UCU members at the University of Lincoln have voted overwhelmingly to tell University managers - no more compulsory redundancies or face industrial action. A huge mandate to protect jobs, protect our programmes and support out students! @ucu.org.uk
Nottingham today. Everywhere tomorrow. 2,700 staff put at risk. 600+ jobs targeted. At least 48 courses facing closure. What happens here sets the template for the sector. Stand with Nottingham.
For all that it's been barely reported in the UK press, it's still hard to understate the importance of the stance @labourunionsuk.bsky.social has taken on trans and non-binary rights this week. Every single trade union affiliated to the party of government has stood up and said we will not comply.
This is key: the "we will tell you when you are to appear before us" approach isn't even efficient; it ends up taking up more work and time than just mutually agreeing dates.
Jamie Callahan@profjamiec.bsky.social · 3w agoAfter a similar round with HR, I once suggested we use a scheduler app like Doodle or W2M. I just got another email suggesting dates that wouldn’t work. It’s wildly inefficient for getting work done; it’s wildly efficient for running out the clock.
With strike action set to begin in a week and a half, here is a quick overview of what is happening at your university, why it is happening, what UCU is doing about it, and how you can support us as we fight for the future of UoN. #UCU #UoN #UoNUCU #UniversityOfNotting #StopTheCuts #SaveHE
From an outside perspective, it sure sounds like management are hoping the money they end up paying in student appeals costs them less than the salaries of the people they needed to actually teach the courses.
Plashing Vole@plashingvole.bsky.social · 3w agoIs it ok for management to phone students asking them to take modules not validated on their degree because they’ve sacked people and can’t staff the modules listed? A working day before teaching starts? Hypothetically, obviously.
No surrender until the University of Dundee rule out making colleagues compulsory redundant. Donate to our campaign as we seek crowdfund support for a Judicial Review of the governance decisions that led the University Court to approve staff and programme cuts www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/judicial-r...
ALWAYS read up on all disciplinary processes and policies in a job. And ALWAYS remember management may simply choose to ignore those processes and policies the instant they are inconvenient.
Randy@porchcryptid.bsky.social · 3w agoI've read up on the companies arbitration process since in a previous job I was a union rep but I think my direct manager might just think I'm doing it to be a smartass.
Very sorry to say that it was just one of many abusive events. Another was the uni admitting that a manager had faked probation documents and meeting records to justify a probation failure, but still terminating the member.
It went like this (shared with permission of the reporting colleague). "Can you make times X or Y this week?" "Not both of us, no." One week later: "Can you make times A or B this week?" "Not both of us, no." "Then we'll just have to proceed without your union rep present."
Durham UCU@ducu.bsky.social · 3w agoThis. This includes the tactic of being so inflexible with meeting dates that your caseworker can't attend (which we've seen reported elsewhere). Your legal rights trump their busy calendar and refusal to treat your own schedule with respect.
This. This includes the tactic of being so inflexible with meeting dates that your caseworker can't attend (which we've seen reported elsewhere). Your legal rights trump their busy calendar and refusal to treat your own schedule with respect.
👻madeline bOoOoOoOodent👻@oldenoughtosay.com · 3w agoif you EVER get called for a meeting and they say “don’t bring a union rep” bring a union rep
The rain didn’t stop us. Today we stood proud against the University of Brighton’s outrageous threat to derecognise UCU. We will not let our members’ rights be trampled on. Like and share to stand with our members and send management a message: BACK DOWN.
UCU members at Brighton University face the threat of derecognition. We have called an emergency rally tomorrow at 1:15pm. It would be amazing to see as many #TUC26 delegates as possible in attendance. 58-67 Grand Parade, Brighton and Hove, Brighton BN2 0JY
Another "achievement" for Coventry University: noted as an example of subsidiarisation meaning they're no longer required to provide gender pay gap figures across most of its entities. #ucu
Times Higher Education (THE)@timeshighered.bsky.social · last mo.Universities are not obliged to report to Hesa salary details of staff employed by wholly owned companies, leading to fears of misleading figures. Juliette Rowsell reports #edusky #AcademicSky #highered https://ow.ly/JXHO50ZM2pC
Staff cannot be made to pay for Scotland’s university funding crisis. No more job cuts. No more rising workloads. No more insecurity. Universities need proper public funding and a future that values the people who make them work. www.heraldscotland.com/news/2652345...
Union says university solutions should not 'exploit' staff
University union leadership has backed calls to reform the sector’s funding model, while saying that sustainability should not be allowed to…
heraldscotland.com
The labor movement gave us weekends, 8 hour work days, and ensured that our kids can go to school rather than work. Honored to fight for unions every day. Happy Labor Day to all those who have fought for a fairer economy in the richest country in the world.
Sometimes, I idly wonder how much better off this sector would be, if all the time university managers pour into hiding the ways they're not doing what they know they should be doing, went instead into doing what they know they should be doing.
Dundee UCU@ducuuo.bsky.social · last mo.Link to The Courier article that exposed the University of Dundee being under a level 2 intervention for not complying with Freedom of Information law. www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/politics/...
Solidarity with colleagues working the @ucu-ulster.bsky.social open day, whilst facing 450 redundancies. Anyone in the area, please stop by at 10am!
Dear University Alliance Lifetime Achievement Award? For CU’s VC? The university with the huge deficit, collapsing student numbers, hundreds of redundancies and 2,788 staff transferred to subsidiaries over 3 years? That Coventry? Right. Interesting award criteria you have there. Best, The staff
I have now been on strike for three months. This is the first time Goldsmiths UCU has had to start the new academic year with a strike. But I am proud of my colleagues for their action in protecting a great university.
Ah yes, the good ol' "You've got things wrong, but we're not going to tell you which things, or why we think they're wrong, so you're just going to have to stop talking about what's going on entirely" approach. A classic.
Plashing Vole@plashingvole.bsky.social · last mo.Head of HR is moaning to our union Chair that press coverage of our situation is lies. But can't point to any.
Entirely this. We tried to make this clear during our own uni's "voluntary" scheme - it was clear there were people submitting to the scheme not because they wanted to leave the job they had, but because they feared what their job would *become* after the exodus of so many valuable colleagues.
University and College Union (UCU)@ucu.org.uk · 2mo agoUniversities across the UK are calling their redundancy programmes ‘voluntary’. In today’s Sunday Times a Senior Lecturer in Humanities completely exposes that lie.
Our branch committee's message regarding the tragic loss of Professor Jason Arday, our former colleague in Durham, can be read on the main page of our website.
Durham UCU – The University and College Union at Durham University
durhamucu.org.uk
WE HAD A DEAL! Watt happened? HWUCU back on strike today because our employer has signalled they won't keep their side of a deal made in June to protect jobs. No Compulsory Redundancy. @ucu.org.uk @joshpizpom.bsky.social @timeshighered.bsky.social @theferret.scot @ucuscotland.bsky.social
Summertime blues? 😢 🗳️Vote now in the @ucunorthumbria.bsky.social local ballot on pay and contracts 😎, while poor Eddie Cochran shakes his head in despair... @ucu.org.uk @ucucommons.org @sheffielducu.bsky.social @ducu.bsky.social @ducuuo.bsky.social @tucneyh.bsky.social @umucu.bsky.social
The problem, always, with "legitimate concerns about immigration" is that they're always based on obvious and significant factual inaccuracies. The people pushing these concerns have made a conscious choice to not learn about a situation they demand to have their way over.
András Forgács W@andraswf.bsky.social · 3mo agoyou do not have "legitimate concerns" about immigration. you just gave in to relentless xenophobic and racist propaganda
500 staff at risk. 200 compulsory redundancies. A world-class university under threat. Staff at Exeter are taking the next step in the fight against cuts, with a strike ballot opening on 27 July. ✊ Defend Exeter. Defend education.
ucu.org.uk
Many more people in universities will lose their jobs if nothing changes in the way HE is (under) funded. Even more prospective students will not be able to go to university, especially here in the Norheast. @bphillipsonmp.bsky.social @markfergusonmp.bsky.social @chionwurah.bsky.social