Members will know from email and social media, UCU Higher Education Committee voted to reject the proposals put forward on Monday.
As we said in our last blog announcement, our branch recognises and has shared members’ issues and concerns with the proposals. UCU President Sally Hunt has made clear in recent messages that the decision to reject the proposals was made following detailed discussion of the proposals by branch reps, following UCU’s commitment at the start of the dispute to ensure branches take a full role in decision-making.
We fully respect the outcome of UCU’s democratic processes and we ask all branch members to continue with strike action and Action Short of a Strike. We want to see a really good showing on the picket lines, at rallies, at events and teach outs for the rest of this week.
Please join us on the picket line. If you cannot join us on the picket line, we ask you not to do any university work, and to ensure that your auto-reply is on. From next week, we ask you to engage in Action Short of a Strike (working only your contracted hours) when not on strike.
We have a full schedule of events and teach outs planned for the rest of the week, starting Wednesday morning with pickets at 8.00 AM; a rally and briefing at 11.00 at Jubilee Plaza, and continuing with Silke Roth’s fantastic teach out on Digital and physical activism, 2pm Swaythling Neighbourhood Centre (just past Brewed Awakening).
Details of the rest of the week’s teach-outs are here:
| Weds 14 March
2-4pm |
Swaythling Neighbourhood Centre, Broadlands Rd, nr Brewed Awakening | How have digital technologies and social media changed activism? Silke RothIn this teach-out we look at the relationship between online and offline activism. We look at online media as a game changer and have a look at the affordances of social media, at repertoires of digital activism and the fragility of networked action. We will consider slacktivism and how ‘digital prefigurative action’ can lead to the participation in offline protest events. |
| Thurs 15 March2-4pm | Swaythling Neighbourhood Centre, Broadlands Rd, nr Brewed Awakening | Music Workshop
WA Mozart, Casual Employee? The Arts, the War on the Welfare State and the end of Keynsian Economics How to Improvise a Protest Song (with audience participation)
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| Fri 16 March 2-4pm | Swaythling Neighbourhood Centre, Broadlands Rd, nr Brewed Awakening | Workshop: The ethics of taking strike action: principles, consequences and care Taking strike action entails struggling with competing duties and responsibilities, thinking through and articulating why one principle trumps another, calculating the short and long terms costs and benefits, and taking practical actions with other people. This interactive workshop will offer an opportunity to explore these ideas and introduce concepts to build on over the coming weeks and months, as we reflect on what a university is and what being an academic and professional in higher education means to each of us. |
Members are asking what happens next and you can find a broad outline in Sally Hunt’s message to members, which you will have received by email – though we do not yet know what UUK’s response will be, and their response will naturally shape our next steps. Indications are that it is likely that the consultation on full DC (mentioned in today’s meeting) will begin on 19 March. UCU will provide members with materials on this as soon as possible. Members who are also external examiners at USS institutions will be asked to consider their positions in respect of those contracts. Your branch will also be in contact with Head Office to set the next 14 days of strike action after the Spring Vacation.
We look forward to showing our strength and solidarity on the picket lines tomorrow! See you there…
Cathy, Mark, Roger, Marianne, Dave, Sarah, John, Mary, Huw, Maureen, Tim, Amanda, and Laurie (in absentia)