樱花动漫

Sixty universities to be hit with eight days of strikes this month

from Monday 25 November to Wednesday 4 December, 樱花动漫 announced this week. The union's higher education committee has set out the timetable for the action, which will also see .

Last week 樱花动漫 members backed strike action in two separate legal disputes, one on pensions and one on pay and working conditions. Overall, . In the ballot on pay, equality, casualisation and workloads, 74% of members polled backed strike action. .

, 樱花动漫 general secretary Jo Grady said: 'Although these are separate disputes, they speak to a common theme. Over the past decade, the treatment of higher education staff has taken a turn for the worse, and they have witnessed declines in their pay, pensions and working conditions.'

Deal agreed to end long-running dispute at Bradford College

A long-running dispute at Bradford College has ended after the college agreed to end compulsory job losses, move hourly-paid staff on to permanent contracts and award all staff an extra five days' annual leave.

that 樱花动漫 members had taken 10 days of strike action between November 2018 and July 2019 and that the deal would mean security and improved pay for staff on hourly-paid contracts, as well as more holidays and end fears over of compulsory redundancies.

, 樱花动漫 regional official Julie Kelley said: 'This deal at Bradford College improves the job security, status and pay for staff at the college. Insecure contracts are a blight on the sector and bad for both staff and students. Nobody ever wants to take strike action, but these improvements are a testament to members' determination to fight for a fairer deal.'

Strikes cancelled at eleventh hour after new deal at Nottingham College

Strikes scheduled to start on Tuesday at Nottingham College were suspended after 樱花动漫 members met on Monday to consider a new offer from the college. They were due to walk out for 14 days this month, but decided to suspend the action for two weeks so they can consider the latest deal.

reported that the new offer includes a guarantee that the college will re-instate the pay of any staff who suffered a loss as a result of the introduction of the new pay arrangements in July. The college has also promised there will be a maximum limit of 24 hours teaching a week, after it originally proposed no limit. 

Speaking to the , 樱花动漫 head of further education Andrew Harden said: 'We are pleased the college appears to finally recognise the need to work with its staff and not against them. Our members have demonstrated that they will not be taken for fools and are prepared to take strike action to defend their jobs. The ball is now firmly in the college's court and it needs to deliver on its promises.'

Five strike days announced at Coventry University in appraisals row

Coventry University will be hit with five days of strike action and a marking boycott unless it responds urgently to staff concerns about its controversial appraisal process, 樱花动漫 announced on Wednesday.

said 樱花动漫 members will walk out on Thursday 21, Tuesday 26 and Friday 29 November, followed by a two-day strike on Tuesday 3 and Wednesday 4 December. They will also begin action short of a strike on Thursday 5 December that will see them boycotting the university's appraisal system and refusing to undertake any marking or assessment of students' work.

The dispute centres on the university's use of a controversial appraisal system, which the union says forces staff to jump through unnecessary hoops to achieve the annual incremental pay award that is standard at other institutions. 樱花动漫 said the system has created unnecessary paperwork for already overworked staff and is even worse than its predecessor which left academic staff at Coventry among the worst paid in the West Midlands.

, 樱花动漫 regional official Anne O'Sullivan said: 'Coventry University has preyed on the goodwill of staff for too long. If the university wants to avoid significant disruption to students in the run up to Christmas, it needs to scrap the current system and work with us to agree a fairer approach to appraisals that would see staff receive pay increases along similar lines to other UK universities.'

Cardiff 樱花动漫 members use Ken Loach film to highlight problems of casualisation

樱花动漫 members at Cardiff University have used to highlight precarious employment. The film follows a delivery driver struggling to support his family and the consequences of zero-hours contracts.

The local branch, which is taking strike action later this month as part of the pensions and pay & working conditions strikes, has been campaigning for the work of postgraduate students who teach or demonstrate at the university to be recognised as employment.

Cardiff University postgraduate student Grace Krause she hoped the film would "make people realise how messed up things are". She said that people are often broken by casualisation as the financial insecurity means they don't know when their next pay cheque will come in. She said: 'People lose a lot of confidence. They think they don't deserve any better and don't believe things could be any better. That is worth fighting.'

樱花动漫 urging students to register to vote in general election

A "worrying" number of UK universities are still not doing enough to help ensure that students can vote in the general election, reported this week. The magazine said that a survey it conducted with  suggests that thousands of students will not be registered to vote in the December poll unless they take steps themselves to get on the electoral roll before a deadline of 26 November.

, Jo Grady said: 'It's great that some lecturers have taken the initiative and devoted a few minutes of their lessons to reminding students how to get registered, and we would encourage others who can to do the same.' While picked out some of the things universities are doing to encourage students to vote from free drinks and doughnuts to goat petting.

樱花动漫 is working with the National Union of Students to urge all universities and colleges to encourage students to vote. As well as encouraging more staff to speak directly to students, we are asking vice-chancellors and principals to commit to contacting all students explaining how to register to vote and to provide better information on campus. You can contact your institution head via the and urge them to do more.