Automation is a means, not an outcome. Our @sinisavilaakso.bsky.social, @nealhaddaway.bsky.social , @chrispritchard.co.uk latest commentary argues that we should be careful not to equate AI-assisted automation with demonstrated efficiency in evidence synthesis. rdcu.be/frFVC

The Certification Officer has issued his decision in Blake & McGaughey v UCU. My initial response is here: vickyblakeucu.uk/2026/03/31/t... I urge members to read the full ruling rather than relying on the summary emailed to all members by HQ today. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69cbcb...

The Certification Officer’s ruling: Blake & McGaughey v UCU

The Certification Officer has now issued his decision in Blake and McGaughey v UCU. One complaint was upheld in part as a technical breach. The rest were dismissed, and no rerun or further remedy w…

vickyblakeucu.uk

Staff aren’t allowed to say they’re on strike. UCU members aren’t allowed to mention it to strike-breaking staff. Regional committees can’t talk about it. The NEC can’t talk about it. Congress can talk about it but motions are declared out of order. Is this the accountability Jo was meaning?

Posted my ballot paper yesterday for the @ucu.org.uk NEC elections! Make sure you use your vote!

What is happening within UCU is disgraceful - solidarity with @uniteucu.bsky.social

Lucy Burke@lucyburkemcr.bsky.social · 8mo ago

This is a thread about UCU & what it has become over the last few years. But the first thing I want to say is I didn’t join a union to stay silent or turn my back on a single parent of three facing dismissal on the basis of their trade union activities. Marie Monaghan is the Unite UCU 1/12

#HandsOffMarie www.unitetheunion.org/news-events/...

NEW on Wonkhe: Jim Dickinson unpacks the bleak new numbers behind England’s student loans — and the growing pressure on repayments and fiscal rules buff.ly/BOKyj0k

For anyone who needs cheering up... here's Britain's smallest bird having a bath today in a woodland puddle. 😁😍🐦❤️ #birds 🪶

The @timeshighered.bsky.social has reported that @ewanmg.bsky.social and I have applied to the Certification Officer regarding concerns over the 2024 UCU general secretary election. UCU has characterised this as “smearing”, via a spokesperson. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/jo-grad... /1

Jo Grady’s UCU election win challenged over ‘unfair advantage’

Candidates who stood in 2024 poll seek rerun of campaign after claiming incumbent broke rules by using union resources

timeshighereducation.com

I’ve not been massively active on social media for various reasons (mainly busy), but I’d like to take this opportunity to endorse @seanawallis.bsky.social for UCU VP (HE). We don’t always agree on everything, but I know sean will put in the hard work needed to fight for post-16 education in the UK!

Why are you threatening #UCU staff with pay deductions for ASOS? UCU policy is to oppose punitive deduction for ASOS And why are you asking staff to fill out a form when UCU members at QMUL were advised not to do this?

UCU policy: “To work with the TUC and other TUs to campaign for a change to the law to prevent such deductions, including lobbying government and opposition parties” Maybe while @drjogrady.bsky.social is at @tuc.org.uk in Brighton she can work on thi… oh! policy.web.ucu.org.uk/motion-infor...

UCU: Fighting punitive ASOS deductions

Motion from UCU Congress 2022-2023: Fighting punitive ASOS deductions

policy.web.ucu.org.uk

Why is our trade union emulating the worst behaviour of our employers towards UCU staff? How many of our letters, motions, attempts to bring motions from lay members pressing for resolution have been ignored now? Solidarity with all @uniteucu.bsky.social #UnionStrong #ReclaimUCU

Unite UCU@uniteucu.bsky.social · last yr.

🚨 Third consecutive vote for industrial action 🚨 ✅ strike action: 76% ✅ action short of a strike (ASOS): 80% ✅ turnout: 77% ASOS begins today with @ucu.org.uk threatening staff: "We'll deduct your wages." Double standards and vindictive attacks undermine us all. #ReclaimUCU

I stand by this. Solidarity with fellow workers is the first principle of trade unionism. An injury to one is an injury to all. reclaimucu.wordpress.com/2025/04/30/s...

Statement on NEC Meeting of 2 May 2025

On Friday, members of Unite UCU will be taking the final day of an unprecedented six weeks of industrial action. It is also the penultimate NEC meeting before Congress. One of the core principles o…

reclaimucu.wordpress.com

Glad @timeshighered.bsky.social is covering @uniteucu.bsky.social's dispute with @ucu.org.uk -resolution is beyond urgent (has been for over a year). But the content & tone of the UCU's anon quoted spokesperson feels emblematic of the underlying issues... www.timeshighereducation.com/news/ucu-mem...

UCU members boycott key meeting over staff strike

Members of national executive committee claim they were ‘prohibited’ from discussion of dispute with staff in Unite union

timeshighereducation.com

STATEMENT RE UCU NEC 2 MAY reclaimucu.wordpress... I am proud but saddened to be a signatory to this: I will not cross a picket line and I am in full solidarity with @uniteucu.bsky.social, on strike again this week. So I will not attend #UCU NEC on Friday this week. We all urgently need resolution.

Statement on NEC Meeting of 2 May 2025

On Friday, members of Unite UCU will be taking the final day of an unprecedented six weeks of industrial action. It is also the penultimate NEC meeting before Congress. One of the core principles o…

reclaimucu.wordpress.com

Saddened that the dispute that @uniteucu.bsky.social has with @ucu.org.uk as an employer is still ongoing and, had my tenure on the NEC started, I would be signing this letter and not attending the NEC meeting taking place tomorrow reclaimucu.wordpress.com/2025/04/30/s...

Statement on NEC Meeting of 2 May 2025

On Friday, members of Unite UCU will be taking the final day of an unprecedented six weeks of industrial action. It is also the penultimate NEC meeting before Congress. One of the core principles o…

reclaimucu.wordpress.com

"When market share becomes a dominant decision criterion, broader societal benefits remain invisible on the balance sheet. The market doesn’t price in what we collectively lose when the last medieval history department in a region closes, ..."

Jim Dickinson@jimdickinson.bsky.social · 2y ago

NEW on Wonkhe: Universities serve purposes beyond market demands. Jim Dickinson asks if the pendulum between planning and markets is about to swing back - and what that should mean to protect student interests bit.ly/3XDc1z6

I hoped #UCU would redouble efforts to resolve the @uniteucu.bsky.social staff dispute Instead our own union-as-employer has issued management instructions NOT to use tactics #UCU members have routinely been advised to use *by #UCU* Then this page was deleted: web.archive.org/web/20230218... 1/7

Out of office messages

Suggested text for email footers and 'out of office' messages.

web.archive.org

Unite UCU@uniteucu.bsky.social · 2y ago

Our employer is editing our members’ out-of-office replies to remove reference to our strike action. They are choosing to censor us rather than talk to us.

Resolution of the dispute between @uniteucu.bsky.social and UCU (as employer) is now far beyond urgent. Reading these testimonials (linked in post⬇️) from UCU staff is heartbreaking & reading the recent 'management instruction' excerpt v unnerving, esp in the wake of the Hon Treasurer's resignation.

Lucy Burke@lucyburkemcr.bsky.social · 2y ago

This dispute needs to be resolved - we cannot function as a union when the internal culture is so broken. It is in everybody’s interest to find a way through that restores trust & achieving this in a constructive way requires properly listening to staff voices uniteucu.wordpress.com/unite-voices/

Happy to endorse @illdoitanyway.bsky.social for UCU VP (HE)

Rhiannon Lockley (she/her)@illdoitanyway.bsky.social · 2y ago

I have really valued getting to know Chris through my work reporting to East Midlands UCU, and in our work for locked-out branches, and have seen how much he cares for our union. Thank you @chrispritchard.co.uk for this endorsement for my campaign. rhiannonforucuvp.wordpress.com/2025/02/21/e...

QMUL UCU is doing the kind of work we need UCU to do nationally to highlight the catastrophic destruction of higher education across the regions & nations. Thousands of jobs & so much talent and expertise lost. Shame on this Govt for sitting by & letting it happen qmucu.org/qmul-transfo...

UK HE shrinking

This is a live page of all the redundancies, restructures, reorganisations, and closures taking place across the sector at the moment. Solidarity to all. This sector is vital to the country’s…

qmucu.org

Whilst a more formal endorsement is coming soon™️ I would definitely support @illdoitanyway.bsky.social for UCU VP (HE), see rhiannonforucuvp.wordpress.com for her policy platform!

Rhiannon for UCU VP (Higher Education)

Vote Rhiannon Lockley (she/her) for UCU Vice President (Higher Education): ballots are live 27th January till 3rd March 2025

rhiannonforucuvp.wordpress.com

A big thank you to Elizabeth Lawrence, former President UCU. I first met Liz in the freezing cold at Sheffield station when she welcomed our branch campaign against TU victimisation to Yorks with strike funds & a list of solidarity visits booked. rhiannonforucuvp.wordpress.com/2024/12/17/e...

Endorsement from Elizabeth Lawrence, former President of UCU

Image shows Liz Lawrence taking part in a demonstration, carrying a placard which reads “defend jobs, defend education, NO CUTS” I have known Rhiannon for over a decade as a union …

rhiannonforucuvp.wordpress.com

This year’s ESHackathon is back at the NIHR Innovation Observatory at Newcastle University. We have 15 evidence synthesis projects this year ranging from fixing bibliographic records to tackling issues around AI use in systematic reviews. Watch this space for news from the next 3 days!

Open University and Coventry both announcing Fire & Rehire in the same week. Totally normal. Not at all something a government should urgently ask questions about. Sort. This. Labour.

University and College Union (UCU)@ucu.org.uk · 2y ago

The Open University's use fire and rehire is shocking and calls into question the values of the institution. "We urge them to reconsider...or face the threat of industrial action." @oubucu.bsky.social branch president, Peter Wood 👇

The news coming out of Coventry is 🤯 Fire-and-Rehire: numerous staff are pushed onto teaching-only contracts via a subsidiary. They're made to re-interview for roles that will increase teaching and move them onto a different pension scheme: from TPS to AVIVA, with far lower employer contributions.

QM_UCU@qmucu.bsky.social · 2y ago

So compulsory redundancies are happening / have happened at: ⚠️ Goldsmiths ⚠️ Huddersfield ⚠️ Hull ⚠️ Keele ⚠️ Kent ⚠️ UCLan ⚠️ Brookes ⚠️ Arts University Plymouth ⚠️ Plymouth ⚠️ Sheffield Hallam ⚠️ York And threatened in many others. Did we miss anyone? Or any that were avoided in the end? #UKHE

Rank & File response following decisions made at UCU HEC on Thursday ucurankandfile.wordpress.com/2024/12/15/t...

The Fightback Begins – but only if we make it happen

On 12 Dec 2024, Higher Education Committee voted for two motions which together comprise a plan for a much-needed fight back on improved pay and conditions and against cuts and redundancies. There …

ucurankandfile.wordpress.com

Thrilled to see voting transparency on NEC is back on the agenda, though. I hope some of those voting against it when I proposed it will work to getting it through NEC soon.

Space really is pretty darn cool!

Space Telescope Science Institute@stsci.edu · 2y ago

The galaxies in IC 1623 are known as Luminous Infrared Galaxies. These are more than 100 billion times as luminous as the Sun and need high-resolution infrared telescopes, like #NASAWebb, for detailed observations. Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, L. Armus, A. Evans; R. Colombari. 🔭 🧪