Rethinking the University: Past, Present and Possible Futures

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Members of Frontline and PAC have launched the new initiative “Rethinking the University: Past, Present, and Possible Futures”. We share an interest in university governance and leadership structures, the way in which decisions are made, and the future of universities and higher education more generally.

We have organised a seminar series to provide historic and contemporary perspectives on how universities are run. We have invited a range of British and international speakers to share their insights about the workings of universities, addressing questions such as: How have universities worked in the past? What types of governance models exist across universities in Britain and Continental Europe? How could, and how should universities work in the future? In short, the seminar series aims to provide a fresh look at an institution, in which we all work, but not many understand.

A total of 6 lunch-time seminars are planned and all will be held on Thursdays between 1 and 2 pm. The speakers include:

  • Dr Eric Lybeck (Exeter, UK) – 21 February
  • Bernhard Chesnau (Dresden, Germany) – 14 March
  • Dr Elisabeth Morrish (York, UK) – 11 April
  • Prof. Johan Wagemans (Leuven, Belgium) – 9 May
  • Dr Alison Wood (Cambridge, UK) – date TBA
  • Prof. Felicity Callard (London, UK) – date TBA

The talks will hopefully provide an impetus for interesting and fruitful discussions about what kind of university we are hoping for in the future. Senior management will be invited to the series, and it is envisioned that after all guest speakers, there will be at least one discussion session focussing specifically on practices at our own university. This event is run in association with UCU.

If you are interested in contributing to future events of this initiative, please get in touch with Frank Sengpiel (sengpielf@cardiff.ac.uk) or Christoph Teufel (teufelc@cardiff.ac.uk).

Cardiff UCU Member Meeting report

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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.

Solidarity with Striking Fast Food Workers

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Cardiff UCU has released a statement of solidarity with fast-food workers fighting for decent pay, union recognition, and against precarious working conditions.

Cardiff University UCU branch wishes to express its solidarity with the fast food workers’ strikes taking place across the UK on 4th October, which includes workers at McDonald’s, Wetherspoons, TGI Fridays, as well as Uber Eats drivers. This is a brave move by these workers, who face poverty pay, aggressive management, and minimal protections in terms of a reliable income and decent working conditions. We hope that actions by the BFAWU, IWW and IWGB will inspire other workers in similar situations to organise collectively too. We look forward to celebrating a swift and total victory for those involved and the beginning of a wider struggle to improve the working lives of the countless thousands of food sector workers across the UK and beyond.

We’ll look into donating to the strike funds for these unions, too.

Precarity is no longer an issue just for other workers (50% of UK University contracts, and almost a quarter of those at Cardiff, are “atypical” – i.e. short-term, hourly-paid, zero-hours, etc). We need to take action on this ourselves, as well as supporting others (like, by voting “Yes” in the current ballot for instance 😉).

Join us, the Cardiff UCU banner, and fast food workers in Wales, in the Cardiff McStrike solidarity demo outside McDonalds at 5pm today (4th October).

Trade Unions organize against the far right: event in Cardiff, 6th October

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The Cardiff Trades Council (a staunch supporter of our pensions strike this year) is hosting a conference called “Workers United Against the Far Right” in Cardiff on Saturday, 6 October 2018 from 11:00-14:00.

The conference, co-sponsored by numerous Cardiff union branches, will plan how trade unionists and others can best organise against the growing threat to our community and political life from the renewed far-right threat. More info, including on how to attend, is available on the Facebook event page.

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

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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

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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

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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 →

Vindication from the Joint Expert Panel on USS

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On 13 September the USS Joint Expert Panel (JEP) published its first report on the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), dealing with controversial 2017 valuation. The formation of the JEP was one of the main wins from 2018’s strike action. Its first report supports almost all of UCU’s claims around the existence and size of the “phantom deficit” in our pension scheme, our employers’ attitudes to risk, and the fact there’s no need to slash our future pensions. Importantly, it says that only a very small increase in contributions is needed to keep our benefits at the same level. Continue reading →