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people in Gaza.
 
The union has also issued a statement of solidarity with the thousands of university students and staff who are protesting on campuses across the globe, criticising brutal police responses to encampments at some US institutions. Freedom of speech and freedom of assembly are fundamental human rights and civil liberties which must be upheld.
 
Our concerns about the crackdown on legitimate protest echo concerns raised in a statement prepared by UCU's Black Members' Standing Committee in October. This was not made public at the time due to procedural issues which have now been addressed by the NEC; we apologise for the delay in publication and the statement can now be found on the UCU Black Voices blog page.

UCU also has a dedicated 'Ceasefire Now' web area where you can find downloads, information and resources.

UCU continuing professional development workshops

Join us this month for the following 90-minute online interactive workshops that are free and open to all UCU members:

• Challenging sexual harassment and sexual violence: Wednesday 8 May, 10:30-12:00
• Challenging casualisation in education: Thursday 9 May, 10:30-12:00

Please look out for our Monday CPD email with details of all the online workshops running this term.

Ask your MSPs to sign motion on the Scottish Teachers' Pension Scheme

Pam Duncan-Glancy MSP has lodged a motion in the Scottish Parliament on increased employer costs to the Scottish Teachers' Pension Scheme (STPS). The 3% increase will worsen the financial situation in post-92 universities and put jobs at risk. The motion calls on the Scottish government to evaluate urgently the impact of the absence of additional funding for universities covering the increase in STPS contributions on education provision, university access and jobs. Activists and branches in Scotland are asked to encourage their MSPs to sign the motion. You can find out who your MSPs are and their email addresses here. You can also contact MSPs via the 'Write to them' website.

UCU's LGBT+ work

• UCU LGBT+ will be hosting two webinars in May: on LGBT+ migrants (Tuesday 7 May), and on International LGBT+ (Wednesday 8 May). These will be live at 16:00-17:30 on Zoom; click here to register.
• UCU LGBT+ is looking to engage in some research work about LGBT+ lives, issues and experiences within post-school education, both at FE and HE levels. If you are interested in helping realise this project, please complete this form before Wednesday 22 May.
• Prides 2024 - are you interested in helping or staffing a stall at Prides this year? UCU wants to hear from you. Please complete this form.