Nottingham Trent University national protest rally

The protestors will gather outside the Royal Centre in Nottingham for the 12.30 rally to coincide with the vice-chancellor addressing new students inside. Speeches will begin at 1pm and speakers will include Malcolm Keight, UCU head of higher education and Sasha Callaghan, UCU president.
 
Local UCU members are angry that the University will formally terminate recognition of UCU - the world's largest post-16 education trade union. Despite NTU saying it will continue to deal with the union, it is insisting that it will only recognise UCU if it complies with its new proposals. If there is not a breakthrough in negotiations staff will take strike action on Tuesday 21 October.
 
UCU says Nottingham Trent has been attempting to tear up the current terms for negotiating with the union for months in favour of radically inferior arrangements that would marginalise the campus unions and cut facility time for union reps by 80%.
 
The existing Recognition Agreement signed by the unions and the University provides for nine months notice of termination. On 4 July the University wrote to UCU and said it was aware that it should give nine months' notice, but had decided to terminate the agreement on 4 October.
 
NTU UCU representative, Mark Weinstein, said: 'We do not want to be forced into a position where we have to take industrial action, but staff are understandably furious with the university tearing up the current agreement and not honouring the terms that we had all signed up to. Today's rally is a further demonstration of the angry felt by UCU members at NTU and across the country.'
 
UCU head of higher education, Malcolm Keight, said: 'The University's actions have already been condemned by the 11,000 plus members of the academic community who signed the petition against the University's actions. Today's event reinforces exactly what the academic community thinks of the University's plans. Nottingham Trent University UCU members have the full support of the national union in their continuing action and can rest assured that we will be fighting these nonsensical plans with them all the way.'
 
On 29 September UCU members voted with over a three quarters majority in favour of industrial action.