UCU – Page 2 of 2 – The Orbital

4Feb

By Maria GreenNo Comments

News

UCU Strike Action at Royal Holloway

The University and College Union (UCU) has announced that 61 universities will be taking part in 14 strike dates, beginning with a two-day walkout on 22 and 23 February. The UCU represents over 110,000 people in universities, colleges, prisons, adult education and training organisations across the UK, and is the largest staff trade union at Royal Holloway. 61 universities, including Royal Holloway, are protesting in response to proposed changes to the USS pension scheme: the largest pension scheme for higher education institutions in the UK. The 14 days of industrial action were announced on January 29. The two-day walkout on 22 and 23 February will escalate to three, four and five day strikes in the following weeks (26-28 February, 5-8 March, 12-16 March). On 23 January, the J...

10% gender pay gap: stop victim-blaming, start bias proofing says UCU RHUL committee

UCU RHUL committee response to Abbie Cheeseman’s article A Feminist Institution with a 10% Gender Pay Gap? The UCU Royal Holloway local branch committee welcomes Abbie Cheeseman’s article entitled A Feminist Institution with a 10% Gender Pay Gap? She highlights the greater-than 10% gender gap in professorial pay at RHUL which the Times Higher Education (THE) this year reported was the 7th worst in the UK. She also rightly pointed out that this pay gap has been steadily widening in recent years. Cheeseman suggested that Gender pay gaps should not be seen as a direct case of sexism and considered various possible explanations for the pay gap increases. In fact the explanations given by the College are indirect cases of sexism. Cheeseman suggested that efforts to decrease the gap ...

UCU marking boycott hits Royal Holloway

The University and College Union has undertaken a boycott on the marking of formative work and setting of coursework in a bid to make the Government reassess changes to the pensions of University teaching staff. The strike began on the 6th of November in over 69 British institutions, including Royal Holloway, meaning hundreds of thousands of students will be affected. The industrial action is centred around a dispute regarding the Universities Superannuation Scheme. The scheme is in a predicted £8bn of debt and, hence, wishes to reduce the pensions payable to teaching staff by 11-27%: in real terms this could result in a cut to pensions of £3000 to £12000 annually. The general secretary of the UCU Sally Hunt has been quoted saying that the current proposals were ‘full of holes’, and tha...