from Bob Jeffery
Senior Lecturer in Sociology
Chair of Sheffield Trades Union Council sheffieldtuc.co.uk
Solidarity from Sheffield Hallam
Reply
Unison Gtr Manchester Mental Health Branch…
University of Brighton say managements can be persuaded to negotiate by strike action.
The UCU at University of Brighton sends its best wishes and solidarity for your strike next week. We congratulate UCU members at MMU for standing up to the attacks from your management.
As you probably know, we at Brighton fought a dispute recently to defend our negotiating rights against an attempt to achieve the de facto derecognition of the union. The threat of escalating strike action, backed by a ballot of 77% on a 58% turnout forced our management to back down.
Our experience confirmed to us that university managements remain vulnerable to strike action, and we very much hope that you can achieve success in your dispute. Please let us know what else we can do to support you in your struggle.
Best wishes and solidarity
– Mark Abel
for UCU Coordinating Committee
University of Brighton
London Met say remember to take water onto picket lines!
Londonmet UCU send full solidarity to you for your strike next week. Congratulations to you and other UCU members at MMU for standing up to these attacks from your management to protect jobs, education and the closure of campuses.
As you know we at Londonmet have been through many years of such attacks, including vast amounts of redundancies, national contract attacks, restructuring, casualisation and victimisation of our reps. This has lead eventually to the (second) international boycott of London Metropolitan University which is still ongoing. We are now negotiating for 3 more days at ACAS on primarily workload and casualisation and victimisation of our reps. We can write to your Vice Chancellor and we salute you for your strength in resisting these attacks and taking strike action. Let us know of anything further we can do.
University managements are vulnerable to strike action, and we very much hope that you can win your dispute. Remember to have lots of water on your picket lines!!
Lots of solidarity to you all,
Christina Paine (Londonmet UCU, Branch secretary)
Northampton UCU send sibling greetings
Teesside University: your fight today is our fight tomorrow
Mid Cheshire College UCU send solidarity
University of Leicester UCU in support
This is a message of support from the University of Leicester UCU branch for your strikes this week
The response to your ballot was excellent, please let your members know that we stand with you in your fight to save jobs and to stop the Manchester Metropolitan University management making unnecessary drastic job cuts.
Stand firm and get them back to the negotiating table!
Solidarity!
Christine Vie
LUCU Branch president
Halesowen College and West Midlands UCU send support
Solidarity to the branch for your upcoming strike action. Your action under the new threat of the Trades Union law change gives a message that UCU will continue to act in solidarity for members and is an important step in the fight to defend education for all of us.
Rhiannon Lockley
West Midlands Chair, Halesowen Branch Secretary
Manchester Metropolitan University strikes over jobs cuts this week
Members of the University and College Union (UCU) at Manchester Metropolitan University will be on strike at both the Manchester and Crewe campuses tomorrow (Tuesday) and Wednesday.
On Tuesday and Wednesday mornings staff will be on picket lines in Manchester from 7am outside the Benzie Building at the junction of Boundary Street West and Higher Ormond Street. In Crewe, UCU members will be outside the main entrance on Crewe Green Road from 8am.
On Tuesday there will be a rally at the Deaf Institute Cafe on Grosvenor Street in Manchester from 12pm. Speakers at the event will include UCU general secretary Sally Hunt.
In Manchester on Wednesday striking staff will be speaking to parents and prospective students as they attend an open day at the university. UCU members will be explaining why they do not believe Manchester Metropolitan University should be rushing through job cuts when it has healthy reserves in the bank.
The row centres on job losses arising from the closure of the university’s Crewe campus and the fate of the 160 academic staff based there. UCU says strike action is a last resort, but the university has rejected its request to postpone redundancies planned for this summer, snubbed its offer of further talks and even turned down an offer to involve the specialist conciliation service ACAS to try and resolve the dispute.
The university has almost £400m in reserves and UCU says it sees no rationale for refusing to pause on this summer’s job losses or rule out compulsory redundancies. The university confirmed on 10 February that the Crewe campus will close in August 2019 after the students currently enrolled on courses there have finished their studies.
UCU regional official Martyn Moss said: ‘Strike action is always a last resort, but members at Manchester Metropolitan University have made it quite clear they are prepared to take action to defend jobs.
‘We have made a number of attempts to try and resolve this dispute at the negotiating table, including suggesting we get outside help from the specialist conciliation service ACAS but the university has refused.
‘We want the university to postpone the redundancies planned for this summer and to come back and speak with us with a view to resolving this dispute.’
Four-fifths of members who voted in the recent ballot (79%) backed strike action. Two days’ strike action were originally planned for 24 and 25 May, but were cancelled after the terrorist attack at the Manchester Arena.
https://www.ucu.org.uk/article/8834/Manchester-Metropolitan-University-strikes-over-jobs-cuts-this-week