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Website URL : http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=3240
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 Strike day - 24 April: reportsNews from colleges across England on the day of action. See also: Barnsley College 'Vast majority of members at Barnsley College on strike. Pickets on all the main entrances. One lecturer joined the union at the picket line. Up to 200 Barnsley NUT, PCS and UCU members met outside the main entrance of Barnsley College for a march through town and a rally in the local cinema. A sizeable contingent of UCU pickets then went to the Sheffield rally. Mood very positive, including conversations at work today.' (Dave Gibson, branch secretary) Birmingham South Birmingham College - all teaching staff out. Over 250 members present. Picket lines at Solihull College, main site and pickets causing traffic chaos on Blossomfield Road - big tail-backs in both directions as pickets were stopping all cars - College moved pickets to outside college drive and made problem worse. Solihull local paper photographer there. Picket line at Matthew Boulton; most teaching staff out. Blackburn Blackburn College: 'An excellent turn-out this morning. All main areas picketed, outside Sixth Form Centre and the New St Paul's Building, Childhood Studies, Feilden Street building and the Higher Education Centre. Pickets on all car-park entrances. Local paper (Lancashire Telegraph) came down to take photos of pickets. Blackburn College's new UCU banner was on display!!' (Tony Fort, joint branch secretary) Bradford Bradford College: pickets out; solid support throughout. Bradford ACE: 'A very successful day here at the ACE branch. All members as far as we could work out took strike action and bigger than usual numbers joined the picket line at Bolton Royd before going to the very well attended rally at Bradford City where we heard President Steve Wilkinson who spoke with passion! No teacher whatsoever crossed the picket line, of course there are some what fewer working here these days. We also had members joining the picket at Keighley and picketing Bradford College's revival out post next door.' (Geraint Evans, UCU ACE Bradford) Bristol 'The march through Bristol was at least 2,000 and the rally so big that lots couldn't get in. Terrific media coverage.' Joint march brings traffic to a halt: local media report Pickets at all 13 City of Bristol sites. Bromley College of F&HE 'We had pickets out at the Rookery Lane campus from 7.45 to 10.30. Response to strike has been positive with a least 7 members of staff joining UCU in the days leading up to the strike – some of these new members even joined the picket lines on Thursday. Loads of stickers were given out to students for them to wear around the college. Students seemed to be mostly supportive of the action being taken. The picket line was filmed by the one of the local papers (News Shopper) and an interview was also given to the Bromley Times.' (Steve Collinson, branch chair) Carlisle College
'We were interviewed and reported very favourably on BBC Essex. They gave us several mentions throughout the day and kept reporting that UCU were also on strike on the day as well as NUT and we had several good sound bites. We were given the thumbs down by one chap who passed the picket but after he heard us on the radio, he actually returned to say sorry and asked for some leaflets. Essex Chronicle - the local newspaper - sent a photographer and reporter, we should be in next week's paper. All the students who came up to the main entrance gate were very supportive. Lots of cars hooted their support for us and one local resident complained we were encouraging the drivers to hoot so much it was disturbing his beauty sleep.' (Heather Clarke, Chelmsford College UCU) Chesterfield Pickets on all sites and limited student access. Well-attended rally. Chichester College 'We had quite a lively picket at the front of Chichester College, seven or eight of us, and got the message across to all arriving by foot from the local bus and train station. Four of us then went to over to the NUT organised rally in Worthing where there was also a PCS speaker. I noticed there were also some UCU colleagues there from Northbrook and Crawley College branches.' (Peter Warren, Chichester UCU) City College Brighton and Hove 'We had a really successful strike and were delighted to be joined by Linda Newman, who immediately grabbed a placard and said "Right, where do you want me?" This branch is growing by the day – people were even joining up on the picket line – and an enormous amount of effort was put into planning a fairly full-on event. We had funky sounds pumping through the p.a. system, a bubble machine blowing bubbles up and down the street, a juggler, breakfast and lunch delivered to the picket line by local cafes, and more supporters from the local community than I could possibly have imagined. We were very focussed on ensuring that this would be a friendly, upbeat collective action, designed to get the issues of the day aired whilst capitalising on the opportunity to talk to members & non-members alike. The media coverage was fantastic – local TV, radio and newspapers covered the strike and responded sympathetically to our concerns about FE. This has been a steep learning curve for our branch, but with membership numbers growing so quickly and a hugely positive response from all, we feel confident in our ability to represent our members and promote the current issues in FE. As for further industrial action – bring it on.' (Alison Kelly, UCU branch secretary)
Closed. Cleveland Art College Cleveland Art College Teesside had a picket line Cornwall Truro in Cornwall in the middle of the shopping area. About 300 people, marquee with PA system. Local ITV and local radio and press and UCU lay members. Excellent picket lines at Truro, St Austell, Camborne and Rosewall. Students all wearing stickers and taking leaflets. Coventry City College All members out. Craven College Strike very well supported. Croydon College 'Croydon College had a fantastic picket yesterday with around about 40 on the picket line at one time or another. One UCU member said that it was the best picket line in her 20 years at the college. The pay campaign has really hit a nerve with everybody but especially young lecturers who were well represented on the picket line. After the picket line we conducted a short march to the Home Office to join our PCS colleagues on their picket line.' (Darren Bradshaw, UCU branch secretary, Croydon College) Darlington College Very successful and overwhelming support. Dearne Valley College Good picket presence. Derby Well attended rally. Derby College. High profile picket presence on all sites. Local press and radio taken up the FE issues. Dewsbury College Solid support at Dewsbury. Doncaster College Major picket presence and reports of serious disruption in some key areas. Principal provided tea to pickets and appeared with supporting lapel badge. Exeter College: picket line in place; joined by the student union Joint Devon rally in Exeter: over 300 in main hall with around another 100 in room next door. Speakers from UCU, NUT, CSU and support speakers from UNISON, FBU. Interviews for ITV (main news), ITV SW, BBC SW (Spotlight), BBC Radio Devon, Gemini FM, Radio Exeter and - to go out on the wires - with the Press Association. 'Fantastic rally. A golden moment during the live interview with BBC Radio Devon (NUT, UCU, PCS) when a listener asked NUT Devon Sec why we weren't all striking during half-term.' HMP Holloway HMP Wormwood Scrubs Decided to close the education department. Huddersfield Technical College Front & first page coverage in the Huddersfield Examiner. Reasonably good coverage. Hull College Very well supported, picket lines at all entrances. Interviews with Hull Daily Mail and Look North; joint rally where about 150 people were present. All went very well. Julie Kelley, Hull College branch secretary, did an interview with Look North and complained when it wasn't shown and that it was all about the NUT. She then got a six minute interview on BBC Radio Humberside to put UCU's point of view. Kidderminster College All members out. Lambeth College Pickets outside all 4 centres. About 300 UCU, NUS and NUT members marched through Brixton Centre. Unison also came to support the march.
Pickets out at Leeds Thomas Danby, Park Lane College, Leeds College of Technology and Leeds College of Art and Design - strike very well supported. Leeds rally - 'A good lively joint rally in Leeds, some 500 people braving the early rain to report back from the picket lines. Strong support in the local colleges for the strike action'. UCU AGS Malcolm Keight spoke, as did Howard Miles NEC member and Richard Miles (no relation), branch secretary at Leeds College of Art and Design for only five months: 'Richard was brilliant and told it as it is for a young lecturer on low pay'. (Linda Lawton, UCU regional office) Lincoln Lincoln College had high profile picket presence on all sites. Local press and radio taken up the FE issues. Ken Norton from Lincoln College made major speech at rally and was interviewed by local radio. Liverpool Liverpool Community College: strong pickets at all college sites followed by march & rally addressed by college UCU/NEC Maire Daley. London Over 6,000 join march and rally;
City College Manchester was heavily hit by strike action with well-populated pickets throughout the city. Membership is higher at CCM than ever before and there was a steady flow of staff into the union in the run-up to the strike. Picket lines were cheered on by solidarity gestures and visits from fellow strikers. MANCAT, the Manchester FE college where UCU was hit hard by unlawful anti-union management, saw its first picket for years. A massive rally took place after the pickets were lifted. There was a large turnout for the regional rally held in Manchester. Over 500 campaigners turned up to support the pay campaign. Powerful speeches were heard from representatives from UCU, NUT and PCS. There was silence at the start in tribute to NUT's general secretary Steve Sinnott who died recently. All the speakers praised the NUT's former leader who made a big impression on people. UCU, NUT and PCS were united in their determination to continue the campaign for fair pay. After the speeches, there was a march starting outside Manchester Town Hall in Albert Square. Middlesborough Middlesborough College had picket lines. Morley College Picket line in place. College is mostly made up of hourly-paid staff. New College Durham Newbury College Sixteen members were on the picketlines. Newcastle
North Devon College Branch Chair, Ralph Hodgson, on BBC Radio Devon breakfast show this morning. Strong pickets. Members at Exeter rally. 'Very well supported strike action and excellent picket line.' (Barbara Robathan, North Devon College UCU) North Notts College High profile picket with strong NUS presence. Most students not turning up. Management appeared on picket lines to express sympathy. Northumberland College Nottingham Strike well supported. Over 400 on demo. New College Nottingham closed to students. Oxford 'Good support in Oxford on all campuses with over 60 pickets out from 7.15 this morning. We were joined on the picket lines by NUT members, national FE official Barry Lovejoy on his way to Birmingham and some very heavy downpours of rain! Picketing all morning was followed by a lunchtime rally with the NUT in Oxford Town Hall and then a well supported march through the town centre.' (Roy Bentley) Plymouth Strong pickets at City College Plymouth. Members at Exeter rally. Riverside College Rodbaston College New officers organised picket and college closed Rotherham College Although pickets were deluged by rain and hail, reported major disruption, despite serious management hostility. Principal personally objected to placards leaning on college buildings on the basis of damage to the property. Royal Forest of Dean Over 60 members were out and 18 of us picketed. Covered and pictured by three local newspapers and total focus on UCU as our neighbouring school decided not to picket. St Helens College Sheffield Sheffield College: closed to students all day; pickets at all 3 centres. March and rally at mid-day in town centre.
Solihull College The college received over 500 calls of complaint from the local residents about the chaos caused by the picket line. Made the front page of the local paper, Solihull News. Somerset College Made front page of Somerset County Gazette, as well as being on TV South Devon College 'South Devon had originally intended to take minor action and not cause too much disruption when the principal snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and went ballistic. The branch said, in that case, everybody out. Very strong pickets all day, and still managed to send a contingent to Exeter rally.' (Nova Gresham, UCU regional office) South East Derbyshire. Pickets on all sites. Hardly any students turning up. South Thames College Good turnout; the Wandsworth site was 'dead'. Southampton City College 'We had a successful day's action here at Southampton City College, we had a well attended picket line with 46 members at one point as well as non-members (who then joined) and students as well. We encouraged students to go through the line and attend their lessons as normal (we did not want to disrupt their education) and we wanted senior managers to have to explain to them why they had no lecturer! After being told they had no lecturer several students then joined us on the picket line as a show of solidarity. Southwark College Stanmore College 'We had 15 people on the picket the postman refused to deliver post; the local newspapers came down and took some photographs and the majority of member attended the march in central London.' (David Borrow, branch rep) Stockport College Six on picket line, good no show from UCU members and good fraternal support from UNISON and NASUWT. Stockton Riverside College Sunderland College All five sites have no teaching. Sussex Downs College 'All classes at all of the Sussex Downs campuses including evening classes were cancelled, first time ever. The members at Lewes Prison were also on strike. About 130 people attended a very good positive rally at Eastbourne. Lots of press; I spoke, other speakers from NUT Dave Brinson NEC, PCS Nigel Sheehan Regional Official & POA Anne Ruzylo Branch Chair Lewes as well. I made sure the few UCU members there had placards & stickers, press picked up eventually we weren't NUT! Coverage on BBC South East today and Argus, sussex express and Sovereign radio.' (Martin Porritt, Sussex Downs UCU) Swindon College Cancelled all classes. Joint Somerset rally: 'A really good day, UCU speeches from Somerset College and UCU. Around 300 there. Lots of press coverage inc TV and radio. Somerset College (SCAT as was) did really well today with pickets, etc. New branch sec, Jane Fitzgerald, was tremendous (and is very chuffed that she's been invited to NUT annual dinner).' (Nova Gresham, UCU regional office) Tyneside and Wearside Wakefield College Majority supported the strike. Waltham Forest College Warrington College West Herts College 'UCU members were out on the picket lines at the two main campuses of West Herts College on Thursday. There was a good response from non UCU members who stopped to discuss the issues or leant support in practical ways with placards for instance. Support from the general public driving by in cars and was the best ever (considerable noise and thumbs up). On returning to college we found that the strike was far more solid than we at first estimated. There was a good response from students too who took there stickers and offered support to members on the picket line.' (Dave Shadwell, West Herts College branch) West Kent College Picket line in place: great turnout, with traffic backed up the high street. Westminster Kingsway College Kings Cross site closed down. No students going in. Wiltshire College 'Just merged with Salisbury and every member of staff issued with an 'at risk' notice, have to reapply for own jobs. Good pickets at old Wiltshire College sites but some members crossing picket line in tears, saying they do support but are terrified they won't have a job.' (Nova Gresham, UCU regional office) Wolverhampton College Good support. Yorkshire Coast College 17 on picket line, solid strike - 10 new members joined online within last 48 hours. York College Very well supported; pickets at the college. Please send reports to Jonathan White |
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