The VC has planned to cut 400 jobs, close the Southend campus, demolish the Essex Pathways (foundation year) department, and decimate other departments like language & linguistics, maths & stats and business. She met us for an all-staff meeting on Thursday. It was... fascinating! Let's fact-check.

It's official: 400 redundancies and a campus closure. At-risk staff will get a letter next week. Absolutely no serious consideration of any of the union's counterproposals. Please share widely.

It’s been great attending the Child Language Symposium at the University of Reading and meeting so many extraordinary researchers and practitioners. Shout out to the organisers and all the talk/poster presenters!

🆕🚨 New statutory Relationships and Sex Education guidance published today will: - Restrict schools from using materials that "encourage pupils to question their gender" - Teaches children the laws about "biological sex" - Removes all references to the word transgender What we know so far 🧵

There is no sea like home!

📣 2 DAYS TO GO! This saturday thousands of workers from across education and beyond will unite in London to defend our sector. 📍 Meet at Bessborough Gardens 13:00 🗣️ Rally and speeches: Old Palace Yard 14:00–16:00 We’ll be there. Will you? #ProtectEducation #UCU #May10

Excited to share the MuLaVaN reading group programme for July-September 2025. Many valuable papers to be discussed and an invited talk by @kimmears.bsky.social titled "Semi-speaking and the neurodiversity paradigm: A challenge to dominant discourses in speech and language therapy".

Happy International Workers Day! Solidarity with all workers + love especially to striking members @bcu-ucu.bsky.social @ducu.bsky.social @newcastleucu.bsky.social @uniteucu.bsky.social out on strike today & @sheffielducu.bsky.social striking yesterday & to all branches in dispute. We’re with you!

Happy International Workers' Day! A perfect day to join a union!

Not sure what the point of words is any more. We are witnessing pure evil, and even worse, we are witnessing the full-throated support of that evil among all our institutions, from governments to political parties to media organisations to judiciary. It's a masks off moment.

london today ❤️‍🔥

If you’re changing the definition of human rights, it means you plan on violating people’s human rights.

Another strike day. I am very concerned about not only the impact of this strike on the people my work supports but also the wider impact of this dispute as a lesson to some employers on employment relations. The lesson seems to be to attack the union and ride out the strike.

The Safe & Professional Workplace dispute must be resolved. I'm deeply concerned by the tone of multiple emails received from #UCU HQ about the dispute and urge members to look at @uniteucu.bsky.social's website too. There's also an open letter to UCU GS and SMT here: tinyurl.com/ucuunitesoli... 7/7

UCU - End the dispute with Unite and embody the union’s commitment to equality

Please NOTE: This letter has been sent to Jo Grady at 9am on Thursday 27 March 2025. Signatures are still accepted after this time. Dear Jo Grady, We, the undersigned UCU members and members of the...

tinyurl.com

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 · last yr.

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.

Energy bills up 6.4% — while network providers raked in £4 billion in “excess” profits over four years. Water bills up 26% — while firms paid £78 billion in dividends since privatisation & racked up £64 billion in debt. End this scam. Bring water & energy into public ownership.

The Crossing Language Borders project hosts research partner Annie Beatty for a talk titled "Bilingualism reveals how experience shapes language and the brain." 🗓 April 4, 2025 | ⏰ 16: 00 – 17:30 CEST 📍 Attend in person (Bushuis, E1.02, Amsterdam) or online. aclc.uva.nl/shared/subsi...

ACLC Seminar | Annie Beatty-Martinez - ACLC

Dr Annie Beatty-Martinez is the guest speaker for this ACLC seminar. The title of this talk is: "Bilingualism reveals how experience shapes language and the brain."

aclc.uva.nl

'The US government claims the First Amendment — the founding principle of the constitution which guarantees freedom of speech — does not apply to non-US citizens in deportation cases. The argument has been highly disputed by experts.' www.dw.com/en/us-revoke...

US revoked around 300 visas in crackdown on students — Rubio – DW – 03/27/2025

The US secretary of state called the students "lunatics" and claimed they were involved in anti-American activity. Few if any of the individuals have been formally accused of a crime.

dw.com

No Other Land depicts the horrifying violence Palestinians in the West Bank endure under apartheid. Yesterday, its co-director Hamdan Ballal was beaten in his home by settlers before being detained by Israeli forces. People applauded Hamdan. Now they are silent. Free Hamdan.

Solidarity with our colleagues at UEA who are also out on strike this week!

UEA UCU says join a union@uea-ucu.bsky.social · last yr.

There is power in coming together and acting as a collective in moments of crisis, and we need to act together to support all our colleagues who are ‘at risk’ of redundancy. Join us on the picket this Weds 26th. #SaveUEA www.timeshighereducation.com/news/uea-sta... @ucu.org.uk

Israel has blown up Gaza's only specialised cancer treatment hospital, the Turkish-Palestinian Hospital, along with an adjacent medical school, drawing condemnation for yet again targeting a medical facility ⤵️ aje.io/wpl2e4

Israel blows up Gaza’s only specialised cancer hospital in massive blast

Destruction of Turkish-Palestinian hospital has been condemned as being part of Israel’s ‘systematic state terrorism’.

aje.io

Solidarity with all striking workers. As #UCU Edu Committee Chair I'd chair Cradle to Grave (flagship education policy conference) on 29 March. It's sadly been cancelled by HQ citing @uniteucu.bsky.social strike in preceding days. The dispute must be resolved Please sign: tinyurl.com/UCUUniteSoli...

UCU - End the dispute with Unite and embody the union’s commitment to equality

Dear Jo Grady, We, the undersigned UCU members and members of the community, urge you to do everything in your power to resolve the dispute with UCU Unite as soon as possible. UCU proudly signed up ...

tinyurl.com

In under 24 hours, Israel has massacred over 400 people in Gaza — including 174 children. Words of condemnation ring hollow. The UK government must end ALL arms sales, trade & diplomatic ties with a state facing genocide charges at the ICJ & leaders under ICC arrest warrants.

🚨🚨🚨 my bestest best friend is a brilliant poet and her first collection of poetry has been translated into English and you should all pre-order it 🚨🚨🚨 www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/797465...

Say Fire by Selma Asotic: 9781962770439 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

Bosnian poet Selma Asotić’s fearless debut on memory and resistance Wounded bodies are at the heart of Say Fire. Bodies cringe and crouch (years after the war) as fireworks shoot through the...

penguinrandomhouse.com

"We call on the world to stop the injustice & stop the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people," says Oscar winner Basel Adra to applause from the audience. 'No Other Land' just won the Best Documentary Oscar. Also a fantastic speech from fellow winner Yuval Abraham on "ethnic supremacy".

Are we surprised that yet again Trump is siding with the oppressor… Solidarity to Ukrainian people!

This is the first of many strikes in the Higher Education sector and if the major employer in your town or city is a University, your local economy is at risk. Academic and academic-related jobs are being threatened in huge numbers. Don't let it happen. Solidarity with @ducuuo.bsky.social

The Courier UK@thecourier.co.uk · last yr.

Pictures as Dundee University staff strike begins

An extremely important read! Full paper can be read here: doi.org/10.48516/jcs...

Did you vote yet in the UCU NEC elections? I’m standing for VP on a record of unifying & building membership. I’m honoured to be endorsed by these strong women who have all fought for members in UCU. You can read Vicky, Maria & Liz’s endorsements here rhiannonforucuvp.wordpress.com/2024/12/03/e...