Unions rebuff Ucea’s one-off 0.25 per cent offer

Please see the full article in the Times Higher.

UCU National Campaigns News

ACTION: All branches – April 10 demonstration for public services

UCU is supporting a joint trade union demonstration on 10 April in central London as part of a campaign to defend the Welfare state and public services. We are asking all branches to support the demonstration. Download a flyer for the march here: http://www.10410demo.co.uk/forms/flyer.pdf. Make sure you and your colleagues are there. You can find out more about the march, including full details on how to get there, here: http://www.10410demo.co.uk/

ACTION: HE branches:

The first ever joint union claim for higher education has been submitted to Ucea. The first meeting is on Monday (29 March). The claim includes:

· calls for catch-up pay for the real terms cut last year and a keep-up element for next year, with a need to recognise the lowest paid.

· demands for national negotiations over a approach to job security.

· ways to address equality, particularly for hourly-paid lecturers, and close the gender pay gap.

*What you can do*:

1. approach your management to ask that they tell Ucea to negotiate meaningfully on the entirety of the claim, particularly job security - we want them to agree to a national approach to a national problem.

2. submit the claim jointly with the other unions to demonstrate our united front to your management and let us know the response at: 5unions@defendhighereducation.org.uk

3. distribute widely the joint union materials that will be with you shortly from the UCU campaigns team.

The full claim can be read at: http://www.ucu.org.uk/he2010

UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE UNION (UCU) PRESS RELEASE

date: Wednesday 24 March 2010 for immediate release

Strike and rally off at University of Kent as threat of compulsory job losses removed

The University and College Union (UCU) today confirmed that it had cancelled a ballot for industrial action at the University of Kent after talks between the union and the institution resulted in the threat of compulsory job losses being removed. A planned protest organised by students in Canterbury for today has also been shelved.

Staff in the school of biosciences were at risk from compulsory redundancy, but now an agreement has been thrashed out that commits both the university and UCU to a redundancy avoidance agreement.

UCU Kent branch president, John Fitzpatrick, said: "Industrial action is always the last resort and the talks have delivered a great result for everyone at Kent University. The support from UCU members and students right across the university was magnificent and crucial to the successful outcome."

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: “We are delighted that the dispute at Kent has been resolved. This is the second dispute in as many weeks to have been resolved by talks, rather than industrial action. With ballots taking place at UCL and Westminster at the moment and strike action happening at King’s College on Tuesday, we reiterate our message that we want to resolve disputes around the negotiating table, not from the picket line. Universities refusing to talk to us could learn a lot from the likes of Kent and Leeds.”

The union and university have issued the following joint statement:

“The university and UCU have had further constructive discussions in relation to the future of the school of biosciences and have agreed upon an acceptable resolution of the matters in issue between them. This successful conclusion to the discussions indicates a renewed spirit of constructive partnership between management and UCU, and both parties are committed to entering into a redundancy avoidance agreement for the future. As a result, the threat of compulsory redundancies has now been lifted from UCU members in biosciences, and UCU has therefore cancelled the planned ballot of its members on taking industrial action which was to commence on Friday 26 March 2010."

ends

contacts:

Dan Ashley
t: 020 7756 2600;
m: 07789 518 992;
e: dashley@ucu.org.uk

Alex Rossiter
t: 020 7756 2598;
m: 07977 562 686;
e: arossiter@ucu.org.uk

UCU Blog News

Since the end of Project Headroom, we have not been using this blog.

UCU and the other unions at Salford University are now working together and meeting regularly with the VC and his representatives to resolve issues. That is not to say that there may not be a need for vigilance and action in the future, but currently things are on a calmer footing.

Should we need to do so, we may reactivate this blog again in the future.

UCU, the University & College Union @ The Manchester College

Lobby the local Labour Party - Friday 11 September

The Manchester College have:

Attacked education provision for the most vulnerable in society by

• Closing a creche, damanging access for single mothers and others
• Closing basic ESOL courses, limiting access for refugees
• Closing sign language courses, hurting disability access

Failed to follow legal procedures required for redundancies by

• Refusing to discuss ways to avoid redundancy
• Failing to outline proper reasons for the redundancies
• Failing to agree or even discuss redundancy selection criteria
• Failing to use objective selection criteria
• Failing to make any real efforts towards redeployment
• Refusing those to be made redundant attendance at their own appeal

Invented a redundancy within Maths purely in order to victimise our Branch Secretary

• No courses to close or hours to be cut from courses
• No proper justification given for redundancy
• Shortage of maths teachers now evident at college
• Management legally found to have victimised trade unionists before

Continuing to attack UCU and staff

• Refusing to meet with the union
• Refusing legally required facility time for reps i.e. time used to help members
• Aiming to introduce new contracts for all teachers

With further cuts in public funding ahead, and already over a million unemployed young people in the UK, we say:

• No education cuts and job losses when society needs education more than ever.
• Educational provision for the most vulnerable should be especially protected.
• Trade unions should be allowed to operate freely and independently.
• Our Branch Secretary, and the others made redundant, should be reinstated.

Lobby the local Labour Party - Friday 11th September

Management at the college are connected to the Labour Part (who also run the City Council). We like to hope that we can get support and help if we let them know what is really happening at the college. Please come along.

6.30pm at The Palace Hotel on Ducie Street near Piccadilly train station
or meet after work at 6.30 in the Bull's Head opp lower entrance to Picc. Station

London Met – the first institution to suffer ignominy of greylisting

On Tuesday London Metropolitan University (LMU) became the first institution to be greylisted in UCU’s history. A huge thank you for all the amazing response we've had so far. We have been inundated with messages of support and been copied in on hundreds of emails to vice-chancellor, Alfred Morris. We will be responding to all the individual queries as soon as possible and everyone can expect a response by Wednesday of next week.

What you can do:

· Send a message of support to the branch via jstephens@ucu.org.uk

· Non-attendance, speaking at or organising academic or other conferences at LMU

· Not applying for any advertised jobs at LMU

· Not giving lectures at LMU

· Not accepting positions as visiting professors or researchers at LMU

· Not writing for any academic journal which is edited at or produced by LMU

· Not taking up new contracts as external examiners for taught courses

For more details on the LMU situation go here http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=3680 and here http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=407959&c=2

Not in Our Name

In just two weeks the BNP will be taking their seats in the European Parliament. We need to send the strongest possible message that they are not there in our name.

Over 80,000 people have already done just this by signing Hope Not Hate’s ‘Not in my Name’ petition. Hope Not Hate needs your help to make sure that over 100,000 have signed this petition by the time the BNP go to Strasbourg.

Hope Not Hate have set up a simple tool to let you do this – please invite your friends to join the campaign:

http://action.hopenothate.org.uk/morenamesneeded

They need your help in showing that Griffin and Brons don’t repeat us – that they don’t speak for Britain.

Hope Not Hate are currently organising who they are going to hand their petition in to at the European Parliament on 14^th July and want to make sure that as many people as possible have signed the petition before then.

Vestas Wind Turbine Plant Closure

As you may know, the Vestas corporation is planning to close the only factory making wind turbines in Britain, on the Isle of Wight. There is now a campaign among local people on the island and Vestas workers to save the Vestas plant. This will save 600 jobs. More than that, it matters to them because it matters to the planet.

They have asked for emails from individuals and organisations expressing support. The address is savevestas@gmail.com. PLEASE DO THIS as soon as you can. Just tell them briefly who you are and what you feel. It will be important in giving them confidence and courage. Please do it now and ask your friends and colleagues to do it too.

We will never halt climate change without wind power. We need thousands of wind turbine plants, not none.

Jonathan Neale, International Secretary
Phil Thornhill, Coordinator
Campaign against Climate Change

Manchester College strike action over job losses

24 June 2009

Members of UCU today (Wednesday) overwhelmingly voted for strike action at Manchester College.

Following a ballot where 74% of members polled voted yes to strike action and 84% voted in favour of action short of a strike, the union announced that members will walk out on Wednesday 1 July.

The union is furious that the college, which is a result of a merger last summer between MANCAT and City College Manchester, is pushing ahead with what it describes as 'unnecessary and punitive' job losses. The redundancies would see six jobs go in maths and biology and seven in English for speakers of other languages (ESOL).

Some of the courses to close include the most basic level ESOL classes and UCU is concerned at the effect this will have on the most vulnerable people in the local community. The union warned today that Wednesday's strike could be the first action in a long campaign to save jobs, if the college refused to back down.

UCU head of further education, Barry Lovejoy, said: 'At a time when we should be looking to extend further education's ability to meet the needs of our communities, Manchester College seems intent of pushing ahead with unnecessary and punitive job cuts. The college should be joining with unions in presenting a case to government to preserve education funding at a time when our communities need it the most, rather than pushing through these irrational job cuts.

'Manchester College is one of the biggest in Europe and should be looking to make full use of the expertise of the staff it has, not axe them when the local community needs them most. Management needs to develop a better relationship with the union. It's in the interests of staff and students for there to be better industrial relations.'