Why Are We Striking?

  British higher education is being destroyed by marketisation. Students suffer vast fee increases and higher living costs, forcing many to work virtually full-time jobs to survive. On campus, they encounter packed seminar rooms and overcrowded libraries, with overworked, stressed-out staff struggling to provide the help that students need. Staff pay and pensions are continually … Continue reading Why Are We Striking?

Strike Day One: Picketing Advice and Teach Out Info

As you know, strike and action short of a strike starts Monday 25 November. The strike is due to end Wednesday 4 December.  The Queen Mary Students' Union (QMSU) and students at large have been overwhelmingly supportive, with two staff-student assemblies drawing big crowds. Our students understand that our university should set the example on … Continue reading Strike Day One: Picketing Advice and Teach Out Info

QMUL – Attacking sick leave, pensions and now the London Living Wage

First senior management tried to impose cuts to your sick leave, to treat ill colleagues with more haste and less compassion. Then senior management stood by while the imaginary deficit is used to eviscerate your pension. [UPDATE: HR responded to QMUCU intervention, saying the low pay rate was communicated in error and that the current … Continue reading QMUL – Attacking sick leave, pensions and now the London Living Wage

Branch Motions: USS Dispute and Anti-Casualisation

At a well attend branch meeting yesterday, it was unanimously agreed that the current proposal put forward in the USS Pensions dispute does not address many of concerns that members have with the pension reforms.  The meeting called for members to reject the proposal in the current e-ballot and for a Special HE Sector Conference … Continue reading Branch Motions: USS Dispute and Anti-Casualisation