Bristol UCU Strike, 25th and 26th May

Dear Colleagues

An update on this branch’s plans for next week’s strike action.

Preparation and Publicity

• If you’d like to help create the placards then we will be available in the UCU Office, 1d Priory Rd from 2.15 pm to 5.30 pm on Tuesday 24 May – let ucu-office@bristol.ac.uk know if you can come.

• Do you have snappy catch phrases for our placards? If so, email them to ucu-office@bristol.ac.uk. So far we’ve got ‘what do we want/equal pay/when do we want it/1970!’

• Posters and leaflets coming this week and will be sent to your UCU School, Department or Divisional Rep asap

Wednesday 25th May

• 8.30 am – Picketing will commence from on Wednesday 25 May outside Senate House with other locations to be added as people arrive.

• 10.00 am – All to assemble outside Senate House for brief rally followed by march to the Wills Building where a final rally will take place
  Thursday 26th May

• We are asking members to enjoy their strike day off and post pictures of what they’re doing to our social media feed – so this should definitely not be marking or writing a report at home.

• Send us pictures of doing your gardening, going for a long walk with the dog, picking the kids up from school.

General Points of Information

• Further to HR Director’s Guy Gregory’s email to all staff, we’re advising that you notify industrial-action-response@bristol.ac.uk of your intention to strike on these days by 5pm on 3rd June 2016. You do not have to notify in advance but Bristol UCU has advised members to do so in previous years to confirm numbers of those taking action .

• UCU has called a work to contract from Wednesday 25 May. There is no requirement to notify HR though UCU are very happy for you to do so.

• HR have been clear that they are taking 35 hours (or pro-rata thereof) as the required number of hours to be worked without breaching your contract.

• UCU has produced a list of FAQs: https://www.ucu.org.uk/heactionfaqs

Working to Contract and External Examiners

• UCU is asking you to step down from any external examiner positions you currently hold and not to apply for or accept offers for new external examiner posts.

• The union’s lawyers have drawn up some advice for current post holders here: http://tinyurl.com/UCUeeAdvice

• To protect your own contractual position, please follow the advice and provide the correct notice as specified in your contract with the employing institution. Please email reply@ucu.org.uk and ucu-office@bristol.ac.uk to let us know when you do resign any examiner posts.

• It is important that you do not work above your contracted hours.

• If you should have been marking on 25 and 26 May then you only have your contracted hours to do this in – it would be prudent, therefore, to make the relevant people know that your marks are likely to be late arriving. The same would apply for all other areas of work.

• One of the main points of a work to contract is to demonstrate how much unpaid work is done by staff – stop doing the work and it will be noticed.

Queries

• Most queries can be answered through the national FAQs: http://tinyurl.com/UCUeeAdvice

• Failing that, contact ucu-office@bristol.ac.uk and we will do our best to help.