Grimsby and Scarborough Colleges

Dear Colleagues

 

I am writing to you to let you know about the dreadful proposals and management approach  that our members at the Grimsby Institute and Yorkshire Coast College branches are experiencing. Both have the same employer i.e. the Grimsby Institute Group and the Principal is Sue Middlehurst.

MiddlehurstS@grimsby.ac.uk

 

Last academic year the Principal indicated that during 12/13 she wanted to “harmonise contracts” a euphemism for renegotiate terms and conditions. She then appeared to pull back from this announcement and indicated at the beginning of January 13 that she wanted to increase annual contact hours to 864 hours per year. Unfortunately for her teaching hours are protected by a collective agreement that is incorporated into contracts and which also has a 12 month notice period attached to it. She then pronounced that her legal advice was that the agreement had no legal status. Our legal advice contradicts this.

 

In March 2013 the college then issued a Section 188 notice announcing a restructure of the LLDD department. As well as being less jobs in the new structure any staff who survived the cull were to be brought on changed job titles, new terms and conditions with reduced holidays and more teaching hours (for some up to 864 hours but for others up to 1100 hours), for some new places of work and fixed point salaries (potentially less pay and no future incremental progression).

 

The Grimsby branch declared a dispute and in early June balloted for industrial action with 94% of the membership who voted agreeing to strike action.

 

On 3^rd June the college notified the regional office of further redundancies at Grimsby (33.28FTE’s) in 6 FE departments again any staff that survive the cull will be brought back on changed contracts and fixed point salaries.

 

On 17^th June the college notified the regional office of further redundancies at Scarborough (12 lecturers) in 6 FE departments again any staff that survive the cull will be brought back on changed contracts and fixed point salaries.

 

I am afraid the writing is on the wall for remaining unrestructured FE departments as to what the future holds in store for current terms and conditions.

 

Cynically the college has said they will not touch HE delivery staff until they have obtained FDAP status.

 

The Scarborough branch is in dispute but due to the late issuing of the redundancy notice affecting their members there is insufficient time to ballot and have any action before the summer holidays.

 

Management are proposing dismissing staff during the summer holiday period.  

 

Yesterday we were informed that colleagues in LLDD had gone through selection processes and that while 7 staff had secured roles in the new structure 5 had been unsuccessful. Which means that as a consequence the department now has 7 vacant posts. The 5 unsuccessful candidates, all of whom are long serving members of staff with masses of experience and qualifications enabling them to teach students with special educational needs, will not be offered any of the vacant posts because they have failed to meet the benchmark required to be a teacher in the department. Very sadly I need to report that one of the potentially sacked teachers is the UCU departmental rep in the area.   

  

During this process a poor general VR scheme was opened and while some staff came forward the college did not agree to release everyone who applied – even if they work in the departments where staff have been placed at risk. These staff are now been asked to apply for jobs they do not want.    

 

The college has pulled back from reducing annual holiday entitlement but beyond this little progress has been made. There has been no major shifts in the job reductions needed and no movement from the employer regarding changes to pay, terms and conditions.

 

On the announcement of industrial action the employer is using unpleasant tactics to try and dissuade members from taking part on Tuesdays strike.

 

What Can You do?

 

Please support both branches by :

 

1.       sending messages of support to :

 

Ian Rodwell at Grimsby RodwellIS@grimsby.ac.uk

Eamonn Griffin at Grimsby   GriffinE@grimsby.ac.uk

Ian Rollinson at Scarborough IRO@ycoastco.ac.uk

Carol Roles at Scarborough crs@ycoastco.ac.uk

 

2.       If possible bring your banners to either the main Grimsby campus, Nuns Corner  picket from 7.45am onwards on Tuesday 2^nd July or support the Yorkshire Coast College Branch at their lunch time protest outside the Scarborough campus on Lady Edith’s Drive

3.       Send messages to the Principal  Sue Middlehurst expressing your outrage at her proposals.

 

In solidarity

 

Julie Kelley

UCU Regional Official

 

 

Please see below the press release issued below

 

UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE UNION (UCU)

PRESS RELEASE

 

date: Friday 28 June 2013

for immediate release

 

Strike action on at Grimsby Institute

 

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) at Grimsby Institute will be striking on Tuesday (2 July) in an ongoing row over job losses and cuts to staff pay and conditions.

 

In the recent ballot, 96% of members who voted backed strike action. Staff are furious that the college is using national funding cuts as an excuse to axe one in five teaching staff, despite spending less on staff than the national average. As well as the job losses the union says the college is seeking to rip up workload agreements, slash staff pay and ride roughshod over employment rights.

 

There will be pickets outside the main Grimsby campus at Nuns Corner from 7.45 am. The president-elect of the national UCU union, John McCormack will be on the picket line and speaking to the striking workers.

 

The union is particularly cross that the college is sacking staff over the summer holidays and fears for students’ education, particularly in the department that teaches students with special educational needs.

 

UCU said many of those students spend time building up a trusting relationship with staff and will be devastated on their return in September to discover some of their lecturers have been sacked. The union said the college has rewritten some people’s job specifications to a level to ensure they cannot meet the requirements.

 

Grimsby Institute’s problems do not end in Grimsby. Members of UCU at the Yorkshire Coast site of Grimsby Institute in Scarborough will be holding a lunchtime protest on Tuesday to show their solidarity with their colleagues and to protest at planned job cuts there as well.

 

UCU regional official, Julie Kelley, said: “Strike action is always a last resort, but UCU members at Grimsby Institute have had enough of the way the college has treated them. Sacking staff or seeking to force them out so they can hire new staff on cheaper pay is no way to improve the standard of education in Grimsby.”

 

UCU president-elect, John McCormack, said: “UCU members at Grimsby Institute have the full support of the national union in their action. Axing staff and slashing pay is no way to reward for hard-working staff.”

 

According to the latest accounts (up to 31 July 2012), Grimsby Institute spent 52.1% of its income on staff costs in 2011-12, against a sector average for comparable further education colleges of 61.5%. In that financial year it made a surplus of £3.7m and (as of 31 July 2012) held reserves of £19.6m.

 

The college argues that its reserves have been allocated to various building and capital projects across its campuses. However it is the union’s view that stylish buildings are no replacement for staff who have confidence that their job is secure and are valued by the institution.   

 

During 2012, the college made a significant number of staff redundant at both Grimsby and its Scarborough campuses, which included shutting A-level courses at Grimsby. UCU is worried that the quality of education at the college will be affected by job losses, inevitable bigger classes, and increased workloads for the staff that remain.

 

 

 

 

Lunchtime Rally in support of the other teaching unions

Ceasefire and peace for Colombia.

Dear colleague, 

I’m writing to you as one of the 4,000 international academics who supported the successful campaign for the freedom of Colombian academic Dr. Miguel Angel Beltran to ask you to show your support for the civil society organisations working for a ceasefire and for peace in Colombia.

You can sign an open letter to the Colombian government here:
https://www.ucu.org.uk/colombiaopenletter

The Colombian government continues to persecute other academics and critics, including members of the political opposition, trade unionists, indigenous leaders, journalists, and human rights defenders. On 20 November 2012, Olga Cadena Corrales, 68 year old Colombian historian, was murdered. Over 243 social activists were assassinated in the first two years of the current government.

In March 2012 more than 100 Colombian academics wrote to both the Colombian government and the FARC guerrillas calling for a peace process and an end to the hostilities.

Peace talks have now begun but the Colombian government has refused to agree to a bilateral ceasefire and the talks are to take place without proper civil society participation.

Colombians for Peace, a wide-ranging civil society movement and leading force for peace, that includes many high profile Colombian academics, has written to the negotiating table calling for a ceasefire and seeking civil society participation. However, in recent months, those calling for peace have received increasing death threats, and there has been a rise in assassinations against opposition activists.

UCU and Justice for Colombia are calling on UK and international academics to add their voices to this call for a negotiated peace involving civil society organisations and for guarantees for their safe participation.

I would ask you to consider adding your name to the below letter and encourage other academics to do the same.

https://www.ucu.org.uk/colombiaopenletter

Thank you for taking the time to read this email.

Yours sincerely

Sally Hunt
UCU general secretary

Halesowen College: Reinstate David Muritu as a Maths Lecturer at the college

This is an attack on education and trades unionism. On December 20th Dave Muritu, a known local socialist trades union activist, was sacked from his position as Maths lecturer. This followed disregard of the college disciplinary procedure (no evidence was presented 3 days in advance of the hearing), without anything other than deductive reasoning (his sacking was linked to results, with no regard for competency procedure or accurate review of statistical significance (his results are above national average).
Please sign and convey your disappointment in the college failure to prioritise student needs and achievement over politics. The only logical conclusion which can be drawn from the situation is that as no substantial evidence has been produced, Dave has been sacked on grounds of disagreement with the principal on educational theory and politics. The maths department have received considerable lack of support in the face of student needs, including
1) Failure of the principal to agree specialist cover in staff absence, inspite of a substantial surplus which could fund this
2) Students in a functional lesson being encouraged by management to give up the studies their time is allocated for in order to participate in a “focus group” based around leading questions with no rigorous development or consistent recording of data
3) Victimisation of a known trades unionist, along with possible victimisation of other known activists in the maths department, setting a precedent for activists to be targeted with knock-on effects for other trades-unionists nationally.
Please sign and join us in fighting this outrageous decision collectively.

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/halesowen-college-reinstate-david-muritu-as-a-maths-lecturer-at-the-college

Wakefield UCU AGM 5th July 2012

The 2012 AGM was held on Thursday 05/07/12 at Wakefield City campus at Margaret Street. There were 20 members present.

1.    Last years elected officers made their reports:

Highlights of the year included the 1^st Wakefield College Branch newsletter in September, the victory over IFL membership, The new Wakefield College Branch blog, twinning the branch with Wakefield and District NUT in May and support from colleagues in schools around the district as well as from the Five towns trades council in relation to the strike on 10^th May. The Branch now has a hardship fund in place and there were donations to this from local trades council, the NUT and £115 from staff. Members of the committee had attended lobbies of the Conservative party conference in Manchester, and the lobby of parliament in October. The march for the alternative on March 26^th and protests against the EDL in Dewsbury in June.

2.    A new election was held:

·         Peter Korn Morris from Wakefield Campus was unanimously elected as Joint Secretary and Treasurer.

·         Mark Wilson from Thornes campus will take the role of Health and Safety Rep.

·         Ken Spencer from Wakefield Campus was unanimously elected as Joint Secretary and Membership Secretary.

·         Lesley Kimber from Wakefield Campus was unanimously elected as Equality Rep.

·         There is a vacancy for Skills Exchange rep and a member from this campus is considering whether to take this role.

·         Michael Ward from Wakefield Campus was unanimously elected as Branch Chair.

3.    An open discussion was held

One of the key themes that emerged from this was that there appears to be a marked inconsistency in the way policies and procedures are being applied in different departments and by different managers. These inconsistencies have been noted even in terms of the recruitment and appointment of new staff.

Another theme was the perception of the college as a ‘good place to work’ has changed for many staff also that staff perceive that their levels of stress and their workload have increased in the past year. Some staff were felt that this was best reflected in terms of the Sunday Times Best Public Sector (Not for Profit) places to work because Wakefield College were 30^th in the UK in 2010 and were awarded the best public sector employer award for Yorkshire and the Humber for this year. However this success was not repeated in 2011 or 2012 when the college was not listed at all.

UCU will look into these matters.

4.    UCU Campaigns

The committee highlighted that they are running an anti-bullying and stress at work campaign with the support of regional. This is an attempt to raise awareness amongst staff many of whom might not be aware of the characteristics of bullying in the workplace or how to identify it.

ACAS list some of the behaviours which constitute workplace bullying and harassment:-

·         Constant criticism of competent staff, removing their responsibilities or giving them trivial tasks to do.

·         Shouting at staff

·         Picking on staff in front of others or in private

·         Obstructing professional development/blocking promotion

·         Regularly making the same person the butt of jokes

·         Setting a person up to fail by overloading them with work or setting impossible deadlines

·         Regularly and deliberately ignoring or excluding individual from work activities

·         Ignoring staff views and opinions

·         Different rules for different people

·         Criticism and threats

·         Excessive monitoring

·         Unrealistic expectations

If any member of staff has any concerns please do not suffer in silence – speak to your UCU rep as soon as possible for confidential advice and support.

Finally:-

The TUC have called for a mass demonstration in London on 20^th October. This promises to be as big if not bigger than the March for the Alternative on 26^th March and will send a firm message to the Government that we are not prepared to see them dismantle our public services. It is important that as many Trade Unionists (and non-trade unionists) attend as possible. There will be local transport arranged.

TUC march

Final Pay Offer

Branches will now be aware that the AOC (Association of Colleges – our sector’s official government body) at the last negotiating meeting withdrew its demands for an end to automatic incremental pay rises and made a final pay offer for 2012/13 of 0.7%.

The FEC met on 29 June and agreed to consult members in   branch meetings during September and to make decisions on the next steps at its meeting on 5 October.  

The committee recognised that the removal of the conditions was an important achievement allowing UCU to make it clear that any employers who attempt to end incremental progression do so without the recommendation from the AoC. The agreement to recommend colleges adopt minimum rather than zero hours for part time staff, the promotion  of the national workloads agreement and a willingness to discuss best practice on lesson observation are  also very  welcome.   

FEC however is recommending that the offer is rejected because it far below the claim for 5% and with current inflation rates is an effective pay cut. 

In line with a decision of the national annual sector conference in June, branches are therefore being asked to support the position that members should be balloted for a programme of escalating strike action in pursuit of an improved offer.

As a branch we have to decide on our position before September which is basically;

1.    Rejection  or acceptance of  the final pay offer

2.    A ballot of members for a programme of escalating strike action in pursuit of an improved pay offer.

Rally & March for the future – in Oxford & Sheffield on Saturday 14th July 2012

 

Demonstrations are being organised in Sheffield and Oxfordshire to highlight concerns about the impact of the Government's cuts and to help mobilise teachers and other public sector workers in the run up to the TUC demonstration on 20th October 2012.
These demonstrations are supported by the local Trades Councils, and the local and national NUT and NASUWT. The theme of the demonstration is Rally for our Future: Defend Education, Defend Public Services, Defend Pensions, Pay & Jobs. See Oxford and Sheffield fliers for contact details and more information.

UCU CONGRESS REPORT - 2012

UCU CONGRESS REPORT - 2012

FROM UCU REGIONAL SECRETARIES AND NEC REGIONAL-RELATED LONDON MEMBERS

This was one of the most critical Congresses of recent years. The mood was serious, but positive and determined. Almost certainly as direct reflection of this, this was also an extremely well attended Congress with many ‘first time’ delegates from Local Associations and Branches in both sectors that previously had been under-represented or not represented at all at Congress. This should be seen also as a credit to everyone including the General Secretary, the National Campaigns team, Regional Officials and Organisers and lay Officers who did so much to promote Congress attendance this year.

From a regional perspective the Thursday night pre-Congress meeting called by Regions was absolutely packed with an attendance of well over two hundred.  Motions on the Congress floor that spoke of and stressed the significance of developing regional organisation, Regional Committees and regional initiatives over the last year and into the next were passed with full support of everyone.

All constituencies and interests groups at Congress engaged in informed, animated debate over the maximization of democratic governance within UCU and how best to meet the many challenges we face in the year ahead. Motions and debate considered NEC structures, election of national negotiators and the value, and timing of consultation with and balloting members.

In the light of the critical imperative to defend pensions, pay and job security all delegates committed to a review of UCU national structures to maximise effective leadership to activate the fullest possible involvement of membership.

It was agreed that a Commission will be created comprising equal numbers of HE and FE membership (5 per sector). Voting will take place amongst Congress delegates and be completed by Friday July 13th. UCU officials confirmed that this was a manageable and achievable time line. All delegates acknowledged that equality issues must be respected and visible within the voting process. The Commission will report back to Congress as sovereign body of the union in 2013.

All delegates were committed to a united UCU that can and will lead a positive defence against the ‘austerity’ agenda of the Con-Dem government. All delegates had examples from Local Associations, Branches and Regions as to how that agenda was already causing institutional havoc. All reported how that agenda was already reducing and narrowing student opportunity, threatening established policy and practices on work-place equality and work-life balance, putting at risk job security, putting back attempts to improve terms and conditions for disadvantaged workers including most critically ‘casual’ ‘hourly-paid’ staff and causing misery for individual members. Threats of privatisation, outsourcing and ‘shared services’

were a common concern across both sectors as, unfortunately, were related threats to academic freedom and security of academic ownership and intellectual property rights to research and teaching materials arising directly from opportunist ‘market-led’ initiatives of Vice Chancellors and Principals.

All delegates were committed to a UCU that continues with and intensifies our leading role in the defence of positive educational and social values alongside all sister Trades Unionists within the public sector and beyond. September can and will see a re-engagement in the collective struggle to defend pensions, pay and job security by all public sector unions. Reflecting frustration with lack of progress in both pension campaigns over USS and TPS, Congress passed motions by clear majority to continue the TPS campaign in September and to end the suspension of current industrial action over the USS dispute. The TUC have organised a demonstration for 20th October. Our message from Congress is that UCU is now united, ready and capable of playing a winning part in that struggle.

Pura Ariza UCU North West Regional Secretary Mick Dawson UCU South East Regional Secretary Veronica Killen UCU North East Regional Secretary Liz Lawrence UCU Yorkshire & Humberside Regional Secretary Jeannie Robinson UCU East Midlands Regional Secretary.

Cliff Snaith UCU London Regional Secretary Mandy Brown UCU London Regional FE Secretary Sean Wallis UCU London Regional HE Secretary Mark Campbell NEC (London Region) Richard McEwan NEC (London Region) Sean Vernell NEC (London Region) Ben Boydell NEC rep for the South constituency (FE).

New TPS Portal

There is a new UCU portal focussing on the threats to TPS.

http://tps.web.ucu.org.uk/

Wakefield Strike Picket Line in Pictures

There was a successful picket line at Thornes Park Campus this morning. We managed to stay for 3 hours despite the rain and we attracted a lot of supportive hoots from passing cars.

The umbrellas went down as the sun came out briefly and our branch banner took pride of place.

Like any proper picket line things wouldn't be right without at least one copy of Socialist Worker

May 10th Hardship Funds

Solidarity Hardship Fund

The committee appreciates that some members may experience hardship as a result of striking on May 10^th. With this in mind, we have put a hardship fund into place for members to access should they need to. Some members for instance are single parents or the sole breadwinner, others have two members of the same family striking or may experience other financial difficulties. We have a small fund available to help and will do our best to support you. In order to apply, please contact Lesley Kimber or Peter Korn Morris in the first instance stating that you would like to make a hardship application. The process is completely confidential. We would also encourage members to contribute to the fund. A collection will be coming to your staff room soon or give donations to any member of the committee!

 Wakefield College UCU are now ‘twinned’ with Wakefield and District NUT. The NUT voted unanimously to twin with us at a recent committee meeting where a member of the committee was a guest speaker. The twinning process was borne out of the frustrations felt by many NUT members at not being called out with London Teachers on the 28^th March. NUT members made collections and sent ‘solidarity’ cards and 44 boxes of cup cakes to picket lines across central London.

Wakefield and District NUT have sent collection sheets to schools in Wakefield area and plan to donate the proceeds to our hardship fund. They also voted to donate the remaining collection money from the London Cup Cake collection to our hardship fund. The committee would like to express our gratitude on behalf of the membership for this.

UCU will join strike action and protests on 10 May

UCU's national executive committee have today voted to take strike action on Thursday 10 May alongside other unions in an ongoing row over changes to members' pension schemes.

UCU members in England and Wales who are part of the Teachers' Pension Scheme will join civil service union PCS and parts of the Unite union on strike.

Other events on the day include a protest by members of the police and prison officers' trade unions - the Police Federation, NAPO and the POA - in defence of their pensions.

The controversial changes imposed by the government at the start of the month will see members of the Teachers' Pension Scheme work longer, pay more into their pension each month in return for a reduced pensions package when they finally retire.

Staff in colleges and universities across the UK are receiving reduced pay packets this month as the rise in their pension contributions takes effect.

Members can see how much they stand to lose by going to the contribution and benefits calculators here.

Unions demand 5 per cent rise for staff ‘at breaking point’

Unions have warned that staff in FE are at “breaking point” as official figures revealed that the salaries of college lecturers have fallen over the past year, even before the effects of inflation were taken into account.
Justifying a pay claim of 5 per cent, the joint submission by the six unions that work in FE said that staff have seen their standard of living eroded by the equivalent of thousands of pounds over the past two years as a result of inflation. Some staff have even seen their pay cut directly, with the average salary in FE falling by £38 this year, according to the Office for National Statistics.
And this is only the beginning. Lecturers are likely to face even greater pressure on pay as the government’s funding cuts begin in earnest: so far, just 3 per cent of the proposed 25 per cent budget reductions have been implemented. At Gateshead College, some staff are being asked to take an £8,000 pay cut next year, while Sunderland College is also revising job descriptions and pay grades as part of an effort to save £2.2 million.
According to statistics quoted in the unions’ joint pay claim, staff have on average already seen their income fall in real terms by the equivalent of £3,100 over two years, while the cost of living rose by 9.4 per cent. Even the highest paid teachers received only £200 in salary increases over the same period.
“Whichever way you look at it, staff working in further education colleges have taken a massive hit to their living standards in the last few years, a situation which for many is reaching breaking point and cannot continue,” the unions said.
In the joint claim, produced by the University and College Union, the ATL, the Association of Managers in Education, Unison, Unite and the GMB, the unions called for a 5 per cent increase, with a minimum rise of £750 for the lowest paid. The claim also called for tougher measures to improve conditions for part-time workers and the use of lesson observations.
Unions claim that, in the past 12 months, there has been a “sharp increase” in the use of contracts with no minimum hours of work. This means that staff need to be constantly available for work but have no reliable income - a practice the unions compare to the fast food industry. They have called on the Association of Colleges (AoC) to take action to halt the use of “zero hours” contracts, in line with existing national agreements.
They have also called for a national agreement on the proper use of lesson observations, which they say have been responsible for an “unprecedented” increase in local disputes, as staff are forced to bear the brunt of increased workloads and greater pressure for students to achieve.
The UCU is clearly angry. Head of FE Barry Lovejoy said: “Pay awards have been very minimal, tokenistic, in the past two years. And there have very often been places that haven’t even paid that. We’re beginning to see an increasing number of pay bars, so people aren’t progressing up the pay scale. This can’t go on, year after year.
“Whether it’s this year or in the near future, pay will come to be seen as a very significant point of dispute.”
The AoC, which represents the college employers in the non-binding national negotiations, said that the process is at an early stage and the first meetings between the parties will be in mid-May. “This year, all parties face a particular set of circumstances, which means that everyone is facing difficult conditions in these straitened times,” said director of employment Evan Williams.

Outcome for Sally Hunt

Nearly 23,000 of you voted in the ballot. The turnout has far exceeded that in recent elections including my own. However you voted thank you for taking part!

Overall the results were as follows:

•88.6% voted to support reducing the size of the National Executive Committee and spending the savings to improve member services
•85.1% voted to be balloted whenever the majority of negotiators believe a final offer is on the table and before a decision is taken to accept or reject
•82.4% voted to elect your lay national negotiators by one member one vote rather than by annual conference.

IFL Fees Scrapped

UCU today welcomed the news that staff in further education colleges would no longer be forced to pay a fee to do their job. An independent panel said the Institute for Learning (IfL) could not remain a compulsory body and money should be refunded to staff who had paid to join.

Membership of the IfL is currently compulsory for teachers in adult and further education, but up until this year the fee was picked up by the government. In September, members of UCU voted overwhelmingly to boycott the IfL after membership became compulsory.

That action, coupled with the threat of legal action, prompted further education minister John Hayes to announce an independent review into professionalism in the sector in England. As well as welcoming the news that IfL membership is no longer compulsory, the union said it was looking forward to playing a full role in the wider review of professionalism.

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'We are pleased that the panel has recognised compulsory membership of the IfL is a bad move. We are also delighted that the relatively small number of people who did pay the fee will now be reimbursed.

'Boycotting the IfL was not a decision UCU members took lightly, but to be effective as a professional body it must enjoy the confidence of the majority of practitioners. Today's recommendations are a vindication of the members' boycott and we look forward to playing a full part in the review of professionalism in further education.'

The full report can be found the department for business, innovation and skills website

The report says: 'The panel recommends that, as already planned, public funding to the IfL should come to an end in the financial year 2012-2013. When combined with our recommendation to revoke the 2007 Regulations, this advice will restore the IfL to its original status as a private membership body, dependent on voluntary subscriptions in return for services.'

GS Manifesto Vote Closes on Wednesday

General Secretary’s manifesto proposals: A reminder that the consultative ballot on the General Secretary’s proposed changes to UCU will close on Wednesday 28 March, so if you want your say on UCU’s future, make sure you use your vote: http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=5993

Supporting London's Strike

TPS dispute – Support London’s strike and demonstration on Wednesday:A reminder that London members in the TPS pension scheme will be taking a day’s strike action alongside NUT members on Wednesday 28 March in the latest phase of the campaign. There will also be a demonstration in central London. If you are covered by the call to strike action, please support your union. You can find out more about the demonstration and see our latest campaign materials here:
http://tps.web.ucu.org.uk/
If not , you can show your support by attending the demonstration or getting involved in whatever support your branch is planning for the day. Lots of branches are already developing twinning arrangements with striking London branches. Contact your branch for more details.

Rolling Strike Action Confirmed

Dear colleague,

On Friday, the NEC agreed that the union’s London TPS members would take action alongside colleagues from NUT on 28 March. It was also agreed to defer a decision about action elsewhere in the country until the PCS union’s Executive had met. That meeting has now taken place and PCS have decided NOT to take strike action in the UK on 28 March. For the avoidance of doubt this means:

· UCU members in London TPS branches WILL called on to take strike action on 28 March

· UCU members in TPS branches outside London WILL NOT be called on to take strike action on 28 March

· UCU members in Scottish (STSS) and Northern Ireland (NISS) branches WILL NOT be called on to take strike action on 28 March

The NEC has asked branches not taking action to nonetheless hold lunchtime or similar events in support of our dispute on pensions on 28 March. Please let us know if you are planning an event so we can tell others. We will also be circulating details of a demonstration in London by NUT and UCU colleagues on 28 March as soon as we have more details.

All the best.

NEC Meeting last Friday

Last Friday’s NEC met to discuss what action to take in the light of the membership consultation.

1.       UCU had an overwhelming vote of over 80% (of those who voted) supporting the NEC’s rejection of the government’s pension proposals and in favour of a continuing campaign against them. 60% of those who voted also supported striking on March 28^th alongside other unions. The PCS, NUT and EIS all got broadly similar results from their consultations.

2.       The NUT Executive last Wednesday decided against a national strike on the 28^th but instead decided to bring out its members in London as the start of a campaign of rolling strike action. The EIS Exec. then decided not to strike on the 28^th. The PCS Exec. does not meet until today.

3.       We had to consider both what our members had voted FOR and what other unions were planning to do. We decided therefore to:

A)     Tell the PCS that UCU will endorse national strike on the 28^th March if the PCS does as well.

B)      Endorse UCU strike action in London on the 28^th alongside the NUT. With dinnertime protests nationally outside other colleges.

C)      Instruct the general secretary to talk to other unions urgently to agree a programme of action for after Easter.

4.       I’ll send out further details tomorrow when I hear the PCS decision. It strikes me, however, if it is the case that the PCS does not strike on the 28^th and we just have a London only strike on that day then one concrete way of making the day as national as possible will be for Yorkshire UCU branches to ‘twin’ with London UCU branches – that can mean collecting money to pay for picketers’ breakfasts, messages of support, linking up at department level etc. We must not let our London members feel they are being asked to fight for all of us on their own. So we also need to demand that there is a rolling programme of regional action to follow.