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Read their article in Tes here
As education trade unionists gather together for the 8th EI World Congress, it is clear that working people and students are on the front lines of climate change. Already 83 million climate-related refugees have fled from disaster. 72 million jobs are threatened. Climate change affects our brothers and sisters – especially our sisters – across the world. UN figures show that 80 per cent of those displaced by climate change are women.
Despite a growing body of evidence showing the current and future impacts of climate change, governments are not responding fast enough: education unions can play a pivotal role in the global climate movement, if we build alliances with other trade unions, students and environmental organisations.
Read the full article by Adam Lincoln, UCU’s Bargaining and Negotiations Official here
In Nelson, Lancashire, a team of volunteers have put together an ambitious project to commemorate the life of suffragist, Selina Cooper. A former child worker, and the first woman to represent the Independent Labour Party (ILO) in 1901 on the Board of Guardians, Cooper became a national figure in the suffragist movement and a lifelong campaigner for the rights of women and the working class.
The UCU NW Regional Committee motion noted the importance of promoting the victories of the Trade Union movement and the particular importance of building public awareness of the women who fought for equality. The donation from UCU will assist the Labour History Project’s mobile display boards which will contain pictures and documents about Selina Cooper and the relevant period of Labour History. These boards will be used in Unity Hall and also taken out for community, school and college projects on this era.
For more information on Selina Cooper, click here.
Following negotiations and a hard fought campaign against the backdrop of a merger with Stockport College, UCU have made gains for members in the Trafford College Group.
These include:
UCU have successfully negotiated improvements for Accrington & Rossendale members following the merger with Nelson and Colne College. These include:
This is testimony to the organisation and hard work of the Branch.
Where UCU branches have reps and organisation we can secure better pay and conditions for members. Paid time off, UCU rep training and support from UCU officials is available. To discuss becoming a UCU rep in your workplace or if you would like to help find reps, please contact fenorthwest@ucu.org.uk or tel: 0161 772 7020
Some hourly paid and part-time academics may be effectively earning less than the minimum wage and this is taking a toll on mental and physical health. Over two-thirds of respondents (71%) said they believed their mental health had been damaged by working on insecure contracts and more than two-fifths (43%) said it had impacted on their physical health. The report warns that the widespread use of casual contracts is damaging the quality of research and the education students receive.
Read UCU’s Counting the Cost of Casualisation in HE here.
In negotiations surrounding the REF Code 2021 the University accepted the purpose of REF as an assessment on the quality of the academic discipline and not individual staff performance. This follows the UCU’s recent success in halting detrimental changes to their workload model which included proposals to reduce Research and Scholarly activity time.
Follow the branch on twitter here: @LJMUCU
A lack of job security in further, adult and prison education is making an army of workers mentally and physically ill – and forcing many to take on a second job and even to rely on food banks to make ends meet.Read the report by Andrew Harden, UCU’s Head of Further Education in FE Week here