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News Archives

Where did all our wages go…?

Published: 14th January, 2019

You may recall that we took 14 days of strike action last February and March. You will almost certainly have noticed that in the subsequent months your pay was reduced, with our employer docking 2 days every month until October. Did you ever wonder what happened to that money – £650k, more or less –…

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Get Out the Vote planning

Published: 12th January, 2019

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Making the university ours: a report from Goldsmiths

Published: 16th December, 2018

Goldsmiths UCU is an active and committed branch and activists there have been particularly busy in 2018. With Justice for Cleaners and Unison they have been campaigning to win parity in pay and conditions between cleaners and other Goldsmiths staff; cleaners have been brought back in-house as a result of this campaign.  Working with students and others, they have published…

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Leicester UCU: ‘Highly Commended’

Published: 4th December, 2018

Leicester UCU has been ‘Highly Commended’ in the Midlands TUC Campaign of the Year award. We received the commendation (the ‘runner-up’ prize) for our successful summer campaign against compulsory redundancies at our university. Winners of the ‘Campaign of the Year’ award were a group of Unison care workers who emerged victorious after a longterm dispute…

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Shortlisted: Midlands TUC Campaign of the Year Award

Published: 27th November, 2018

We are very proud to announce that Leicester UCU has been nominated for the Midlands TUC Campaign of the Year award, for our successful summer campaign against compulsory redundancies at our university. The winner will be announced at an Awards night – which will also celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Trades Union Congress –…

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Pensions Update: time for some introspection at USS?

Published: 23rd November, 2018

A key point of contention in UCU’s on-going pension dispute with our employer concerns the valuation of the USS fund – from which pensions are paid. In particular, a 2017 valuation by USS suggested a serious funding deficit and this formed the basis of Universities UK’s justification for attacking our entitlements. This funding-deficit valuation was…

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Great expectations – on grant income targets in Life Sciences

Published: 23rd November, 2018

Message sent to all Leicester UCU members, 22 November. Over the past few weeks, several UCU members in the College of Life Sciences have expressed concerns over plans to introduce ‘targets’ or ‘expectations’ of academic staff, including level of grant income. In case anyone needs reminding, the use of such a metric as a performance…

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Inclusive Ideathon and the Inclusive Curriculum Project

Published: 12th November, 2018

On Thursday 1 November, students and staff from across the University of Leicester came together to discuss how to decolonise the curriculum and create a more inclusive university. The event was jointly organised by the Students’ Union and the university’s Inclusive Curriculum team made up of academic and professional services staff, and coordinated by Azza…

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The Business Case for Supporting Staff

Published: 26th October, 2018

Ruth Luthi-Carter is a professor in the University of Leicester’s Department of Neuroscience, Psychology & Behaviour. Now the dust has settled a little on the University Leadership Team’s withdrawal of the remaining ‘business cases’ for compulsory redundancies it presented last summer, she reflects on the prospective value of an alternative approach to managing change. The…

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UCU Recall Congress 2018

Published: 23rd October, 2018

Our union’s Congress Business Committee (CBC) has a seemingly thankless, but nevertheless essential, job. Its task is to sort the dozens of motions submitted each year to annual congress, filter out those that are ineligible for some reasons (submitted too late and don’t satisify criteria to qualify as ’emergency’, for instance), coordinated the ‘compositing’ of…

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