Friday, 27 May 2016

NO TO JOB CUTS AND TRADE UNION VICTIMISATION AT LONDON MET

NO TO JOB CUTS AND TRADE UNION VICTIMISATION AT LONDON MET


MH
Margot Hill
Campaign created by
Margot Hill
No to Job Cuts and Trade Union Victimisation at London Met
2,167 
of 3,000 signatures
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TO: BOARD OF GOVERNORS, LONDON METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY

We, the undersigned, are shocked at the recently announced compulsory redundancies of permanent faculty staff, and other recent job losses resulting through the removal of all teaching hours from some long serving HPL (Hourly Paid Lecturer) staff, at London Metropolitan University.
We believe that these lecturer job cuts will directly negatively impact on the student experience. This is particularly problematic as the university attempts to make itself more attractive to potential applicants and provide an enhanced service to its existing students.
We are further outraged that among the job losses announced are union officers, including the UCU Chair, Mark Campbell, and UCU Secretary, David Hardman. We insist that these staff must not be victimised (whether deliberately or indirectly identified for redundancy) as a result of being union activists.
We therefore demand that you immediately rescind the announced job cuts, and in addition, that you give a full public guarantee that union officers will be fully afforded the respect and protection their office deserves.
Initial Signatures 
Sally Hunt, UCU General Secretary 
Elizabeth Lawrence, UCU President 
Margot Hill, UCU Chair London Region and NEC Member 
Rob Goodfellow, UCU President Elect 
Sean Wallis, UCU NEC member University College London 
Terry Murphy, UCU NEC Member, Teeside University 
Richard McEwan, UCU NEC member London Further Education 
Mandy Brown, UCU NEC Member London Further Education 
Carlo Morelli, UCU NEC Member, Dundee University

Why is this important?

The success of widening participation in higher education requires a supported, sufficient, and respected workforce. The staff cuts and union victimisation at London Met is the antithesis of these things and unchallenged will lead to the diminution of an essential opportunity for non-traditional students.
Category: Cuts Education Politics
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why-we-are-resigning-as-external-examiners

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/may/26/why-we-are-resigning-as-external-examiners 

We write as external examiners whose role is to assure the quality of higher education courses at universities and colleges across the UK, but who have decided to resign in order to support the campaign for fair pay in our sector. We have resigned because, while as senior academics we believe our role in underpinning the quality of education provided to students is vital, we are all too aware of the unfairness of the current pay policies of our universities and their impact on staff and their students.
We have watched with sadness the pay of academic and professional staff fall in real terms by 14.5% since 2009; we have seen the numbers of casual staff proliferate; and seen universities do little or nothing to reduce the shocking gender pay gap despite having a collective surplus of £1.85bn. Yet the final straw for many of us is the contention by our employers that the latest final pay offer of 1.1% is “at the limits of what can be afforded” when at the same time we discover that university leaders have themselves received an average pay increase of 6.1%. The blatant hypocrisy of this position is breathtaking.
We love our work as external examiners not least because it brings us into contact with academics from around the country. The high-quality work we see confirms to us that staff deserve better from institution heads. We have therefore resigned from our external examiner posts and will not be taking up new posts in order to demonstrate that there will be no “business as usual” until we have a commitment from our universities to fair pay in higher education.
We recognise that this is a significant step for any professional to take but urge other external examiners to follow our lead.
Professor Richard Taffler Warwick Business School, University of Warwick 
Professor Cathy Urquhart Manchester Metropolitan University
Professor Tony Evans Royal Holloway, University of London 
Professor Florence Myles University of Essex 
Professor Heiko Balzter University of Leicester 
Professor Daniel Katz University of Warwick 
Professor Robert Miller Queen’s University Belfast
Professor Christian De Cock University of Essex
Professor Glen Jeffery UCL, Institute of Ophthalmology
Professor Thomas Munck University of Glasgow
Professor Jeremy Guggenheim Cardiff University
Professor Cam Donaldson Glasgow Caledonian University
Professor Deborah Mabbett Birkbeck College, University of London
Professor Emma Clery University of Southampton
Professor Willy Maley University of Glasgow
Professor Jim Newell University of Salford
Professor Mark Humphries Swansea University
Professor George Kernohan University of Ulster
Professor Martin Conboy University of Sheffield
Professor Ingunn Holen University of Sheffield
Professor Laurie Stras University of Southampton
Professor Laura Lewis University of Southampton
Professor Raymond Bush University of Leeds
Professor David Clarke Newcastle University
Professor Keith Attenborough The Open University
Professor Tess Ridge University of Bath
Professor Melanie Simms University of Leicester
Professor Andrew Samuels University of Essex
Professor Adam Rutland Goldsmiths, University of London
Professor Malcolm Povey University of Leeds
Professor Rolland Munro University of Leicester
Professor Stephen Salter University of Edinburgh
Professor Paul Johnson University of York
Professor Harriet Bradley UWE Bristol
Professor Susan Page University of Leicester
Professor Dominique Laurence University of Manchester
Professor Dominic Wring Loughborough University
Professor Richard Saundry Plymouth University
Professor Eleanor Spaventa Durham University
Professor Victor Van Daal Edge Hill University
Professor Frederic Fol Leymarie Goldsmiths, University of London
Professor Raphael Salkie University of Brighton
Professor Özlem Onaran University of Greenwich
Professor Claire Squires University of Stirling
Professor John Holford University of Nottingham
Professor Patrick Ainley University of Greenwich
Professor Martin Parker University of Leicester
Professor Richard Worden University of Liverpool
Professor Jenny Pickerill University of Sheffield
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UCU campaigns update:


In this week’s campaigns update:

Higher education (HE): solid strike action and mass external examiner resignations
Thanks to every one of you who took strike action this week in support of a fair deal for
HE staff. The huge number of reports and photos that were sent in from picket lines and 
rallies from across  the UK show two incredibly strong strike days with excellent support
from students too.
 Please take a look at our fantastic online wall displaying all your photos, comments and
 messages.

Additionally over a thousand members have now resigned from external examiner posts 
in support of the union’s campaign and there is a fantastic letter in today’s Guardian from 
a group of senior academics explaining why they are resigning from and not taking up new
external examiner posts. If you feel able to join them, please see our guidance here on how 
to resign from your external examiner post and support fair pay, equality and proper
 contracts in HE.

Further education (FE): EU referendum teaching materials
Hope not Hate has produced a neutral teaching pack for use in further education (FE) 
colleges to  support their drive to register voters ahead of the EU referendum. 
Download the teaching materials here.

If you want to vote in the EU referendum on 23 June, you must register by Tuesday 
7 June. Please see here for the joint UCU/NUS voter registration campaign pack.

Also this week:
1. In the news
2. New publication: ‘UCU@work’
3. 'Why FE matters: the case for lifelong learning' short film
4. UCU Wales welcomes new cabinet post
5. Performance related pay survey – last chance to take part
6. Research grant writing: free professional development event
7. Say no to trade union victimisation at London Metropolitan University
8. Support the Royal College of Midwives

Please click here.

All the best

Justine Stephens

UCU head of campaigns
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Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Frack Free Ryedale has launched a people's declaration against fracking

Al Williams' via Time to Act on Climate Change - planning group





Hey everyone,

Sue Gough from Frack Free Ryedale has launched a people's declaration against fracking in response to yesterday's decision to frack at Kirby Misperton in Yorkshire, vowing to continue the fight and asking for support from across the country.

Please can people sign and share it. Thanks

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Tuesday, 24 May 2016

Report back from NUS/UCU climate conference 13 may 2013

Exploring climate change and education with UCU

Friday 20-05-2016 - 09:09


Last week we co-hosted a conference on climate change and education with UCU, at the University of Manchester. Bringing together students, academics and other stakeholders, we asked what education can do to address the urgent challenges of climate change.

Climate change and curriculums
The first of our sessions looked at how we can embed sustainability into the curriculums of all students – whatever their discipline.
Professor Julia King – vice chancellor of Aston University – told us how a conservatism among staff led to her radical approach of embedding sustainability into the curriculum, resulting in their reading week for all second year students being reconfigured as Carbon Week, with transformative results.
Throughout the session, it was stressed that education for sustainable development must always be relevant to a student’s discipline and future career. “The transferability of skills for engineers is enormous”, said Dr Ken Thompson, principal of Forth Valley College, giving one example, particularly relevant to his students.
“We need to teach students how to ask the right questions, and to recognise what companies should and shouldn’t be doing.”
Climate change and research
Our education sector isn’t only influential for shaping future leaders. It also generates a huge volume of research and knowledge, helping us to understand and respond to climate change.
“I don’t think that as a sector we are always good at using the research we actually have”, said Dr. Carly McLachlan from the Tyndall Centre, exploring the impact of REF, and universities’ ability to facilitate interdisciplinary research.
She encouraged delegates to go out and actually make things happen with their research – whether working with NGOs, or helping to shape policy.
Professor Kate Rigby went on to explore how the humanities have to relate to scientific disciplines; how human history relates to natural history, and how research can be used to challenge notions of human chauvinism – inviting us to “think quite fundamentally about what it means to be human”.

Climate change and finance
Universities and colleges also manage a great deal of finance, and this has to play a part in our education sector’s response to climate change. 
John Robinson – finance director of Brunel University – suggested that the financial agenda and the green agenda have quite a strong overlap. “Both are against waste, and are in favour of resource effectiveness”, he argued, outlining his approach to embedding sustainability across his buildings and procurement decisions.
“It’s not just a climate issue, it’s actually a financial issue”, he said.
Of course, however much we divest from certain companies, it doesn’t get us to where we need to be. If we invest in low carbon technologies, that’s where we see a really positive impact. That’s what Evette Prout, development officer at Sheffield Students’ Union and Andy Kerr of Edinburgh's Fossil Free Working Group explained their approach to divestment and reinvestment – echoing our national campaign to move £100 million from fossil fuels into renewables.
Lisa Nandy on climate change, energy and jobs
The conference closed with a keynote address from shadow secretary for energy and climate change Lisa Nandy MP.
Lisa explored both the opportunities and the challenges associated with our transition from fossil fuels to renewables, and how we can develop skills in the workforce to meet the challenges of the climate crisis.

Related Tags:
More Sustainability Articles


More Articles...

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OSBORNOMICS: Why it doesn't work, & what we can do about it is on Thursday at 18:30

OSBORNOMICS: Why it doesn't work, & what we can do about it is on Thursday at 18:30


Questions about this event?

Contact the organiser at northlondonassembly@gmail.com

About this event

date
Thursday, 26 May 2016 from 18:30 to 20:30 (BST)
dateOld Fire Station
84 Mayton St
N7 6QT
United Kingdom
date
Add to my calendar:
Google · Outlook · iCal ·Yahoo
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Universal Basic Income

Compass are delighted to announce the launch of a huge piece of work on why we need a Universal Basic Income and how it could be introduced.
Come and join the authors Howard Reed and Stewart Lansley, with Ursula Huws and Labour MP Jonnie Reynold to discuss the growing demands for a UBI and how it could be introduced in the UK.  At the launch event we will have free copies of the brilliant report Howard and Stewart have co-authored.
The event is on Monday 6th June, at 7pm, Committee Room 11 of the House of Commons - sign up here to secure your place, as we expect the event will fill up fast.
WHEN
WHERE
Committee Room 11 - House of Commons, London - View Map
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Friday, 20 May 2016

Keep Racism out of the Referendum, Wed 25th

Rally hosted by Stand Up to Racism - all welcome.

Wednesday 25th May, 6.30pm.
Mander Hall, Hamilton House (NUT Building),
Mabledon Place, London, WC1H 9BD

Say no to Islamophobia/anti-semitism,
Stop scapegoating migrants,
Support the Convoy to Calais

Speakers -
Lord Alf Dubs,
Natalie Bennett,
Lee Wax, rabbi
Talha Ahmed, Muslim Council of Britain,
Colette Levy,
Weyman Bennett & Sabby Dhalu
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UCU campaigns



In this week’s campaigns update:

Higher education (HE): strike is ON as yesterday’s negotiations offer no improvement
UCU negotiators met with the University and College Employer Association (UCEA) this week in the hope of finding a solution to the current dispute amidst growing anger over news that vice-chancellor pay rose by 6.1% last year. Regrettably UCEA made no improvement on the 1.1% pay offer to staff or on measures to address gender inequality and insecure contracts and the strike action will continue on Wednesday and Thursday next week as planned.

Please join picket lines and support the strike action:

A new approach to collective bargaining in the further education (FE) sector
UCU has begun to approach collective bargaining in FE in a new way and we've produced a new briefing document that explains why the new approach is necessary, what it offers and how you can get involved. You can download and read the briefing here.

Also this week:
  1. In the news
  2. UCU national recruitment week
  3. Stand up for union reps at London Metropolitan University
  4. Prison education review
  5. Education and Training Foundation functional skills survey
  6. Pensions news
  7. Health and safety news 

Please click here. 

All the best

Justine Stephens


In this week’s campaigns update:

Higher education (HE): strike is ON as yesterday’s negotiations offer no improvement
UCU negotiators met with the University and College Employer Association (UCEA) this week in the hope of finding a solution to the current dispute amidst growing anger over news that vice-chancellor pay rose by 6.1% last year. Regrettably UCEA made no improvement on the 1.1% pay offer to staff or on measures to address gender inequality and insecure contracts and the strike action will continue on Wednesday and Thursday next week as planned.

Please join picket lines and support the strike action:

A new approach to collective bargaining in the further education (FE) sector
UCU has begun to approach collective bargaining in FE in a new way and we've produced a new briefing document that explains why the new approach is necessary, what it offers and how you can get involved. You can download and read the briefing here.

Also this week:
  1. In the news
  2. UCU national recruitment week
  3. Stand up for union reps at London Metropolitan University
  4. Prison education review
  5. Education and Training Foundation functional skills survey
  6. Pensions news
  7. Health and safety news 

Please click here. 

All the best

Justine Stephens
UCU head of campaigns
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