The Friday email: 22 November 2024

Higher education: have your say in the consultative ballot on final pay offer

The consultative ballot on the higher education (HE) pay and working conditions offer for 2024/25 opened on Tuesday 12 November. Members working at these HE institutions should have received an email containing your unique link to vote from Civica Election Services. Please have your say before the ballot closes on Tuesday 3 December (17:00).

If you cannot locate your electronic ballot, you can use this form to request a replacement before Wednesday 27 November (23:59). You will need your unique UCU membership number which is .

Your elected reps on UCU's higher education committee (HEC) recommend that you reject the pay element of the offer and accept the terms of reference relating to the pay spine review, workload, contract types, and equality pay gaps. You can:

• click here for more information including reports from HE officers and the negotiators
• click here for a detailed FAQ addressing practical issues such as timetable and eligibility.

For the avoidance of doubt, this consultation is for UCU members in these higher education institutions only. UCU members in further education, prison education, and adult and community education have separate campaigns and negotiation processes.

New Deal for FE: new funding must go to staff

UCU has welcomed the new funding promised for colleges in the recent Budget. Further education (FE) must be at the heart of government plans for economic growth, community renewal and skills development but politicians and employers need to address the crisis in our colleges by making sure this money goes to staff.

Please sign and share our petition for a New Deal for FE including:

• parity with schoolteachers
• a 10% pay rise
• a minimum starting salary of £30,000
• a return to national bargaining. 

We want all college staff to sign our petition whether they are a UCU member or not, so please share the link with your colleagues (and why not invite them to join the union here too?)

UCU Congress 2025 

Following decisions taken at the meeting of UCU's national executive committee (NEC), the 2025 annual meetings of Congress and sector conferences will be held on a hybrid basis, enabling members to take part either in person or online. Planning for the hybrid event, to take place in Liverpool from 24-26 May 2025, is now underway.

UCU UK trustee, officer and NEC elections: nominations

Nominations for trustee, officer and national executive committee (NEC) positions have now closed. A full list of candidates can be found here. Ballots for all contested elections are expected to open on Monday 27 January 2025 and close on Monday 3 March 2025.

Staff governors' conference

The 2024 staff governors' conference will take place online on Wednesday 4 December (9.00am-12.30pm). This long standing event developed by the Education and Training Foundation in conjunction with UCU, AoC, Holex, Unison and Unite has been referred to as the must attend event for FE staff governors. Click here for registration and more information.

Organising for Power: The Core Fundamentals

Register now for the Organising for Power online course 'The Core Fundamentals' and get the skills and knowledge you need to develop winning campaigns. This international course has seen people from 115 countries attend over the past five years. Learn how to hold structured organising conversations, develop mini campaigns to build solidarity and identify natural workplace leaders. The course runs weekly with classes running from 17:00-19:00, from 13 February to 20 March 2025.

Alongside the weekly evening classes UCU will be hosting support sessions, with an initial overview to ensure you get the most out of the course.

UCU continuing professional development workshops

Join us for the following 90-minute online interactive workshops that are free and open to all UCU members:

• Challenging sexual harassment and sexual violence: Tuesday 3 December, 14:00-15:30
• Challenging casualisation in education: Thursday 5 December, 10:30-12:00.

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

eVisas: take action now

From 1 January 2025, the UK government is replacing physical documents with an online system for immigration status, also known as an eVisa. We are urging all affected members to take action now as you will no longer be able to use your physical documents to return to the UK or prove your immigration status within the UK. Click here for a step-by-step guide on setting up an eVisa as well as slides from the eVisa webinar delivered by Bindmans Solicitors on 18 November 2024 (UCU membership login required).

Ceasefire NOW! activities

On Thursday 28 November, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War and other groups are calling on trade union branches across the United Kingdom 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.

The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People is observed by the United Nations on 29 November each year, and you can also join university workers and students across the world in responding to the call from Palestine under the slogan 'United against Scholasticide' for a week of action against scholasticide and in solidarity with Gaza's Universities 23-30 November.

Climate education opportunity for trainee teachers

Teach the Teacher is a project by SOS-UK that is supporting teachers and trainee teachers to understand how they can bring climate into their classrooms no matter what subject they teach.

We offer a free 1-2 hour climate education workshop for trainee teachers, led by young people from a local school, to engage trainee teachers in the youth perspective on climate and to help them understand the simple yet impactful ways they can integrate climate into their lessons.

Having successfully run workshops for trainee teachers at a number of universities, we are always looking for other institutions to work with! For more information on the project please visit our website or email Jack Di Francesco or Emily Herbert.

Scottish TUC St Andrew's Day anti-racism and anti-fascism march and rally

Gather at Saturday 30 November at 10:30, at Glasgow Green (McLennan Arch). This year's theme is 'Resilient and rising: marching for 40 Years' as the march marks its 40th anniversary since starting in 1983 to counter the rising prominence of far right groups. Again, in 2024 we need UCU branches and members to join the Scottish TUC, other trade unions, community groups, and activists marching in solidarity with refugees and rejecting far right ideologies.

Solidarity with Ukraine

A big thank you to members who gave and shared the crowdfunder for a school in central Ukraine. The school has received torches, lights, a printer, a laptop, a WiFi repeater, several Arduino kits and marker boards.

On Tuesday 26 November, 'UCU members for Ukraine' are hosting the second webinar of the academic year on Ukraine's energy system. Register here for the event and hear from speakers Andriy Andrusevych from an environmental policy thinktank based in Ukraine and UK historian Simon Pirani on the challenges with keeping energy flowing to homes and businesses along with reconstruction efforts in greening the energy system.