News and views for trade Unionists and supporters in the Green Party
Latest GJA Newsletter.
"Until we solve this crisis, or it overwhelms
us before we can, we are now permanently between COPs. Targets now have to be
ratcheted up at every COP.
As we move into 2022 and towards the COP in Egypt,
carbon emissions are still increasing, intense weather patterns are wreaking
havoc; and there are four crucial shifts pending..." Now read on!
Please pass on to anyone you know who might be
interested.
https://www.greenerjobsalliance.co.uk/news/
David O’Sullivan’s unfair dismissal claim against Metroline bus company is scheduled for a preliminary hearing at Watford Employment Tribunal today. O’Sullivan was dismissed one year ago after he alerted colleagues to the spread of COVID-19 at Cricklewood bus garage in London.
O’Sullivan asserted his rights to a safe workplace under Section 44 of the Employment Rights Act. A public transport worker for three decades, he was accused of spreading “inaccurate and damaging information”, “inciting unlawful industrial action” and of “bringing the company into disrepute”. A disciplinary investigation dismissed O’Sullivan’s safety concerns and found him guilty of “gross misconduct”.
Today’s preliminary hearing is listed for case management. It will confirm the legal grounds for O’Sullivan’s unfair dismissal claim and establish a timeline for the case. There are huge delays at the Employment Tribunal and he has been advised that a full hearing may not take place until summer next year, at the earliest.
O’Sullivan told the World Socialist Web Site yesterday that he’s prepared for the fight ahead, “This case is not just about me, it’s about 73 preventable deaths of London bus workers. It’s about the rights of key workers to a safe workplace. We cannot accept drivers being sacked because they insist on health and safety protections to prevent our colleagues from getting ill and dying.”
A £20,000 crowdfund to support O’Sullivan’s legal case was completed last night. O’Sullivan said, “I am very grateful. I’d like to thank every single person who donated. It’s a significant achievement.
“The pandemic has killed more than 176,000 people in the UK, and millions more globally. These were preventable deaths, and this situation cannot be allowed to continue. I would like to thank the World Socialist Web Site and my colleagues on the London buses for getting behind me. I am doing this for all of us.”
Ahead of today’s hearing, some of O’Sullivan’s colleagues on the London buses sent messages of support. Names have been changed to protect against victimisation.
Daniel from Cricklewood garage said: “For Dave to risk his job to defend the drivers was a really brave thing to do, because he also has a family. He’s from an older generation and is a revolutionary person. Everyone knows what’s happening. No-one is happy with the situation, it’s just that we have bills to pay, but we support him.
“When Dave was dismissed, everyone was not happy, because we knew what management was hiding. They were covering up who was sick with COVID. Dave found out what was happening, and he published it. He wanted to tell everyone. He knows about our rights, and they did not like that. I hope he wins.”
Priya from Cricklewood garage said: “Be strong David, and we wish you all the best. Respect. Nothing has been done to protect us. There is so much they should be doing to fix safety. They’ve got the money, but they don’t want to spend it on us.
“When I got sick last year from COVID I was off work for nearly four weeks, but it was very hard because I got less than £100 a week statutory sick pay.
“People with COVID are being pressured to return to work before they are well—as soon as their isolation period finishes. At first, they were being forced to come back after 10 days. Now they are putting on Blink [the company app] to come back after six days, because the government is changing the rules. So, after five days, you are back at work on the sixth day. It took more than three weeks for me to fully recover [from COVID].
“We had two drivers at the garage who died with COVID. The company tried to hide this as much as possible. When the second driver died last year, all the drivers were crowding around. He was a very nice man. Nothing had been done, by the management or the union to protect us.
“I want David to get his job back. It’s not fair. He is an older driver too, and he was only trying to help us.”
Lamal from Cricklewood garage said O’Sullivan’s case is “the battle between an abusive management power and a working class employee. Whatever the outcome, it will represent a victory because David has the power to fight the unjust forces against him and he has the following of his colleagues.”
Thomas from Cricklewood garage said, “the treatment of the drivers during COVID was the worst thing you can think of. By both the management and by the union. At the same time, they were getting us to work longer hours.
“Recently they’ve brought back to the garage drivers they previously sacked, putting them on worse conditions. We’ve got one driver who was sacked and after a few days he was asked if he wanted to come back on a W0 contract. It basically means he would go from earning about £15 an hour to starting on £12. Of course, he said no.
“The situation is even worse now. So many people left the buses because of how they were treated in the pandemic. So they have extended our hours again. Last week I was supposed to have short duties, but I worked 11 hours a day, seven days straight, that’s 77 hours in one week. And just a 45-minute break.
“I had COVID, and I know at least five other drivers who had COVID too. The company doesn’t do any contact tracing. Recently, one of our drivers got a positive COVID test. A driver asked why the company didn’t notify us. They said that because of new government laws, you don’t have to be contacted because you don’t need to isolate, because you’re double jabbed. The truth is that they don’t want you to isolate because they are short of drivers.
“Dave is being used as an example to not go against the company. I hope that he will win to prove that we workers have basic human rights too.”
Vincent from Stamford Brook (RATP) said: “David has my full support, and the truth has to come out. Fight until the end! They [Metroline] tried to deny responsibility for the duty of care they have for drivers’ health and safety. David was just trying to do his duty of care as a worker and as a responsible human being.
“The outcome of this case has to be the truth, and for the company to be held responsible. The results have to be public. The court has to not only give an example to other companies, but a warning to other companies as well. It’s not only about money, it’s about lives.”
Vincent also condemned the union for its role in helping to frame-up O’Sullivan, “Unite on the buses are working closely with TfL [Transport for London] and the operators. They are out of order and it’s an absolute disgrace.”
The WSWS urges bus and transport workers to join the fight for O’Sullivan’s reinstatement. For more information, please visit the campaign page.
Striking Kellogg workers in Battle Creek, Michigan, in December. Photograph: Seth Herald/AFP/Getty Images
Our new year’s resolution for 2022: to rise up and fight back
Corporate greed and class warfare are crushing working people. No one is going to save us – we need to rise up together
As we begin the year 2022, in these unprecedented times, I know it’s easy to give in to despair.
We are facing a raging pandemic with seemingly no end in sight. We are rapidly moving toward oligarchy and while income and wealth inequality grows, millions struggle to obtain the basic necessities of life. We have a dysfunctional healthcare system with more than 84 million uninsured or underinsured and nearly one out of four unable to afford prescription drugs. Climate change is ravaging the planet and systemic racism and other forms of bigotry continue to eat away at the fabric of our society. We have a corrupt political system in which corporate money buys elections and a mainstream media that largely ignores the pain that ordinary people experience.
And, in the midst of all this, Republicans across the country are working overtime trying to undermine democracy by making it harder for people of color, young people and those who oppose them to vote in our next elections.
In other words, the challenges we face are enormous and it is easy to understand why many may fall into depression and cynicism. This is a state of mind, however, that we must resist – not only for ourselves but for our kids and future generations. The stakes are just too high. Despair is not an option. We must stand up and fight back.
Here is some good news: working people all over the country are taking on corporate greed and they are winning
And here is some very good news. While the corporate-owned media may not be actively reporting it, working people all over the country, with extraordinary courage and determination, are taking on corporate greed, and they are winning.
Workers at John Deere waged their first strike in more than three decades, stayed on the picket lines and eventually won a contract with strong wage increases, a ratification bonus and improved health insurance.
Striking nurses in Buffalo won raises that moved all workers to at least $15 an hour and a reduction in staff shortages. These nurses fought not only for themselves, but their patients – and they won.
Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers won a major victory after rejecting a contract that would have given new workers lower wages and benefits.
Nabisco workers, struggling against forced overtime, inadequate wages and pensions, a two-tier health system and the outsourcing of jobs, went on strike and won. Once again we saw workers fighting not just for themselves, but for the next generation of workers.
More than 1,400 Kellogg’s workers in Michigan, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Nebraska went on strike for months and won, fighting back against a plan to give new workers lower wages and benefits.
Starbucks employees in upstate New York, for the very first time, organized a union shop in a fight against a giant corporation that did just about everything it could to stop them.
Those are just some of the inspiring efforts that took place last year. Let me tell you about what’s happening right now as workers continue to stand up to some of the most powerful corporate interests in the country.
In Huntington, West Virginia, 450 steelworkers at the Special Metals company have been engaged in a major strike for almost 100 days. Special Metals is a profitable company owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett, of course, is one of the richest people in the world, with wealth of over $109bn.
While Special Metals made $1.5bn in profits last year and Mr Buffett became over $40bn richer during the pandemic, executives at this company offered workers an outrageous and insulting contract that includes a zero pay increase for this year, and a totally unacceptable 1% pay raise next year, while quadrupling healthcare premiums and reducing vacation time.
Sadly, the corporate greed that is going on in West Virginia is not an aberration. In Santa Fe Springs, California, about 100 bakery workers, who make cakes for Baskin Robbins, Safeway and Cold Stone Creamery, are on strike against the appropriately named Rich Products Corporation at the Jon Donaire Desserts production plant. About 75% of these employees are Latina women who are often forced into mandatory overtime with little to no notice and sometimes work up to 16 hours a day.
This is a company that made $4bn in revenue last year. During the pandemic, Bob Rich, the majority owner of Rich Products, increased his wealth by more than $2bn. While the workers he employs barely make more than California’s minimum wage, Mr Rich currently has a net worth of more than $7.5bn. Yet, despite his billions in wealth, the “best and final offer” Mr Rich has put on the table for his workers is an insulting $1-an-hour wage increase. That is pathetic.
But it’s also not unusual in the world of corporate greed. In Brookwood, Alabama, about 1,100 workers at Warrior Met Coal have been on strike since April. Just like the bakery workers in California and the steelworkers in West Virginia, these are workers who also have worked as many as seven days a week and up to 16 hours per day.
In 2016, under great pressure to keep the company afloat and keep jobs in their community, these coalminers agreed to a $6-an-hour pay cut – more than 20% of their average salary – and a substantial reduction in their healthcare and retirement benefits as part of a restructuring deal made by Wall Street vulture funds like Blackstone and Apollo.
Meanwhile, the executives at Warrior Met and their Wall Street investors made out like bandits. Since 2017, Warrior Met has rewarded $1.4bn in dividends to its wealthy shareholders while handing out bonuses of up to $35,000 to its executives. Yet, while the company has returned to profitability, Warrior Met has offered its workers a measly $1.50 raise over 5 years and has refused to restore the healthcare and pension benefits that were taken away.
The struggles that these workers are experiencing are not unique. There are millions of other Americans in exactly the same position – people who have to fight tooth-and-nail against wealthy and powerful corporate interests for decent wages, healthcare, pensions and safe working conditions. And let’s be clear. Class warfare in this country is intensifying. Greed is on the rise.
The greatest weapon our opponents have is their ability to create a culture that makes us feel hopeless and diminishes the strength of solidarity
What history has always taught us is that real change never takes place from the top on down. It is always occurs from the bottom on up. That is the history of the labor movement, the civil rights movement, the women’s movement, the environmental movement and the gay rights movement. That is the history of every effort that has brought about transformational change in our society.
And that is the struggle we must intensify today. At a time when the demagogues want to divide us up based on the color of our skin, where we were born, our religion or our sexual orientation, we must do exactly the opposite. We must bring people together around a progressive agenda. We must educate, organize and build an unstoppable grassroots movement that helps create the kind of nation we know we can become. One that is based on the principles of justice and compassion, not greed and oligarchy.
The greatest weapon our opponents have is not just their unlimited wealth and power. It is their ability to create a culture that makes us feel weak and hopeless and diminishes the strength of human solidarity.
And here is our new year’s resolution. Like the thousands of workers who stood up and fought courageously in 2021, we will do the same. No one individual is going to save us. We must rise up together.
Happy new year.
https://www.theguardian.com/
For Walls With Tongues is a collection of essays developed from interviews with some of the mural painters active between 1966 and 1985 in the UK; supplemented with 5 essays about artists who we researched but could not interview and an essay by Professor Bill Rolston about external murals in Northern Ireland.
It is available from bookshops or directly from Greenwich Mural Workshop using the contact email from this website.
Priced at £20 including post & package. Payment can be made either by cheque sent to Carol Kenna, GMW, 78 Kinveachy Gardens, Charlton , London SE7 8EJ or by BACS payment, details given on request.
Brian Barnes obituary
Detail
from a Brian Barnes mural on a wall in Battersea, south-west London
Steve Lobb
Tue 28 Dec 2021 17.01 GMT
My friend Brian Barnes, who has died aged 77 of
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, was a celebrated muralist and a leading
light in the community arts movement. Warm-hearted, funny, outspoken and a
hugely gifted artist, he created murals around south London for
more than 45 years.
He was born in Farnborough, Kent, and raised in
nearby St Paul’s Cray, the first child of William Barnes, chief executive of
the Mullard electrical components company, and his wife, Eileen (nee Hiley), a
seamstress at Morphy Richards. His parents supported him in everything and he
had a happy childhood. Brian’s first school was Gray’s Farm primary, then
Midfield secondary school for boys.
Aside
from painting murals, Brian Barnes designed and printed campaign posters for
activists. Photograph: Silvia
He began a course at Ravensbourne College of Art
(now Ravensbourne University London) in 1961, leading to a national diploma in
design. There he met Aileen McKeegan, studying fabric design, and they married
in 1964. Brian stood out as a determined realist painter and went on to study
at the Royal College of Art, where he graduated in 1969 with
beautifully composed and detailed work.
Moving to Battersea, south-west London, the couple
found a leftwing group of friends and became activists, campaigning for better
social provision in housing, parks and jobs and protesting against rent rises
and the redevelopment of Battersea power station and the riverfront for the
wealthy.
The necessity of creating art expressing social
concerns gave Brian a new direction, and a bolder style for his work. In 1973
he began printing silkscreen posters at home for campaigns. Demand grew and by
1977 his print workshop was producing hundreds of posters for the community.
Then came the murals. His first, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, in 1975, was vast, and
was painted with 90 volunteers, near Battersea Bridge. On the “good” end were
pictures of socialist goals, in the centre a “rainbow” broom swept away the
capitalists’ failure. It became a popular landmark. A year later the wall was
demolished. Protesters arrived in thousands, Battersea Bridge was closed and
the artist arrested.
More large scale gable-end murals followed; sunny
evocations like Day at the Seaside and Battersea in Perspective. Then anti-war
murals: Nuclear Dawn in Brixton, with its threatening skeleton, and Riders of
the Apocalypse in New Cross, featuring world leaders riding rockets around a
besieged world, above a tender rendering of messages at Greenham Common. There
were many more murals for creches, nurseries, schools, towns, estates and
railway stations.
Detail
from a Brian Barnes mural in Stockwell, south London, celebrating the life of
the second world war special operations agent Violette Szabo
The Stockwell war memorial, begun in 1999, was the
work he returned to often. It is a joyful mural with many images, dedicated to
the fallen in the world wars, and celebrating local residents such as Vincent
Van Gogh and the second world war special operations agent Violette Szabo, as well as the Windrush immigrants who
spent their first night in Britain in the area.
Brian was appointed MBE in 2005 for services to the
Battersea community. He is survived by Aileen and their children, Eloise and
Glenn, and grandchildren Daniel, Lilya and Natalya.
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Solidarity from GREEN PARTY TRADE UNION GROUP. Further Education lecturers deserve a decent pay offer, their work is important in any society and most of all in one which is building a just transition to a low carbon economy.
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Your support is needed
Please support these campaigns.
Support striking colleagues: donate to the UCU fighting fund
Colleagues who can afford to do so are asked to consider a donation to the UCU fighting fund. Donations to the fund are spent on supporting members involved in important disputes. As always, members are asked to only contribute whatever their circumstances allow. Any amount will be gratefully received by members taking action.
Current disputes
§ ! University of Leicester: defending livelihoods and academic freedom
§ ! University of Liverpool: striking for jobs and vital Covid-19 research
§ Aston University UCU fighting department closure
§ University of Dundee - local pension scheme closure
§ Birmingham City University: health and safety concerns
§ Capital City College: campaign to defend jobs, pay and conditions
§ Cardiff University: no unsafe return
§ University of Exeter performance rights
§ Goldsmiths, University of London financial woes
§ Havant & South Downs College dispute
§ University of Hull: job cuts and sacking of branch president
§ University of Kent: redundancies
§ University of Leeds: job cuts
§ London South Bank University: shock and anger over course closures
§ Northern Ireland further education
§ University of Portsmouth: redundancies
§ Royal College of Art: members vote for action on precarious contracts.
§ Royal Holloway, University of London
§ University of Sheffield: archaeology closure
§ Staffordshire University: new subsidiary company plans
§ University of Sussex compulsory redundancy refusal
§ University College Birmingham: shock as 73 at risk of redundancy
§ University for the Creative Arts: campus closure
§ University of the Arts London: LCF researcher plans
§ Warwickshire College Group: campus closure
§ Winning!
§ City College Plymouth win new deal staff
§ University of Chester job cuts
! University of Leicester: defending livelihoods and academic freedom
Support the boycott of the University of Leicester
The long-running dispute over redundancies at the University of Leicester stepped up significantly after UCU members began industrial action short of a strike on Tuesday 4 May. As well as working to contract, declining to volunteer for additional tasks (including an 'ideas strike'), refusing to engage in meetings over 50 minutes duration, and refusing to use online systems on a Friday, the action also includes a marking and assessment boycott.
The employer responded with confusing and threatening emails and on May served notices of compulsory redundancy on 26 members of staff.
UCU has therefore announced a global academic boycott of the University of Leicester, a rare and serious sanction. UCU is asking its members, other trade unions, labour movement organisations and the international academic community to support colleagues at Leicester by disengaging from the University. Leicester UCU is also asking all UCU members to contact anyone they know at the university - particularly heads of school/department, who sit on university senate - to ask them what they are doing to support ASOS and to defend the institution's academic integrity.
As the branch has seen no meaningful engagement from the university they were forced to move to full strike action, with walkouts taking place on 9, 10 & 11 June.
! University of Liverpool: striking for jobs and vital Covid-19 research
Support the boycott of the University of Liverpool
Liverpool UCU are fighting plans to sack staff in the faculty of health and life sciences and are taking a second extended period of strike action from 4 August following three weeks of strikes from 24 May over management's redundancy proposals. UCU members began a marking and assessment boycott on Friday 18 June, on top of working to contracted hours and boycotting all voluntary activities. The lack of engagement from management in resolving the dispute led to almost 1,500 students failing to receive their degree results on time.
Members argue that the selection criteria for redundancy uses flawed data to assess research outputs which has wider implications for UCU members across the sector.
On 18 June the university told staff taking part in the lawful marking and assessment boycott that it will withhold 100% of their wages, despite staff carrying out a majority of their duties.
Aston University UCU fighting department closure
The branch launched a petition against the closure of the department of history, languages and translation at Aston University after members voted unanimously to resist the department's closure at a branch meeting.
Aston University told staff that at least 24 jobs were at risk of redundancy due to its plans to close the department. Closure would mean over 12 undergraduate courses being cut, including BScs in international business & modern languages, history & politics, and history & English literature. Around 220 students currently study within the department. The university wants to close the department to new students from September 2022, with all courses set to finish by 2026.
Although the branch has had some success in considerably reducing the number of jobs at risk in the history and translation studies departments, talks are still ongoing about the threat to staff in modern languages:
University of Dundee - local pension scheme closure
The University of Dundee proposes to close its local pension scheme, a defined benefit scheme, which is currently the pension scheme for the majority of support staff at the university. The employer plans to move its support staff to an inferior defined contribution scheme, where pension benefits will be significantly lower. Unison estimates staff will lose out on thousands of pounds worth of pension benefits in retirement. UCU has a handful of members in the local pension scheme, is in dispute and now has a ballot mandate for the small group of members affected to take industrial action. Unison has a ballot mandate for its members, and Unite is embarking upon a statutory ballot too. Any messages of support and solidarity can be sent to ducu@dundee.ac.uk.
Birmingham City University: health and safety concerns
BCU UCU have been in dispute over failure to agree on on-site learning under Covid-19, and this January won their industrial ballot to take action. The employer scheduled several open days to take place on campus which members have real concerns about being required to attend. The employer announced a three-week extension of the deadline for submitting end-of-year assessments but has not similarly extended the marking deadlines for staff.
The action short of a strike which began on 8 June continues. This consists of: refusing to attend on-site and instead moving online all non-essential activity that can be carried out online, including open days; and working to contractual hours only.
Capital City College: campaign to defend jobs, pay and conditions
Members at Capital City College Group (CCCG) are in dispute over the failure of CCCG management to meet the UCU pay and other issues 2020/21 claim in full. The claim seeks a 3.5% pay rise; the harmonisation of London weighting; a workload agreement; an agreement on an inclusive teaching and learning policy; the avoidance of compulsory redundancies and no cuts in remission hours of lead tutors. CCCG management has notified two ongoing restructures across the group affecting more than 60 staff and cutting at least 30 posts. An industrial action ballot closed on 14 July alongside the other FE branches balloting as part of the #RebuildFE campaign. Members at CCCG voted overwhelmingly for strike action with a 95.9% YES vote on a 65% turnout.
Cardiff University: no unsafe return
Cardiff UCU have declared a dispute over the university's failure to provide a commitment that members will not be compelled into face to face work on campus. The branch are currently planning a ballot to determine if members are willing to take strike action in furtherance of the dispute.
University of Exeter performance rights
UCU at the University of Exeter has gone into dispute over a new digital learning resources policy submitted to the university's senate and which is trying to licence their performance rights for five years. The branch also argues it doesn't comply with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and is not fit for purpose. At a recent meeting members reported concerns over the policy proposals in their current form, and whether they were even legal. The branch overwhelmingly passed a motion which declared the dispute necessary to improve the policy to protect members interests.
Goldsmiths, University of London financial woes
Members at Goldsmiths voted in a meeting earlier this week to present a number of demands to their employer following developing news of the institution's financial position. The branch will be writing to management this week to communicate those demands, including that they take significant numbers of threatened redundancies off the table, step away from financial plans that would give too much influence to lending banks, and work with the staff unions to produce a new, sustainable plan to reduce the institution's deficit while safeguarding jobs and student learning conditions.
Management have a deadline to respond by 6 September, or they will face a fully supported campaign to resist any proposed cuts:
Havant & South Downs College dispute
UCU members at HSDC, along with colleagues in NEU, have entered a trade dispute with the college. HSDC is in a financial crisis due to failure of management and governance by the college. UCU members recognise that due to FE commissioner intervention, HSDC is obligated to resolve its finances. However our members are dealing with the consequences of the failures through redundancies and pay cuts. UCU members have been outraged that the principal has accepted a £10k pay rise (including bonus), whereas HSDC has reneged on a pay agreement with UCU, with an promised 1.5% increase still outstanding. Negotiations have now begun between UCU and NEU and management about the crisis.
University of Hull: job cuts and sacking of branch president
Members at University of Hull are being consulted over potential industrial action on two issues: proposed redundancies in languages and the sacking of our branch president Keith Butler. Industrial action ballot opened 18 June and closes on Friday 9 July 2021.
University of Kent: redundancies
Members have voted for industrial action (54.4% turnout) over management refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies. UCU is now in talks with the employer with a view to resolving the dispute. However we are prepared to take strong action should we need to.
Kingston University: cuts
In April, Kingston University announced the closure to new applicants of its BA Politics, Human Rights, International Relations courses, the final closure of its BA History course, and proposed severe staffing cuts in Media and Communications and Film Studies. This represents a concerted attack on the provision of social sciences, arts and humanities. The university has given notice that up to 55 staff members are at risk of redundancy.
University of Leeds: job cuts
Please sign the petition to stop proposed job cuts in medicine and biological sciences at Leeds. The university refuses to rule out compulsory redundancies, reports an operating surplus of £38 million and has failed to provide any financial rationale for the cuts.
London South Bank University: shock and anger over course closures
UCU at LSBU are mobilising to fight the sudden closure of courses in the School of Law and Social Sciences, plans to axe or redesign others by September 2022 and attacks on staff terms and conditions. The branch have now lodged a failure to agree that there has been consultation in accordance with the agreed Redundancy and Redeployment Procedure or the Recognition Agreement:
Northern Ireland further education
The employers have advised all six of Northern Ireland's further education college branches that the most they could offer for a pay increase is 7% over four years without additional funding from government. The school teacher pay award has recently been published, taking their pay increase from 2013/14 to the present to 11.25%. By contrast FE lecturers have received 3.8% over the same period. Members took a day of strike action at all six colleges and this is now followed by a campaign of 'action short of strike' involving working to contract and refusing additional duties.
University of Portsmouth: redundancies
Portsmouth UCU is in a dispute with University of Portsmouth about redundancies in the department of English literature. Portsmouth UCU is determined to seek justice for members in the department and to ensure that the treatment endured by our members does not happen to other UCU members elsewhere at the University of Portsmouth. Portsmouth UCU branch officers are in negotiations with the university to resolve the dispute, and this has included meeting with the vice-chancellor. Talks with the university are continuing, and Portsmouth UCU branch hopes to be able to reach an agreement with the university. Portsmouth UCU will report back to members in September:
Royal College of Art: members vote for action on precarious contracts.
Mounting frustration of members at the RCA has culminated in a resounding call for action to end insecurity and unacceptable terms and conditions at the college. Ill-conceived plans to change all MAs from 2 years to a 12 month rolling programme and scrap enhanced statutory redundancy procedures for academics are also being resisted. Members have now overwhelmingly voted for strike action in an industrial action ballot with 82.8% for strike action and 93.1% for action short of a strike on an excellent turnout of 63%.
Royal Holloway, University of London
The senior management team (SMT) at Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL) recently proposed changes to academic staffing levels as part of a so-called 'academic realignment exercise', which was presented as an element of the college's three-year strategic plan. A number of academics were identified as having their jobs at risk.
Academic staff at RHUL were not made aware of the plans until they were unveiled at hastily convened 'briefings' on 21 June, only a week before the academic board and the council were to be asked to approve the plan. The full proposals subsequently given to the academic board included plans to move additional colleagues from research and teaching contracts and from open-ended posts on to teaching-only and fixed-term contracts.
Although SMT since announced that they had decided to pull the 'realignment proposal' in its current form, their proposals are due to return in October 2021.
The management team claim that the proposal has been subjected to a rigorous process of consultation, yet the trade unions were at no point asked for their views and input. RHUL's local UCU committee had made repeated requests for more information over the course of many months on possible redundancies, which were consistently ignored:
University of Sheffield: archaeology closure
The University Executive Board at the University of Sheffield has recommended that the Department of Archaeology be closed, despite an international outcry over the prospect that has been covered by the BBC, the Guardian and many local news organisations. Staff and students at Sheffield held a rally in support of the department on 25 May and have been in touch with local politicians and heritage partners.
Sheffield UCU and the other campus unions are determined to resist the closure plans, which would affect academic, technical and professional services staff in the department.
On 15 July a meeting of over 200 members voted to ballot for sustained industrial action during the autumn semester if the university does not reverse its decision to close the archaeology department.
To support the campaign against closure:
Staffordshire University: new subsidiary company plans
Staffordshire University are planning to recruit all new academic staff into a subsidiary company rather than in the main university with effect from 1 August 2021. This will mean that these staff will no longer have access to the Teachers' Pension Scheme.
The branch are concerned that this will have an adverse impact on the ability of the university to recruit and retain highly-qualified and experienced staff, who will go instead to institutions that offer better pension provision. Over time this will impact on the viability of the university as quality is likely to be a casualty of the proposal.
They are also concerned that academic staff employed by the subsidiary company may not be eligible to be entered into the Research Excellence Framework as they will not be university employees. They may also not count towards the staff/student ratio metric.
These concerns with management who say that financially something needs to be done to avoid even more drastic measures.
Staff are naturally alarmed at this attack on their pensions and the branch will be issuing a formal failure to agree notice.
University of Sussex compulsory redundancy refusal
The University Executive Group at the University of Sussex has refused to rule out compulsory redundancies as part of a widely criticised Size and Shape programme. The branch has now declared a dispute and will shortly be moving to an indicative ballot:
University College Birmingham: shock as 73 at risk of redundancy
University College Birmingham have recently put 73 senior lecturer roles at risk of redundancy and asked to re-apply for 42 new senior lecturer roles. Many of these lecturers have served the students at the university for well over twenty years. All lecturer job descriptions have been changed to reflect a huge increase in workload. The proposals also see non-negotiated changes to the pay and grading structure. No collective consultation has taken place with UCU to date which is a clear breach of its legal obligations. The university are offering a severance package that is less than the contractual notice entitlement of members and is using Acas to conclude termination of employment agreements with members, denying members the opportunity of one-to-one independent legal advice. This saves the university having to pay for said advice. UCB plans to bridge the shortfall in staff by using more Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) and lecturers at the bottom of the pay spine.
This will have a detrimental effect on all staff as well as the student experience. UCU vigorously opposes both the need to make job cuts and the process being used to effect this:
University for the Creative Arts: campus closure
The University for the Creative Arts (UCA) is planning to close one of its four campuses and scrap its FE provision with the anticipated loss of around 150 jobs. The university says it wants to create 'centres of excellence' which will involve closing the Rochester campus and moving courses to Epsom.
UCA claims £18 million pounds of repairs are needed at the Rochester campus but staff believe there has been chronic underinvestment in the estate for many years while shiny new buildings have gone up on the Farnham and Epsom campuses. UCU argues that, even if the existing Rochester site is unsustainable, UCA has an obligation to the community, which has one of the lowest rates of take-up of post-16 education anywhere in the country, and should investigate a new site in the Medway towns.
University of the Arts London: LCF researcher plans
The London College of Fashion branch at UAL have called 'foul' on the plan to axe research contracts at the college and have urged the university to abide by its commitments under the Researcher Development Concordat. Branch members have also passed a resolution calling for no compulsory redundancies, confident in their support from the other UAL branches and committed to fight to protect researchers at UAL. The branch have given the college an opportunity to engage in constructive dialogue but, as they have not received any reply, will be notifying the college about a Failure to Agree.
Warwickshire College Group: campus closure
Warwickshire College Group (WCG) has announced plans to close the Malvern campus completely by August, while cutting provision at Evesham College by two-thirds, and moving supported learning and access to HE courses to another site seven miles away. UCU has previously condemned WCG's failure to properly consult with students, staff, or the local community, and argued that management has overseen a process of 'managed decline' since 2016.
UCU held a public meeting on 4 May as part of its campaign, followed by protests in July, and has now written to the college's chief executive officer accusing WCG of failing to consult properly and ignoring the views of the local community:
Winning!
City College Plymouth win new deal staff
After 2 months of hard negotiation and excellent member engagement, newly-elected branch officers at City College Plymouth beat the anti-trade union law turnout threshold to win local deals for members. Members have voted to settle for a pay deal which includes backdated rises of 2.5% for the lowest paid and 1.5% for others. The deal also includes more leave, agreements on workload, flexible working, increased lecturer autonomy and moves to tackle inequalities. Congratulations are due to all involved especially our members at City College Plymouth and their excellent new branch committee.
University of Chester job cuts
Negotiations continue with the University regarding the final 4 people left on the list of 86 as notified on the section 188 notice in February 2021. No compulsory redundancy notices have been issued and we expect that the remaining 4 will be redeployed or allowed to leave under a VS package. In which case the dispute will have been successfully resolved.
Novus prison education: Covid-19 safety dispute
Following an extended period of industrial action, a sertis of strikes planned for August 2021 were suspended after agreement was reached at Acas.
Bangor UCU avoids compulsory redundancies
Bangor UCU has ended a protracted and difficult restructuring that lasted nine months, and managed to close the consultation without any compulsory redundancies. The branch also got some important concessions out of the university on their future working relationship.
New City College: restructuring redundancies & redeployments
Members at New City College have been in dispute since May 2021 over a restructure of supported learning following the failure of the college to rule out compulsory redundancies and detrimental changes to pay and contracts. UCU ran a consultative e-ballot of members with 95% voting YES for strike action on a 60% turnout. Following collective organising to resist compulsory redundancies, and after many hours of negotiations, the employer has confirmed that there will be zero compulsory redundancies. UCU remains opposed to some aspects of the restructure and will continue to campaign for a better deal for supported learning staff and students.
Northumbria University: safe work win
Congratulations to Northumbria University branch of UCU who have used their successful industrial action ballot as the leverage to secure an agreement with management that anyone who is uncomfortable with returning to the campus can continue to work remotely.
United Colleges Group: call for respect
Members at both UCG colleges - the City of Westminster College and the College of North West London - are fighting against imposed changes to contractual terms and conditions, cuts to tutor remission, and the management decision to tear up the agreed 2018 post-merger harmonised contract (unilaterally reverting staff to pre harmonised contracts). UCU members voted overwhelmingly for strike action over changes to agreed contracts imposed by management that will see workloads increase. 99% of UCU members who voted said they were prepared to take strike action. 100% of members who voted said they were prepared to take action short of strike.
Following intensive negotiations between UCU negotiators and UCG management, UCU members have approved - in principle - a revised harmonised contract, incorporating CPD remission for all teaching staff and additional remission for tutorials. Industrial action is suspended pending the finalisation of the harmonised contract and a collective agreement. This outcome would not have been possible without the staunch support of UCU members and the support and solidarity from across UCU.
