Day Two of the #UCUStrikesBack was quite as eventual as the first, with members personing impressive picket lines at both Mile End and Whitechapel campuses. This complemented impressive pickets from around the country across the 60+ striking institutions.
But don’t take our word for it. This is the usually bustling library square yesterday morning
And, our pressure is already paying off! UCU national pay and equalities negotiators are in London after the Universities & Colleges Employers Association agreed to restart talks with the UCU.
Our strike action has got our negotiators to the table, let’s make sure we push home our advantage! To recap, at QMUL:
- Women are paid 14% less than their male colleagues; BAME members of staff 22% less than their white counterparts.
- 63% QMUL staff are on short term or hourly-paid contracts
- Pay is down 21% in real terms since 2009
- The proposed changes to our pensions will cost us an average of £240,000 in retirement
Let’s make sure that national frameworks are in place so QMUL management are force to listen to us and tackle the endemic problems faced by QMUL staff!
If that’s not enough to get you onto our picket lines today, we have further good news: our amazing UCU National leader, Jo Grady, is coming to visit!
The highlight of yesterday’s picket lines was the local labour candidate for Poplar and Limehouse and former QMUL student, Apsana Begum.
We thanks Apsana for her show of solidarity and wish her all the best in the upcoming elections.
Here are some more of the photos from yesterday’s pickets:
Colleagues at Whitechapel campus representing!
Dr Cher expounding the benefits of life after work!
Honk for equal pay. Nuff said.
Further information on picketing can be found here.
Our excellent series of teach outs continued yesterday with two further sessions. The first session, co-organised with the QM Latin America Network, saw colleagues who study Latin America from the Schools of Geography and Politics and IR give the lowdown on recent protests and political upheavals in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela. We at QMUCU send our solidarity with the various popular struggles occurring across the region currently.
QMUCU solidarity to our Latin American compañerxs
Bridget Escolme led an excellent session on myths of resistance, spreading inspiring tales of resistance to motivate and maintain the QMUCU Mile End picket.
Find further information on today’s teach outs and the rest of our teach out programme here.
All of our hard work is paying off! See you on the picket lines later.
qmucu.org 