Latest news about the pension dispute
UCU fighting fund and local hardship fund
Advice on refusing to reschedule during industrial action short of a strike (ASOS), and other posts containing dispute advice for members posts containing dispute advice for members.
The employers have made their opening offer on HE pay. The UCU national negotiators’ view is that this is “a disappointing offer that falls short of even keeping the value of pay in line with the increases to the cost of living and does not address the serious and wide spread issues of pay inequality, workload and precarious employment in the sector.” The final scheduled meeting between the employers and UCU negotiators will be on 10 May. More details on the national UCU website at ucu.org.uk/article/9435/HE-national-negotiations-2018-19 … continue reading
From email sent to all members by branch president Vicky Blake at 3.14pm on Friday 13 April 2018
The result of the UCU members’ ballot over whether to accept the latest UUK proposal closed at 2pm. We have just heard the result from HQ: Accept
This means that our industrial action will be called off. So no strike on Monday.
This was not the result that the branch EGM agreed to support, however we know that everyone gave the issue considerable thought before voting and we respect each other’s opinions. We need to keep our solidarity strong and carry on working well together. We have uploaded a Dinosaur of Solidarity image created by our very own Honorary Secretary Jonathan Saha for everyone to use on social media [here] – solidarity shared is strength and support increased!
We also need to watch UUK/USS very carefully so we can hold them to account. There’s an interesting @USSbriefs just out on how to constitute a Joint Expert Panel. We can discuss next steps at the General Meeting on Monday.
Remember: everyone is invited to come to the Library Pub from 5pm this evening!
Remember the General Meeting on Monday at 1pm, Quaker House
This is a really important meeting! Please do make every effort to attend. The updated agenda was sent out by email on 11/4/18 (23:05), and is also available online [here].
In Solidarity!
Vicky and Committee
PS
The results were as follows:
Yes to accept the UUK offer 21,683 (64%)
No to reject the UUK offer 12,230 (36%)
Total balloted: 53,415
Total votes cast: 33,973
Total number valid votes: 33,913
Turnout: 63.5%
(Text reproduced from email sent to all members by Gabriella Alberti, Equality Officer, 12/4/18) As we have already pointed out in a previous email, the latest USS strike has brought to the fore what the union understands as differential treatment for University staff members on working visas in terms of their participation in industrial action. We believe the experience of unfair treatment by our colleagues on working visas is far from marginal to this important dispute, and that it rather points out to the many contradictions that inhabit our campuses and the HE sector in the UK, where the effects of the Point based system and monitoring of international students and staff have been contested and challenged by our unionsince their introduction. The latest events have shown even more that immigration controls directly hinder our fundamental collective rights. UCU national HQ has released today a message regarding members on working visas’ participation in the strike action, following the lack of response (as of today) by the Home office to Sally Hunt’s letter on this matter on the 15th of March 2018. Matt Waddup, UCU national head of policy and campaigns writes: “Our parliamentary team have been strongly pressing the minister for a response but despite assurances … continue reading
See PDF version in case of formatting problems with nested lists. General Meeting Monday 16 April, 1pm – 2pm Venue: Quaker Meeting House Agenda Apologies and Chair’s business Please note that Committee recommend that the meeting agree to postpone the formal approval of previous meeting minutes until the AGM in May, owing to the volume of business to progress in this General Meeting UCU Congress 2018 Late motions for Congress received (see appendix 1) Unfair treatment of international staff Leeds UCU Committee Please note: This motion is currently too long for Congress. Therefore, Committee ask that the meeting consider and agree the following procedure: Vote on the motion as a whole. If passed, it will inform local policy, AND Meeting agrees to endorse Committee in making a 150-word version in time for the Congress deadline, which is in keeping with the spirit and aims of the motion + what will fit with the late motion criteria at Congress UCU structures and decision-making: democracy, transparency, and ‘plain English’ Leeds UCU Committee Amendments received for Congress motions SFC 13 A.1: Add at end: Congress resolves to organise a Day of Action and Solidarity in all colleges and universities in support of international … continue reading
An important note from Committee (Text reproduced from email 6/4/18) At yesterday’s EGM, a number of members raised concerns about the email from UCU General Secretary Sally Hunt (sent on Wednesday 4 April) that accompanies the link to the ballot (text is [here]), because it contains a significant conflation between the “revise and resubmit” position (which is about process) and the “no detriment” position (which is about the possible content of revisions). The two are not synonymous, and many branches who preferred the “revise and re-submit” approach (as ours did) had varying positions on whether they also preferred the “no detriment” position, preferred “no pre-conditions”, or somewhere in between. There were also questions at yesterday’s meeting about why a recommendation has been issued from the General Secretary in the absence of any vote by the Higher Education Committee to include a recommendation (the latter is usual practice). The recommendation in the ballot email has been sent by the General Secretary as an individual. On receipt of today’s latest email from the General Secretary we (committee) agreed to write to everyone again. As we noted at yesterday’s EGM, our committee is a signatory to a joint letter from UCU branches, which raises concerns and questions over the balloting process. I have pasted the text below this email and you can read it online [here] – … continue reading
