News from other UK campuses
News from other UK campuses (and Glasgow City):
| It is the National Living Wage day today and the new Living Wage rates are out. Why are the University management still refusing to make the University a LW Accredited employer?
It is incredibly disappointing that the University of Birmingham management are still refusing to seek accreditation, thus leaving many staff in financial difficulty and insecurity. Living Wage accreditation would bring security and improve the wellbeing of staff on campus, including agency workers, Hotel and Conference Park staff, and student casual workers. It would also mean that all the organisations with which UoB collaborates would need to pay the Living Wage: The Guild of Students, Pertemps & the Egdbaston Hotel! Here’s the Living Wage Foundation’s article on today’s rates announcement – link |
Glasgow Equal Pay talks to resume, following successful and amazing strike by UNISON and GMB members
‘More than 8,000 union members – overwhelmingly low paid women – took strike action on Tuesday and Wednesday, with 10,000 marching to a rally outside the city hall on the first day of the strike … The strike followed frustration over the council’s failure to negotiate a settlement to more than 12,000 equal pay claims going back to 2006 and fought all the way to the Scotland’s highest court, the Court of Session, at the turn of the year’. This is the biggest equal pay strike since the Equal Pay Act was introduced. Read more about it here and here. |
UNISON members at Bradford University went on strike for 3 days against the University management’s plans to cut 165 support staff jobs
More information can be found here and here.
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| Security Staff at Leicester University are at risk of having a pay cut of £800/year
Leicester University management are trying to reduce security staff’s hours of work, which would lead to a loss of £800/year per person. There is a UNISON petition to oppose this move – please sign it and share it widely – link |
Petition by CitizensUK Leeds asking Leeds University’s management to seek Living Wage Accreditation
Here’s the petition [link] – please sign it and share it widely. |
GMB petition the University of the Arts London to end the outsourcing of cleaning services staff
The petition can be found here – please sign and spread the word! The outsourced staff are on poorer terms and conditions (compared to those who work in-house), and receive 10 days less holiday per year, little or no sick pay, and poorer pensions! The majority of the cleaners are migrant and BAME workers and the inequality that they are subject to severely undermines the University’s stated commitment to social justice. |
