we forgot to snap a photo of our annual committee festive gathering last night, but there was pizza, pints... and, of course, plotting! 👿

🚨 Strike ballot opens at University of Essex Management plans to close Southend campus and axe 400 jobs. All staff were told they could lose their jobs as they broke up for Christmas. This is academic vandalism and we will not accept it. www.ucu.org.uk/article/1428...

It's official: 400 redundancies and a campus closure. At-risk staff will get a letter next week. Absolutely no serious consideration of any of the union's counterproposals. Please share widely.

Disgusting behaviour by @sheffielduni.bsky.social!

Your team needs YOU! ✊🏻

A campus safety information event for staff & students is currently taking place in One Elmwood until 2pm, in response to concerns around incidents of racism, hate crime, & abuse. Members of QUB UCU will be in attendance & available to chat about advice & support which we as a Union can offer.

Please sign in support of Coventry UCU speakout.web.ucu.org.uk/remove-coven...

As an affiliate of Irish Congress of Trade Unions, @ucuatqub.bsky.social encourages colleagues to gather in front of the Lanyon Building gates at 12.30 on Friday 28th November to show solidarity with Palestinian trades unionists, workers and the Palestinian people. Hot food & tea/coffee provided!

Lancaster University UCU members have beaten back compulsory redundancies. After weeks of pressure management has agreed to halt all forced job cuts until July 2026. This is a victory for jobs and every branch fighting cuts across the sector. We are the university. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Industrial action works!

Members- as we get out the vote for our national ballot, know that @ucu.org.uk has our back in our local dispute as well. This fight is not just about us, but about higher education everywhere. #SaveHE #StopTheCuts www.ucu.org.uk/article/1424...

It's not just music and language courses- it's 48 courses across the university. But here's the thing- our UCU colleagues at other universities (like @Cardiffucu.bsky.social) have faced the exact same threats, fought back, and won. So we can too.

‘…expanding labor protections and standing alongside unions “because we know, just as Donald Trump does, that when working people have ironclad rights, the bosses who seek to extort them become very small indeed”.’ Mamdani gets it ✊🏻 www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Solidarity with all @ucuimperial.bsky.social

'Staff at Edinburgh University have voted to continue strike action over proposals to cut £140m from the institution’s annual budget. Members of the University and College Union (UCU) overwhelmingly backed continuing strike action as well as action short of strike'.

🎶 there’s power in a union 🎶

We are horrified by the attack on the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue yesterday, which was also Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in Judaism. We stand with the Jewish community in Manchester & Belfast, & condemn those who fan the flames of antisemitism in our divided society.

Your team needs YOU! Committee members from UCU @ QUB welcoming new staff this morning 😍

Former @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social researcher shares their personal story of Israel's genocide in Gaza. m.independent.ie/irish-news/a...

Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, says UN inquiry

Today - along with colleagues from Ulster University UCU and regional @ucu.org.uk representatives - we had a productive meeting with @caoimhearchibald.bsky.social, the Minister for the Economy in the Executive, about a sustainable and accountable Higher Education sector for Northern Ireland.

For everyone else reading the news this morning about the Kent and Greenwich merger - it's been as big a shock for us too. Rumours always abound with constant cuts and redundancies, but they remained rumours until 7.45am this morning.

A disgusting lack of respect from the senior management of these universities.

Absolutely astounded that the UCU and Unison branches at Kent and Greenwich were not consulted, and that staff only found out about the merger this morning via BBC news and Kent Online. Solidarity to all colleagues.

Today is the first of 5 strike days by @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social #DefendEveryJob www.ucuedinburgh.org.uk/welcome-week...

Busy @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social picket lines this morning at Edinburgh University with staff striking to defend jobs and oppose the biggest cuts seen in Scottish higher education #SaveHE #NoCompulsoryRedundancies #StopTheCuts

Pickets across @edinburghuni.bsky.social campus this morning opposing £140million cuts and up to 1,800 jobs going, including by compulsory redundancies #SaveHE #NoCompulsoryRedundancies #StopTheCuts

Our latest branch newsletter has just been published (you’ll have to sign into your QUB account to access): sway.cloud.microsoft/InbEyCsvRbWA...

Can’t help but reflect on the *5 years of strikes* we did to defend our pensions, on this, the day USS announce their £10 billion surplus.

This is likely not a very career savvy thing for me to post, but this rebrand also happens to be occurring at a time where departments are being told to reduce the amount spent on TAs because the finances are not deemed to have a sufficiently large surplus

LL Cool J: "There is absolutely no way I can perform across a picket line." ✊ www.nbcphiladelphia.com/entertainmen...

When our own voluntary severance scheme was announced, @newcastleucu.bsky.social were one of the first branches to get in touch with a message of support. We returned the favour with a donation to their strike fund. Thrilled to now see this monumental win! ✊🏻

A MASSIVE WIN AT NEWCASTLE UNI ICU

Better governance ‘could have avoided mass university job cuts’. Philip Augar proposes union representation on governing boards and vice-chancellor pay reforms. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

REMINDER: 1pm tomorrow - Wednesday 25th June 2025 - is our branch AGM. Check your emails for the Microsoft Teams link! We will be voting on motions so important that we have enough members present to be quorate.

🚨IT'S A WIN 🚨 Well done to every single @newcastleucu.bsky.social member 44 days on the picket line ZERO compulsory redundancies University bosses need to look at what our members have achieved in Newcastle & heed the warning: work with us or face disruption www.ucu.org.uk/article/1406...

UCU members at @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social are striking today over University of Edinburgh plans to make £140million in cuts and threaten jobs We're fighting against these reckless proposals Share to show your support ✊

✊🥂Huge congratulations to the whole @newcastleucu.bsky.social membership and team. Compulsory redundancies withdrawn. Sends a message to university management everywhere. Just shows what you can do with organisation, solidarity, and right on your side.

Essential reading.

The UCU Northern Ireland Regional AGM/Conference took place today. We were pleased to welcome the Gen Sec Jo Grady to @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social campus. Not surprisingly, the voluntary severance scheme and ongoing related issues were a key topic for discussion.

39 lecturers at Liverpool Hope face redundancy. “This will devastate our community, the university’s reputation, and the local economy.” Roberto Catello, branch secretary. #StopTheCuts #UCU www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Shameful and shameless. Solidarity with @cardiffucu.bsky.social nation.cymru/news/most-st...

Join a Union

Now, more than ever, it is important to: JOIN A UNION!

What about the research talent we already had but are losing due to the thousands of job losses in UK universities?

REMINDER: a Townhall in regards to the Voluntary Severance Scheme will start in ONE HOUR - Wed 7 May - David Keir Building, Room 0G/012 at 13:00

An update from the VC: www.qub.ac.uk/sites/StaffG... “For clarity, I want to assure you that we are not considering or planning any further redundancies.” Members can rest assured that we will hold the university to account.

www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/what-we-do/c... Grim reading - government inaction on the sector's failed funding model is drastically reducing student choice and impoverishing our research capacity. We can't cut ourselves into excellence. Real investment is needed now