The Friday email: 4 October 2024

UCU: proud to celebrate Black History Month

The contributions Black people from the Caribbean and Africa have made to the United Kingdom are often ignored or erased. A month cannot do real justice in recognising the many contributions and sacrifices those brave and determined Black people who came before us made. As a union of educators we have a duty and responsibility to recognise, honour and salute those who dedicated their lives to fighting for racial equity and justice. For more information about Black History Month, please visit UCU's dedicated webpage as well as BHM's official website.

A New Deal for FE: standing up for college staff

We are taking our further education (FE) and prison education campaigns to Parliament on Wednesday 23 October (17:00-19:00) so please register for the UCU organised lobby of MPs by filling in this short online form. Our New Deal for FE campaign calls for national bargaining and an end to the low pay, neglect and underfunding of colleges in England. Find out more about our prison education campaign here. 

To get involved:

• sign and share our petition for a New Deal for FE
• watch and share this short campaign video
• read coverage of Treasury plans to extend public pensions to FE staff including comment from UCU
• take a selfie photo holding up this poster and email it to the Campaigns mailbox or post on social media with the hashtag #NewDealForFE.

Further strike action at Education Training Collective

UCU members at Bede Sixth Form College, NETA Training Group, Stockton Riverside College, The Skills Academy, and Redcar and Cleveland College--all part of Education Training Collective (ETC)--will down tools on Thursday 10 October in a long running dispute over pay. Please consider donating to their strike fund; details are available here.

Update on higher education pay and working conditions negotiations

Negotiations on the 2024/25 pay claim have been concluded. UCU and the other campus unions received the final offer from Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA). A branch delegate meeting (BDM) took place on 24 September and you could see results of the voting here.

UCU's higher education committee (HEC) met on 27 September to consider UCEA's final offer and voted to reject the pay element of the offer and to accept the terms of reference relating to the pay spine review, workload, casualisation, and equality pay gaps. HEC also voted to launch a consultative ballot on the offer and further details about this will be made available in due course.

Reclaim Higher Education updates

Please support the following branches where UCU members are continuing to defend jobs and education:

• University of Hull: Hull UCU's strike ballot closed on 27 September. On a turnout of 55.06%, 78.92% voted 'Yes' to strike action and 83.86% voted 'Yes' to action short of a strike (ASOS)
• Open University: OU has begun a collective consultation on proposals to fire and rehire a group of OU associate lecturers if they do not 'agree' to have their working hours and pay reduced. Please support OU associate lecturers by signing this petition
• University of Sunderland: Sunderland has threatened to sack 76 staff, including more than one in 10 academics. The cuts also impact professional services staff. Management intends to force some staff out as soon as Friday 1 November, meaning they would be unemployed going into the Christmas break. UCU will fight the jobs cuts, which threaten to damage student provision and tarnish the university's reputation.

Higher education redundancies survey

The Open University UCU branch is coordinating a survey of UCU members about redundancies in higher education, and you are invited to contribute by clicking here and answering the questions. The survey closes on Monday 14 October.

Building to win: UCU needs you

UCU is launching the 'Building to win', a local bargaining initiative to build power in every single branch. This means building capacity for local bargaining, and giving branches the training and tools they need to engage in that bargaining. UCU will be hosting a number of meetings on this initiative:

• Monday 28 October: briefing at the Mechanics Institute, Manchester
• Tuesday 29 October: briefing at the Renfield Centre, Glasgow
• Friday 1 November: briefing at Aston University, Birmingham
• Thursday 7 November: briefing at UCU head office, London.

We will also introduce our new and improved in-house system, 'Organising and Bargaining Information System (OBIS)'. It brings together a number of data sets to help branches and regions develop effective organising and bargaining. Click here for the full update from general secretary Jo Grady.

Nominations for UCU NEC, officer and trustee positions

Nominations are now open for the UK-wide positions of UCU vice president (becoming president in 2027-28), honorary treasurer, trustees, and for more than 20 positions on UCU's national executive committee (NEC). Nominations are also sought for officer and committee member positions on UCU Scotland's executive. Full details including role descriptions and nomination forms can be found here. The deadline for completed nominations is Monday 11 November at 17:00. Elections take place in the new year.

Teachers' Pensions Scheme: McCloud Remedy webinar

Quilter Financial Advisers have agreed to provide a bespoke webinar for UCU members on the Teachers' Pensions Schemes (TPS), with particular emphasis on the impact of the McCloud Remedy (Transitional Protection Remedy). If you are eligible for the remedy, whether still in service or already retired, then the webinar will be particularly relevant to you. The webinar will take place on Thursday 7 November 12:30-13:30 and you can click here for registration and more information.

UCU continuing professional development workshops

Join us for a CPD workshop this October; our 90-minute online interactive workshops are free and open to all UCU members:

• Challenging LGBT+ exclusion: Thursday 10 October, 14:00-15:30.

Please look out for our Monday CPD email with details of all the online workshops running this term.

Artificial intelligence survey: share your views

Over 1,000 UCU members have already completed our AI survey, but we want to hear from the rest of our members on this issue too. Members in further, prison and adult and community education are particularly encouraged to complete the survey to share your experience of AI in the workplace. Tell us how your students are using AI, if you are using it, and how your employer is responding. Your responses will inform the work of UCU on AI.

Equality groups conference 2024

UCU's annual equality conference is an opportunity to discuss and agree strategies to progress equality issues at work. The 2024 conference will be held from 28 to 30 November at Conference Aston in a hybrid format.

The conference will hold five separate half-day conferences for Black, disabled, LGBT+, migrant and women members, with a joint plenary session for all equality strands. For more information and registration, please use this link which will take you to the main equality groups conference page. Registration deadline is 28 October at 18:00.

Disability equality resources

UCU has produced a wide range of disability equality resources and guidance to support members and reps alike. These resources cover various topics and can be found on the UCU website here. You can also read this document which introduces some of the available materials.

Climate and ecological emergency meeting

UCU's annual meeting on climate and ecological emergency will take place on Zoom on Thursday 14 November (11:00-16:00) and you can find full details including registration here. Registration deadline is Thursday 7 November at 17:00.

eVisa and immigration status

The UK government is replacing physical documents with an online system for immigration status, also known as an eVisa. If you currently have a biometric residence permit (BRP) for a visa or ILR, an EEA or EUSS biometric residence card (BRC), or an endorsement stamp or visa sticker in your passport, you need to replace this physical document by the end of December 2024 with an eVisa. An eVisa is an online record of your immigration status and the conditions of your permission to enter or stay in the UK. You will no longer be able to use your physical documents to return to the UK or prove your immigration status within the UK from 1 January 2025 onwards. You will need to create a UKVI account to be able to access your eVisa. Click here for more information on how to do this.

Appeal for Kropyvnytsky's teachers and students

The Ukraine Solidarity Campaign, in partnership with UCU, has launched a new crowdfunder in support of teachers and students in Kropyvnytsky, a city in central Ukraine. The appeal has been launched to help equip the town's Innovative Gymnasium--where children go to school--so no more children miss out on education even in the heat of war. Click here for further information and how to donate.

Celebrate World Teachers' Day, 5 October

Overworked, undervalued, and underpaid, more and more teachers are leaving the profession they love. At the same time, fewer young people enter the teaching profession. The result is a global shortage of over 44 million teachers, a crisis that puts education at risk.

This World Teachers' Day highlights the need of robust social dialogue with teachers everywhere. The 2024 celebrations focuses on 'Valuing teacher voices: towards a new social contract for education'. Click here for more information on how you and your branch can get involved.

Ceasefire NOW! workplace day of action

On Thursday 10 October, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War and other groups are calling on trade union branches across the UK to participate in a workplace day of action aimed at ending the conflict in the Middle East. Click here to see how you can demonstrate your support.