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Anti-Casualisation

Despair, heartbreak and moral disgust: covid reflections

Published: 30th September, 2020

A University of Leicester employee former University of Leicester employee offers some personal reflections One of the hardest things about being made redundant at University of Leicester, during the Covid disaster, was witnessing the despair of lowly paid colleagues losing their jobs too. It was also heartbreaking to have to discontinue my charity donations. I’m…

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No more room on the 16th floor

Published: 27th July, 2020

Two Leicester UCU colleagues, both activists and picket line stalwarts, both precariously employed, were recently made redundant by the University of Leicester after many years as part of our university community. Both were recognised for their expertise, the quality of their work and, in particular, their ability to engage effectively with students from non-traditional backgrounds….

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Open Letter to the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor

Published: 23rd July, 2020

To add you signature to this Open Letter follow this link. [To see the response, received on 29 July, see here.] 23 July 2020 Dear Professor Canagarajah and Lord Willetts The University of Leicester is ONE community, and now, more than ever, we must stand together and support one another as we face the teaching,…

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Four Fights offer – where do we go from here?

Published: 14th July, 2020

Email sent to all Leicester UCU members, 14 July As a UCU member working in higher education you will have received an email from Civica, inviting you to vote on whether to accept or reject UCEA’s offer in our Four Fights dispute. As the covering letter makes clear, UCU’s higher education committee, following the steer from…

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Four Fights and USS disputes… where now?

Published: 1st June, 2020

Last week we invited all members of Leicester UCU to give their views on the present situation in the Four Fights and USS disputes. These views informed discussions of the union’s Higher Education Committee, which met on 27 May to try to agree where next.  There are four parts to this communication. First, we repeat…

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Strikes 2020… Day 13: Not all heroes wear capes!

Published: 12th March, 2020

It was a bright, beautiful and brisk day on the pickets as we gathered once again to fight for fair compensation and decent working conditions in Higher Education. Tomorrow is Day 14 of this period of strike action, Day 22 of strikes in this dispute, and Day 36 of strike action in the fight for…

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Greater participation = quicker resolution!

Published: 6th March, 2020

                                    We need you – and you are so welcome! Dear Colleagues! We know you can hear us. And we know that you see us every day, too. Just like we see you going to work. All this despite our shared concerns about the strike, the future of our sector, and the care that our…

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Strikes 2020: Day 9… a new banner

Published: 5th March, 2020

There was much excitement this morning, as we unwrapped our brand new banner – designed by textile artist Cath Long after an ideas workshop she ran with us on December 13. It is an object of great beauty, it includes images of now-iconic features of our picket lines – the purple trombone, for example –…

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Strikes 2020: Day 8… Another riotous and righteous day on the Leicester university pickets

Published: 4th March, 2020

Important Notices about Thursday/tomorrow: The theme is mental health. Come in pyjamas, or in/as something that supports your mental health Meet at the Victoria Park Picket tomorrow – at 10am – to be part of planning for the precarity meeting with the VC If you’d like your voice heard in the precarity meeting with the…

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Strikes 2020: Day 7… Picketers fit for purpose

Published: 3rd March, 2020

“Let’s get physical” was the theme on the seventh day of the strike at Leicester, or “nous hugieis en somati hugiei” as the ancient Greeks would say (meaning “healthy mind in healthy body”). (Unlike God, we did not rest.) The Union leadership, both at local and national level became an example of that, with UCU’s…

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