Category Archives: Events

Two-hour strike on 23 January

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Southampton UCU members participated in the first of three two-hour strikes in support of fair pay in higher education.  We saw strong turnout and media interest, with stories appearing in the Daily Echo, BBC South Today, and the Morning Star, along with local websites like portswood.info and others.

Members picketed Building 37, the home of University senior management, to express our discontent at the increasing wage gap between top earners at the University and academic staff.  Vice-Chancellor Don Nutbeam spoke to strikers about the pay issue, and members challenged him very robustly on issues ranging from zero-hours contracts and the living wage campaign, to the broader national issue of the 2013 pay claim.

The next two-hour strike will take place from 2-4PM on 28 January, with another to follow on 10 February.  A day of joint union strike action on 6 February will incorporate all three on-campus trade unions (UCU, UNISON and Unite).

Some pictures of the events yesterday:

Southampton UCU gathering in the Piazza

Southampton UCU gathering in the Piazza

Preparing to move to Building 37

Preparing to move to Building 37

 

Picketing Building 37

Picketing Building 37

Coverage on BBC South Today

Coverage on BBC South Today

 

Members debating the issues with Vice-Chancellor Don Nutbeam

Members debating the issues with Vice-Chancellor Don Nutbeam

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Eric Silverma

Southampton UCU President

Information for Thursday’s action

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Dear members,

A reminder that we are taking industrial action on Thursday 23 January between 11am and 1pm in support of the campaign for Fair Pay in HE.  ALL MEMBERS should withdraw their labour between these hours.

We will be gathering at the UCU office at 47 University Road promptly at 11AM.  Please join us to show your support for the campaign.  We have placards, flyers and other materials for distribution on the day.  

As this is a new form of action for us, UCU has prepared a useful FAQ on the website.  The document summarises various useful points about this type of action, so please have a read: http://fairpay.web.ucu.org.uk/your-questions-answered/taking-2-hour-strike-action/

We’ve also produced a series of posters and information sheets and would ask that you print these out and display in your department/academic unit.

*Poster 1 http://www.ucu.org.uk/media/pdf/k/8/ucu_hepay_a4stacksposter.pdf
*Poster 2 http://www.ucu.org.uk/media/pdf/l/6/ucu_hepay_a4bulgeposter.pdf
*Leaflet 1: http://www.ucu.org.uk/media/pdf/2/t/ucu_hepay_stacksflyer.pdf
*Leaflet 2: http://www.ucu.org.uk/media/pdf/m/g/ucu_hepay_bulgeflyer.pdf

On Thursday please do the following:

  • Set up an out of office message during the 2 hour strike.  Something like this  – “I am currently taking industrial action in support ofUCU’s campaign for Fair Pay in HE and not able to deal with your email.  I will be back at my desk after the action concludes.”
  • Print out the  “On strike desk poster” (sent to you by email) and pin on your door/computer/workstation which states that you are currently on strike.
  • Come along to the picket lines.

 Throughout the upcoming period of action please do the following:

  •  Talk to students and colleagues about the action and explain why you are taking part.
  •  If you have ideas for future actions or would like to get more involved, tell us!
  • Please distribute our new joint trade union newsletter, Southampton Solidarity (sent to you via email), to your students and colleagues

Further points of clarification:

  • Members at Avenue, NOCS and other University sites, please come join us at Highfield!  This action should be a good opportunity for us to convene in one place, discuss issues facing staff at the University and plan for our next action.
  • Contrary to what you may have heard elsewhere, remember that you are NOT under any obligation to tell your line manager about your decision to participate in the strike action prior to the action itself.  You must respond truthfully if and only if you are asked afterward.

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Eric Silverman
Southampton UCU President

Strike action feedback

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Dear members,

Yesterday’s strike action was a rousing success!  We had great support on the picket lines, covering all the most important and visible locations both at Highfield and Avenue Campuses, and our colleagues at UNISON and Unite greatly increased our visibility and impact.

At Highfield, the campus was extremely quiet, with very few students or staff coming in; notably, the car parks had many empty spaces and the bus interchange was largely empty.  At Avenue, the entire campus was largely vacant, and all entrances were covered by pickets.  At both campuses we distributed leaflets about the pay campaign and issues affecting members of staff across the whole University community, and we also distributed our own take on Vice-Chancellor Nutbeam’s Personal Performance and Development Review.  We had supportive responses from many passers-by, both students and staff, and many signatures were added to our petition for fair pay in higher education.

Following the pickets in the morning, we held a rally outside the Piazza, where we estimate more than 200 people turned up to hear our speakers.  We started off with our own UCU choir leading the crowd in our Fair Pay in HE remix of The Twelve Days of Christmas.  For those of who you missed out, we’ve posted the lyrics on our blog here: http://southampton.web.ucu.org.uk/2013/12/04/a-little-something-to-boost-your-christmas-spirit/

Barry Lovejoy, Head of Regional Organisations and Nations for UCU, came to speak to attendees about the pay issue, along with regional officials from UNISON and Unite, and colleagues from both Southampton Solent and Winchester University.  We also had significant press interest, with three separate camera crews filming the rally, and interviewers from various local and national press outlets circulating throughout the day.

All in all we were very pleased with the level of support and activity on the day.  To all of you who supported our action, THANK YOU!  

To keep the pressure on our employers, UCU is gathering information nationwide about activities which were canceled due to the strike action.  With that in mind, please let us know how YOU supported the action – cancelling lectures or seminars, avoiding meetings or other commitments on the day, joining the picket lines, etc.  We will take this information and send it to the national campaigns team to help counter the claims from UCEA that this day of action was not well-supported!

Also, please remember that we are still working to contract in support of the pay campaign.  Please take a look at the very detailed guidance on the main UCU website here: http://www.ucu.org.uk/workingtocontract

We will keep in touch with you about future developments on the fair pay campaign, including updates on related issues both local and national.

In solidarity,

Eric Silverman

Southampton UCU President

A little something to boost your Christmas spirit

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During the strike action yesterday some of our members put together a rousing remix of The Twelve Days of Christmas which brings out some of the issues that concern us here in Southampton.  The lyrics are below, so next time you need a bit of extra Christmas spirit, do gather some voices together and give it a try!

Christmas Strike Song

 On the first day of Christmas my VC gave to me, a one per-cent pa–ay rise

On the 2nd day of Christmas my VC gave to me, Two days of action, and a one per-cent pay rise,

On the 3rd day of Christmas my VC gave to me, Three angry unions, Two days of action, and a one per-cent pay rise,

On the 4th day of Christmas my VC gave to me, four years of REF, Three angry unions, Two days of action, and a one per-cent pay rise,

On the 5th day of Christmas my VC gave to me, fiiiivvvve years of Don, four years of REF, Three angry unions, Two days of action, and a one per-cent pay rise,

On the 6th day of Christmas my VC gave to me, zero hours contracts, five years of Don, four years of REF, Three angry unions, Two days of action, and a one per-cent pay rise,

On the 7th day of Christmas my VC gave to me, low pay for women, zero hours contracts, five years of Don, four years of REF, Three angry unions, Two days of action, and a one per-cent pay rise,

On the 8th day of Christmas my VC gave to me, long working hours, low pay for women, zero hours contracts, five years of Don, four years of REF, Three angry unions, Two days of action, and a one per-cent pay rise,

On the 9th day of Christmas my VC gave to me,  Starbucks’ in the staff club, long working hours, low pay for women, zero hours contracts, five years of Don, four years of REF, Three angry unions, Two days of action, and a one per-cent pay rise,

On the 10th day of Christmas my VC gave to me, a two tier pension, Starbucks’ in the staff club, long working hours, low pay for women, zero hours contracts, five years of Don, four years of REF, Three angry unions, Two days of action, and a one per-cent pay rise,

On the 11th day of Christmas my VC gave to me, rising cost of living, two tier pension, Starbucks’ in the staff club, long working hours, low pay for women, zero hours contracts, five years of Don, four years of REF, Three angry unions, Two days of action, and a one per-cent pay rise,

On the 12th day of Christmas my VC gave to me, lots more students,  rising cost of living, two tier pension, Starbucks’ in the staff club, long working hours, low pay for women, zero hours contracts, five years of Don, four years of REF, Three angry unions, Two days of action, and a one per-cent pay rise!

 

Strike action is on at the University of Southampton

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UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE UNION (UCU)

PRESS RELEASE

date: Monday 2 December 2013

for immediate release

Strike on at University of Southampton tomorrow

Staff at the University of Southampton will be on strike tomorrow (Tuesday 3 December) as members of the University and College Union (UCU) take action in a row over pay.

Staff will be on picket lines at University Road and Highfield Road in Southampton and will then make their way to a rally at 12.30pm at the Students Union Piazza, Highfield Campus. See map here – http://tinyurl.com/nlgvzsb

At the University of Southampton, staff are particularly angry that the Vice Chancellor, Professor Don Nutbeam, has seen his salary increase by £66,000 in the past four years*.

In the financial year that ended on 31 July 2012, the Vice-Chancellor’s salary was £277,000, of which £40,000 was a one-off non-pensionable performance payment. Lecturers have highlighted that as stand-alone payments, both Professor Nutbeam’s annual bonus and pension contribution are greater than the annual salary of many lecturers and academics working at the university. A member of the cleaning staff on Grade 1 would have to work nearly three years to earn the equivalent of Professor Nutbeam’s annual bonus or pension contribution.

Lectures will be cancelled across England as lecturers walk out. Following on from a pay offer of just 1% this year from the employer’s representatives Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), staff are angry that as the cost of living has risen, lecturers’ pay has been slashed by more than 13% in real terms since 2009.   

The union’s negotiators have offered to clear their diaries in an effort to resolve the dispute before Tuesday’s strike and the union says it hopes strike action can be avoided. However, UCU added that lecturers were making it clear enough was enough when it came to keeping down their pay.

Eric Silverman, UCU President and Full Time Research Fellow at the University of Southampton, said: “Staff at the University of Southampton have seen their pay slashed in real terms since 2009. This year’s miserly pay offer, at a time of rising bills and increased pension contributions, was the straw that broke the camel’s back. And as we can see, those at the top have enjoyed more than generous pay increases.

“Staff love their jobs, but their goodwill cannot continue to be taken for granted. We hope the employers’ representatives will meet with us in an effort to resolve this dispute before Tuesday. Nobody wants to take strike action and lose a day’s pay, but lecturers need to take a stand about year on year real terms pay cuts.”

UCU members in colleges will join their colleagues and members of Unison, Unite and the EIS who are on strike in universities across the UK on strike on 3 December. Staff in universities are taking a second day of strike action over a ‘derisory’ 1% pay offer from their employers, which represents a 13% drop in real-terms pay for university staff over five years. More on that dispute here

Ends

*Professor Don Nutbeam was appointed vice-chancellor at the University of Southampton in 2008. He took up his post the following year in 2009.

Happy 65th Birthday NHS!

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Today our friends from the Southampton and South-West Hampshire Trades Union Council held a birthday celebration for the NHS, which turns 65 today.  Long may it continue!  Pictures are below.  For those who want to help protect the NHS from privatisation, please get in touch with Keep Our NHS Public — they have a branch in Southampton and meet regularly to campaign on NHS-related issues.

To follow the activities of the Trades Union Council in Southampton you can check out their Facebook page.  If you wish to become a delegate to the TUC, please contact the UCU office.

20130705_125652 20130705_123757 20130705_122120 20130705_122103

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Eric Silverman

Southampton UCU President

Southampton UCU AGM – 27 June 2013

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Attention all members:

* * * R E M I N D E R * * *

What:              Southampton UCU AGM
When:              1pm – 2.30 pm, Thursday 27 June 2013
Where:            Building 58/1009 (Murray Building) Highfield campus

Please come along and join the discussion about the University’s Academic Pay and Reward Proposals as well as finding out the results of our recent UCU Staff Survey.

More details can be found on the attached poster – please feel free to print and display within your AU / Department / Faculty.

We look forward to seeing you there.

AGM Poster 270613

UCU member survey

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Colleagues,

Southampton UCU has put together a staff survey, which you can find at the link below:

isurvey.soton.ac.uk/7174

This survey is intended to gauge your experience as an employee at the University of Southampton, and is a means for you to share your views with us.  The survey covers a number of different issues and includes several open-ended comment sections so that you may address anything we may have omitted.  We will use the results to inform our future branch activities, identify priority areas for negotiation, and pinpoint any additional issues that should be raised with the University.

The survey itself will only take a few minutes for you to complete, so please have your say!  Be sure to make use of the open comment sections to address any additional issues you would like to see raised and to share your positive comments or experiences as well.

Also, if you think that your non-UCU colleagues at Southampton would wish to participate in this survey please feel free to forward this email on to them.

The survey will close on Friday 3 May.  Once the data analysis is completed we will share results with you via email and this blog, followed by a more detailed summary at our Annual General Meeting in June.

General Meeting – 24 April 2013

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Southampton UCU are holding their next General Meeting on Wednesday 24 April at 1pm in room 58/1007 Lecture room C, Highfield campus.

The topic of the meeting will be “Stress: The Most Important Health & Safety Issue”.  We all know that stress is a huge cause of workplace absenteeism, ill health, and shortened life spans – but what can we do about it?

Our own Denis Nicole, a UCU Health and Safety Representative, will be on hand to share with you the latest information on workplace stress, how it affects our sector, and how we can work to protect ourselves and our colleagues from its negative effects.

We will also have information for you regarding University services that can help you to manage stress, from workshops to private counselling services, as well as information from Recourse, the UCU-funded helpline for higher education professionals.

Our branch is also involved in joint work with the University on reducing levels of workplace stress, and your input and feedback will be very valuable as these discussions progress.

So please come along and join the discussion.  Workplace stress is one of the greatest challenges facing the higher education workforce today – and the more we can address the problem at its core, the healthier we will all be!

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Eric Silverman

Southampton UCU President