Cardiff UCU Member Meeting report

We held an open members’ meeting this Wednesday which was well-attended & lively.
We had excellent contributions about the current Pay, Equality, and Pracarity ballot from Executive committee members:

We also talked about how you, as members can help campaign on this issue by attending school-level meetings, knocking on doors with your dep reps, and just talking with colleagues about the pressing issues we’re fighting on.

We also agreed to support today’s strike in the fast food industry.

Key Points: Strike Ballot on Pay, Casualization, and Equality

The main points boil down to:

  • We’re being balloted on strike and non-strike action along with all other UK UCU and Unison members, on the pressing issues of stagnant pay, equality (including the gender pay gap) and casualization. Read about this in more detail.
  • If you haven’t voted yet, the UCU nationally and at Cardiff are recommending you vote “Yes” to strike action and action short of a strike. We’ve produced an FAQ. If you’ve got any questions not answered here please email them to ucu@cardiff.ac.uk and we’ll add them to the list.
  • If you haven’t had your postal ballot paper, threw it out by accident, or lost it under a pile of stuff, you can request a new one – the closing date’s approaching (19th Oct), so do this soon!
  • Please log in, and update all your details, on the My UCU website (you’ll need your UCU number & your password) – if we take industrial action and this info is incorrect (even if you have an old workplace listed, or your School/division’s name has changed the employers can take legal action and have the strike declared illegal). This is super important.

Together We Can Win: Vote “Yes” to action on pay, equality, and fighting the McUniversity

The following is from talk given at yesterday’s members’ meeting by Steven Stanley, Cardiff UCU Executive Committee member. Follow Steven on Twitter @dr_stevestanley.

This is my 15th year as a lecturer here at Cardiff and I joined the executive committee this year following the strike. I’ve been thinking about how the current UCU campaign and ballot over Pay & Equality links to the pensions dispute. Continue reading

Vote for action on pay, casualization & equality

If we hadn’t gone on strike we’d have lost our DB pensions by now. The JEP report shows that when we stand together, we’re strong and we can win.

The strike also reminded us that pensions are only part of what’s wrong with our Universities. As we stood on the pickets, debated in meetings, and came together in teach-outs we also realised that we share a common opposition to the scourges of casualization, inequality, over-work and unpaid overtime. As you know, UCU members are currently being balloted on strike and non-strike action on all of these issues in the pay and equality campaign. Continue reading