The night before the ground-breaking 2018 USS strike, as we packed our hired Leeds Strikemobile full of picketing materials for 14 days of action, I was told Leeds would be hosting all the major news crews and would I please do the (Today programme) first thing… Through snowstorms, hail and wind, we stood firm and … Continue reading Questions on USS
What next? Lessons from this year’s 4 Fights Campaign
With around six weeks remaining in our current mandate, and following UCEA's refusal to bring anything new to the table, UCU faces another in a long series of crunch points in our industrial dispute over pay and pay-related conditions. The most immediate choice is whether to reballot now, already significantly behind the timeline set by … Continue reading What next? Lessons from this year’s 4 Fights Campaign
To Note, or Not to Note, What is the Question?
The 30 March special meeting of the UCU Higher Education Committee (HEC) agreed to initiate formal member consultation regarding the two disputes comprising the #ucuRISING campaign: USS and Four Fights (pay and pay related conditions). UCU emails and social media indicate this will begin from Tuesday 4 April (the day after we receive the results … Continue reading To Note, or Not to Note, What is the Question?
What’s going on, and why did HEC vote against consultation on the disputes?
At the special HEC on Friday 17 March, I voted “against”, in response to the only two questions put to us [HEC results in brackets]: Question 1: Should the proposals agreed with UCEA and UUK relating to the USS and Four Fights disputes be put to UCU HE members in a formal consultation? [For: 19; Against: 22; … Continue reading What’s going on, and why did HEC vote against consultation on the disputes?
The Pause, and UCU decision-making
What’s going on? Step into “UCU Twitter” and other spaces since the pause in #ucuRISING strike action was announced to members on Friday evening and you quickly find confusion, worry, and attempts to piece together what is and isn’t “in rule” and lots of debate about democracy. As UCU Immediate Past President, I am in my … Continue reading The Pause, and UCU decision-making
#ucuRISING media
Times Radio with Carole Walker, 13 February 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5gGKXRTx5Q&list=PLuJ7pXxkIUT2YqBFLiobIxITqZOxZ2-C2 BBC Radio Sheffield with Howard Pressman, 14 February 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdnw2n4mAcs&list=PLuJ7pXxkIUT2YqBFLiobIxITqZOxZ2-C2&index=2&t=13s
Stronger Together In UCU
We are fighting for the fair pay, decent conditions, and fair pensions we deserve. If you've ever met me on a picket line, you know that I feel very strongly about the power of song to bring people together. We have a grand tradition of singing at our picket rallies at Uni of Leeds UCU … Continue reading Stronger Together In UCU
Grim Campus: Failing “leadership” and Covid Calculus
Many senior "leaders" of UK universities continue to insist on returning to face to face teaching and upon peddling the myth of a "covid safe" campus when the science tells us there is no such thing. A particularly horrific consequence of this absence of real leadership in their institutions is that some members have felt … Continue reading Grim Campus: Failing “leadership” and Covid Calculus
UCU disputes: who decides?
Tomorrow (26 May) UCU branch delegates from Higher Education will come together online at two advisory Branch Delegates Meetings (BDMs) to discuss, debate, and decide advisory positions to put to the HEC with regards to the Four Fights dispute, and that over USS. These advisory positions will be put to the Higher Education Committee which … Continue reading UCU disputes: who decides?
#FourFights… Collective bargaining in HE: How it works
A [single pay spine] covers most of the UK Higher Education sector. Annual bargaining rounds have been formalised where, under the banner of the Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff (JNCHES) five trade unions representing HE staff negotiate over pay and pay related conditions with the employers’ representative body, the Universities and Colleges Employers … Continue reading #FourFights… Collective bargaining in HE: How it works
Vicky Blake 