August payday at the University of Birmingham: student workers have not been paid for months, while the VC Eastwood must have received his £80,000 bonus
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August payday at the University of Birmingham: student workers have not been paid for months, while the VC Eastwood must have received his £80,000 bonus

It’s payday at the University of Birmingham today. While the VC must’ve received his one-off bonus of £80,000 today, casual student workers are still waiting to be paid for work done 3 months ago. The reality of being a casual worker at the University of Birmingham – you don’t get paid for work done 3…

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A further round of TWO DAYS of strike action will be taken by our branch on the 2nd & 3rd of September. JOIN US!

These two days will include protests in Birmingham – keep an eye on our updates for more information. Also, if you’ve organised protests in Birmingham yourself, we’d appreciate your advice/support.   The motion passed at our members’ meeting on the 22nd of August reads:   Strike action and pay, equality and working conditions dispute  …

Private Eye article highlights the damaging effects of outsourcing on staff working at the University of Birmingham and its subsidiary company Edgbaston Park Hotel
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Private Eye article highlights the damaging effects of outsourcing on staff working at the University of Birmingham and its subsidiary company Edgbaston Park Hotel

We are concerned about the way in which senior managers at both the University of Birmingham and at its subsidiary company, Edgbaston Park Hotel are treating staff. Their refusal to meaningfully negotiate with the unions and the constant erosion of pay, working conditions, and equality on campus are having a devastating and very real impact…

7 Birmingham MPs send a letter to VC David Eastwood, urging him to address our demands for fair pay, equality, and improved working conditions
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7 Birmingham MPs send a letter to VC David Eastwood, urging him to address our demands for fair pay, equality, and improved working conditions

Seven Labour Party MPs have written a letter to VC David Eastwood, urging him to address our demands for fair pay, equality and improved working conditions. We note that the VC has failed to respond to our member’s letter that challenges him to live on low pay for a month. He has also failed to respond…

No response from the VC | Members are faced with an arbitrary searching policy instead
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No response from the VC | Members are faced with an arbitrary searching policy instead

As we’ve detailed previously, a member of support staff working at the University wrote a letter to the VC challenging him to live on the same salary for a month, and highlighting how hard it was to live on the pay the University offers its lowest paid staff. After sharing the letter and asking for…

UNISON members hand-delivered the Challenge Letter to VC David Eastwood’s office
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UNISON members hand-delivered the Challenge Letter to VC David Eastwood’s office

The letter can be read and signed here uobunison.org.uk/challenge (the page also includes a video of 12 members reading it out).  On Thursday afternoon (1st of August 2019), members of UNISON University of Birmingham branch went to VC David Eastwood’s office to hand-deliver the challenge letter addressed to him and the rest of senior management. The…

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Incompetency, inconsistency, extra penalisation, and lies are what our members have experienced on July’s pay day

Incompetency, inconsistency, extra penalisation, and lies are what our members have experienced on this month’s pay day Strikes are a last resort for any trade union branch and ours is no different. This is partly because we take our jobs seriously and need to balance any short-term disruption against the improvements we are looking for…

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The University of Birmingham puts students at risk of injury in order to break UNISON’s strike

This is how the University of Birmingham were trying to break the strike earlier this week – by asking students to come in for ‘last minute shifts’ tomorrow. The email was sent out during our negotiators’ meeting with management (during which they made no new offer!). For information, Worklink is a university department (which they call…

Strike Action on The University of Birmingham’s Graduation Days (16th & 17th June)
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Strike Action on The University of Birmingham’s Graduation Days (16th & 17th June)

UNISON strike action at the University of Birmingham – ‘Real Birmingham Heroes’ support staff are demanding better pay, equality, and improved working conditions UNISON branch’s demands are that the University:  Gives an above RPI inflation pay increase to all support staff; Becomes a Living Wage Accredited employer; Eliminates the gender pay gap by 2020; Fixes the…

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Members have overwhelmingly rejected the University of Birmingham management’s ‘offer’

Yesterday we held three meetings with large numbers of members where we considered an offer from the University of: A 1% one off payment, based on salary at 31st July, with a minimum payment of £100 *IF* we call off the dispute altogether They would pay 2% for the 2019 settlement on the  1st of…