Action short of a strike started on Wednesday 23 November.

The following strike dates have been announced for February and March 2023.

Week 1 – Wednesday 1 February  

Week 2 – Thursday 9 and Friday 10 February 

Week 3 – Tuesday 14, Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 February 

Week 4 – Tuesday 21, Wednesday 22 and Thursday 23 February 

Week 5 – Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 February and Wednesday 1 and Thursday 2 March

• [No action week commencing Monday 6 March] 

Week 6 – Thursday 16 and Friday 17 March 

Week 7 – Monday 20, Tuesday 21 and Wednesday 22 March

For all questions about the industrial action including action short of a strike and working to contract please see these answers on the national UCU website:

Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions for migrant staff taking industrial action

If your question isn’t answered there, your UCU department rep may be able to help, or email ucu@leeds.ac.uk. Branch officers are often unable to answer the number of individual questions they sometimes get in advance of a strike, so in the run-up to any action – please check the national website first before emailing them.

The bigger the picket line, the shorter the strike!

If you’re a member of UCU University of Leeds branch please sign up to picket for the next few weeks. Picket sign up for the other days will follow.  (Please sign up in advance so we can send you information about picketing, and it also helps the picket organisers to know if we need more pickets on certain days.)

The picket lines are usually from 7.30am until 11.30am. Not everyone can get the the university for 7.30am, but please come as early as you can. Peak time for people coming in to the university starts about 8.30 so we need busy picket lines by then.

If you are coming to picket please read the UCU information about the law on picketing. It’s important.

Accessible picketing

There’s a question in the picket sign up form about any adjustments the picket organisers can make to make picketing an accessible activity for you. There will be somewhere warm available to sit down with access to toilets at the Quaker meeting house and the university chaplaincy. Some picket lines are less noisy than others – the picket organisers can allocate you somewhere quieter.

We also need a digital picket: members who can picket from home keeping the dispute lively on social media to remind people who may be thinking about doing something work-related at home. Follow #ucuRising and @leedsucu on Twitter, and @leedsucu@union.place on Mastodon if you’ve moved there.

Running picket

The running picket will be happening in the February 2023 strikes. Usually when we strike, some pickets will also be leaving their picket lines to run laps of the campus from 9.30am. It will be a very mixed group! One lap = 3km, 2 laps 6km, 3 laps 9km. Meet at the pink gazebo. (You can either leave your placard with someone else on the picket line or bring it back to the gazebo – placards are heavy to run with but we have flags as an alternative.)

Resources

Leeds UCU slides for students

TikTok explainers tiktok.com/@leedsucu (from December 2021 strikes)

National UCU graphics and posters including email signatures

Out of Office message for strike days – feel free to modify:  I am on strike today in support of my trade union’s (UCU) disputes with our employers over cuts of 35% to guaranteed pensions, pay cuts, casualisation, equality pay gaps and unsafe workloads.

Email signature – feel free to modify: I support the UCU industrial action over cuts of 35% to guaranteed pensions, pay cuts, casualisation, equality pay gaps and unsafe workloads.

This page was last updated on 7 February 2023