Robyn Orfitelli (an elected UCU negotiator) and I wrote to set the record straight [here] in the Guardian. We were aghast to see the employers’ representative body UCEA’s commentary in a Guardian piece last week, which downplayed the very real impact of casualisation in Higher Education. UCEA also incorrectly asserted that UCU had “repeatedly reject[ed] opportunities to work with employers”.

UCEA’s callous commentary appeared in the Guardian’s most widely shared article on Friday, an article about a lecturer who was forced to live in a tent [here]. This testimony laid bare the human impact of widespread, inexcusable precarity in Higher Education.

This “business model” is a choice our employers make. They can afford to employ people properly and fairly!

What can you do right now? Post your ballots for #FourFights and #USS! And remind friends and colleagues to do the same!

#OneOfUsAllOfUs

Screen shot of Letter to the Guardina page (mon 1 Nov 2021 16:43 GMT), with our letter featured: "Higher education's casual approach to employment: Vicky Blake and Robyn Orfitelli on the extreme precarity of workers in the sector, and Teresa Rodrigues on the difficulties of finding academic jobs" There is a shot of a large and full lecture theatre under the sub-head. The whole page can be accessed through the link in article text
[https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/nov/01/higher-educations-casual-approach-to-employment]