Pay + Equality: what next locally + nationally

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

Text of email from Branch President Vicky Blake Dear Members, Thank you to everyone who voted in the Pay and Equality Ballot, and all who helped us to get the vote out. As you will see from Matt Waddup’s email that has just gone out to members nationally, our historically high turnout in this postal ballot on pay and equality was not quite enough to break the 50% threshold set by the (anti-)Trade Union Act 2016. In this email: • Our result • What next in the pay and equality dispute • Local campaigning and action on gender pay and casualisation Our result Prior to 2016, we would be celebrating this turnout, and this result. At Leeds, members voted strongly for strike action (69.8%) and action short of a strike (77.7%). This government’s anti-trade union legislation has denied us our right to withdraw our labour despite our turnout of 49.2%. We only needed 15 more votes to break the threshold. (You may wish to note that, while advocating the 50% threshold’s introduction, Boris Johnson was in post as London Mayor having achieved… 31.8% turnout in his election.) What next? We remain in dispute over the joint unions’ pay and equality claim. … Read more

Why you really do need to vote – from a reluctant striker

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

A personal post from new UCU committee member Chloe Wallace When I look back over our strike action in February and March, I have a lot of good memories: standing with friends old and new; the support of my colleagues and students; the feeling of empowerment and hope for the future. But all in all, it wasn’t much fun. Quite apart from the snow, the rain, and the pay deduction, there was disruption to the job I love and the students I’m committed to, anxiety in such an uncertain situation, and an ever-present feeling of guilt. When it was over, I breathed a sigh of relief; back to normal at least for a while.  So my heart sank when it became clear that we would have to ballot on striking yet again for a fairer deal on equality, casualization and pay. We, individually and collectively, have too much to do, and university staff and students don’t deserve more disruption after what we dealt with this year. We talked about fairness, equality and casualisation on the pickets and on #striketwitter throughout and beyond the action. We know they matter and that we have to fight for them, but the memory of the difficulties of … Read more

Capturing the energy and strength of the strikes – new UCU reps for your workplace

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

Let’s capture this energy and strength and take it back to our offices. When we’ve won this dispute (and we will win), let’s create a network of UCU reps across the university so we can supercharge our campaigns for secure jobs, for lower workloads, and for equality. For each workplace let’s get: a UCU department rep a UCU anti-casualisation rep (a member not on a permanent contract) a UCU postgraduate rep a UCU health and safety rep (this network of new health and safety reps will work to show how excessive workloads are a a matter of health which the university must take more seriously)   To join our new massive network of reps, ask two colleagues in your workplace (UCU members) to email ucu@leeds.ac.uk by 10 April* nominating you for one of these roles.     You can see from the list below that there are workplaces with no UCU rep, so let’s get all those gaps filled and more!   The list below includes current UCU department reps and members of the elected UCU committee), and reps who are covering other workplaces as well as their own, such as in the school of languages, cultures and societies, which is broken down … Read more