My university hasn’t reached this level of clarity yet. Managers tell themselves it’s all going brilliantly *because* they’ve sacked so many people.
Ronald Hartz@ronaldhartz.bsky.social · 3mo ago
UCU Essex
@ucuessex.bsky.social
We are the University of Essex branch of the University and College Union (UCU). Reposts, follows etc are not endorsements.
Ronald Hartz@ronaldhartz.bsky.social · 3mo ago
It's incredible how these awards master doublespeak. Accredited for success, as a reward for failure.
UCU Essex@ucuessex.bsky.social · 4mo agoThousands of Essex staff are currently suffering anxiety and sleepless nights at the hands of a disinterested senior management team. This award is a slap in the face to us all. If the #UniMentalHealthCharter means anything, it should be condemning Essex SMT, not giving them awards.
This kind of stuff, beloved of University HR departments, is approx the Uni system's equivalent of the globally popular sportwashing. I call it "Wellbeing-washing". Also widespread in the NHS.
UCU Essex@ucuessex.bsky.social · 4mo agoThousands of Essex staff are currently suffering anxiety and sleepless nights at the hands of a disinterested senior management team. This award is a slap in the face to us all. If the #UniMentalHealthCharter means anything, it should be condemning Essex SMT, not giving them awards.
carewashing
UCU Essex@ucuessex.bsky.social · 4mo agoThousands of Essex staff are currently suffering anxiety and sleepless nights at the hands of a disinterested senior management team. This award is a slap in the face to us all. If the #UniMentalHealthCharter means anything, it should be condemning Essex SMT, not giving them awards.
Thousands of Essex staff are currently suffering anxiety and sleepless nights at the hands of a disinterested senior management team. This award is a slap in the face to us all. If the #UniMentalHealthCharter means anything, it should be condemning Essex SMT, not giving them awards.
The closure of Southend rips away jobs, education and the lifeblood of local businesses. The rationale? Barely fills an A4 page. In Westminister Yesterday MPs & union reps handed a vote of no confidence in Bowen to education minister Jacqui Smith.
This week over 400 members of the University community met at a joint union meeting to consider the motion below. 97% voted that they had no confidence in VC Frances Bowen and her leadership team. Staff demand accountability. www.ucu.essex.ac.uk/2026/04/17/v...
Vote of no confidence: 15th April 2026
On 15th April 2026, more than 400 members of the University community gathered at a joint union meeting to consider the motion below. The motion passed overwhelmingly, with 97% voting in favour. Only ...
ucu.essex.ac.uk
UCU Essex@ucuessex.bsky.social · 5mo agoToday, in a branch meeting with unprecedented attendance, Essex UCU overwhelmingly passed a vote of no confidence in our VC Frances Bowen and her senior management team for their appalling handling of the current financial shambles.
FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY???? How on earth does one run an institution with such depleted capacity? Massive solidarity with @ucu-ulster.bsky.social
UCU Ulster@ucu-ulster.bsky.social · 4mo ago@ulsteruni.bsky.social - Announces intention to make 450 colleagues redundant University decimated 🤬😡 @caoimhearchibald.bsky.social @bphillipsonmp.bsky.social
now, obviously the current governing party these MPs belong to has an enormous responsibility for the crisis the entire HE sector is in at the moment… however, this was a really fun letter to read first thing this morning
UCU Essex@ucuessex.bsky.social · 4mo agoSouthend MPs @bayoalaba.bsky.social and @davidbsampson.bsky.social, and city council leader Daniel Cowan, calling out our VC Frances Bowen's dishonest and dismissive managed messaging 👏
What is needed now is not managed messaging but honesty.” Relieved to see politicians recognise & call out the terrible managerial practices so many have been gaslit in accepting. No, behind-closed-doors tickbox conversations aren’t consultation. No, evidence-free decisions aren’t acceptable. #UKHE
UCU Essex@ucuessex.bsky.social · 4mo agoSouthend MPs @bayoalaba.bsky.social and @davidbsampson.bsky.social, and city council leader Daniel Cowan, calling out our VC Frances Bowen's dishonest and dismissive managed messaging 👏
Southend MPs @bayoalaba.bsky.social and @davidbsampson.bsky.social, and city council leader Daniel Cowan, calling out our VC Frances Bowen's dishonest and dismissive managed messaging 👏
The Cookie Cutter University which NOUS is imposing upon everyone simply cannot attract anyone. They're just making 17-year-olds pick their future on the basis of the prestige of a couple of centuries-old places, rather than the content of their studies & research. #UKHE
QM_UCU@qmucu.bsky.social · 5mo agoThe cuts. They cuts are never-ending. And they're cutting away what it means to be a university.
Essex used to be one of those places where you wouldn't mind working.
UCU Essex@ucuessex.bsky.social · 5mo agoCompulsory redundancies, 400 job losses, a campus closed. The justification has always been: we have 2612 staff. This is the number the VC has used repeatedly to justify this unprecedented attack on our jobs. But the latest financial figures from the uni say that we actually only have 2273...?
Day 3 of striking Thank you to all members who came along and to whose who struck from home (they also strike who simply do no work) Thank you to visitors: @drscottarthurmp.bsky.social @katenevens.bsky.social Unite, other branches, dogs, dinos and ❤️students❤️ for bringing joy & Solidarity🔥
The voluntary redundancy deadline hasn't even passed yet, and we're already hearing stories of distraught students who have just had their courses closed. Students put their trust in us when they sign up to study here. It's really not a good idea to betray that trust.
During our demonstration against the planned 400 job cuts on Monday, Essex UCU reps were invited to meet with three members of the University Council. This is the first time we'd been able to meet with key decision-makers - all thanks to the pressure we've been putting on management. ⬇️ Summary:
SMT promised that our pay uplift would come in February, but it didn't. We asked them why, and they responded - a full 17 days after payday! - that they were deferring it again. A clear breach of UCEA's requirement to consult trade unions *in advance* about any deferrals.
What is a 'number' anyway? If you think abour it... 🤔 Point is we're firing a bunch of you and forcing the rest to seriously consider resigning in disgust over our corruption and incompetence.
UCU Essex@ucuessex.bsky.social · 5mo agoWe've asked SMT what the real number is, and why there's a discrepancy. No good answers yet. If the numbers are inaccurate, this could have huge ramifications. They'd be gutting the uni for nothing.
Being part of this protest meant a lot to me. I felt the power of our collective, every single person out there was standing up for justice. #ProtectEducation #SaveJobs
UCU Essex@ucuessex.bsky.social · 5mo ago📣 PROTEST AT UNIVERSITY COUNCIL MEETING 📣 🚨 Monday, 9am, outside the Albert Sloman Library 🚨
What better way to end your weekend than by co-signing this petition in support of @ucuessex.bsky.social calling out the devastating cuts which their management is making. Let their governing body know managers may not care about the wider public, but the wider public sure does care. #SaveHE
Save Essex: Stop the Cuts, Save Southend, Protect Education
These proposed cuts mean people losing their livelihoods in a higher education sector already facing a jobs crisis, where alternative employment is scarce and careers built over many years can be dest...
megaphone.org.uk
📣 PROTEST AT UNIVERSITY COUNCIL MEETING 📣 🚨 Monday, 9am, outside the Albert Sloman Library 🚨
Nothing reassures staff that they "are at the heart of everything we do" like telling languages and cultural studies staff in LINCS to dismantle their own jobs by instructing them to delete the courses and programs they work on. Where is the concern for staff welfare? #Heriot-Watt #UCU #LINCS
Compulsory redundancies, 400 job losses, a campus closed. The justification has always been: we have 2612 staff. This is the number the VC has used repeatedly to justify this unprecedented attack on our jobs. But the latest financial figures from the uni say that we actually only have 2273...?
This last week has been full of management cock-ups on Southend. A particularly egregious one: many Southend colleagues were told they were no longer at risk of redundancy last Friday, only to be told that they were *back* at risk of redundancy on Monday. Unbelievable display of callous cruelty.
In yet more shocking news: the University forgot to give us our pay uplift for this year (which they had already unilaterally deferred to February). Hundreds of staff have applied for voluntary redundancy, and had their redundancy pay confirmed based on their salary. What does this mean for them?
Today, we're shining a spotlight on Language & Linguistics - one of the founding departments of the University of Essex, and a very strong department on the national scale, and - as part of a cynical and short-sighted cost-cutting exercise - a department slated for 50% cuts by VC Frances Bowen.
Nina Markl 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈@ninamarkl.bsky.social · 5mo ago🚨Save Languages at the University of Essex 🚨 #langsky #linguistics UoE plans to cut German, Italian, Portuguese and Chinese + all evening classes and merge Language and Linguistics with a larger unit. Only 2 languages will remain next October. Please sign our letter: tinyurl.com/SaveLingLang...