Knowledge is Power

Last day of current wave of strike action. A big thank-you to everyone who has turned out on the picket, everyone who has visited, everyone who has honked, everyone who has said hello, and everyone who has downed tools in support. Your solidarity really matters to the branch and rest assured that our employer has noticed.

The fight is far from over and this is what it is going to take to preserve our pensions and force our employers to tackle pay erosion, casualisation, workload, and the gender, ethnic and disability pay gaps.

We are waiting to be informed of details of further action on both USS and 4 fights. As members will be aware, UUK pushed through extremely detrimental changes to our pensions and we continue to be in dispute on this issue. Legal action against USS has also commenced. UCEA, have so far been refusing to negotiate, so we need to maintain the pressure on them until they do.

Action Short of Strike (ASOS)

When we return to work we are once again on ASOS. Take your lunch hour, down tools at 5 (or the end of your contracted hours) and have your tea. Claim back your time. You should also not undertake voluntary duties e.g. open days, attending extra meetings and you should not reschedule classes, meetings etc. lost during strike action – you will already have lost your wages for this. Do not work for free.

There are now several other branches whose employers are trying to compel them to work for free. Some are being told they may lose as much as 1 months pay for refusing to reschedule 3 hours of lost teaching. This is an outrage and an attack on our right to withdraw our labour. For that reason we passed a motion in solidarity with QMUL (one of the most affected branches) at our recent branch meeting this included committing to try to raise funds to support them. Therefore, if you can, please consider donating to the whip round fund and any monies will be passed on to branches facing punitive and discriminatory deductions. You can donate into the branch account using the reference ‘solidarity fund’. Note: this is separate to donating to our local hardship fund.

Strike Deductions

On the topic of not being paid, we have put together some information about declaring action, strike deductions and hardship funds etc. If you have any further questions about strike deductions, ASOS, hardship funds, then please get in touch with ucu@hw.ac.uk.