University workers stand together for better pay!

No university is immune to the devastating trend sweeping the sector! Return your ballot to show Vice Chancellors that #WeAreTheUniversity!

DMU UCU is proud to stand with our colleagues at @leicesterucu.bsky.social

@leicesterchem.bsky.social dream team taking a stand ✊ Some of these fine minds are directly in the firing line! ☠️ 🪓 saveleicesteruni.com

Please come and march alongside us tomorrow in the national demonstration called by @ucu.org.uk. We will be on the pickets 9-10.30, and assemble for the demonstration in De Montfort Square at 11. All welcome!

Back on the pickets for week 4 of our strike action!

These are *extraordinary*! Amidst the awfulness, your excellence continues to shine.

Exhausted after three days of collective consultation meetings. Hoping lots of people can join us protest school closures and mergers* and centralising professional services which will all result in job losses and a diminished university.

STRIKE RESUMES ON MONDAY!!! On November 10th, we will commence with another 4 weeks of strikes. And we're kicking things off with a picket at the West Entrance of University Park. (Photo by @tregenza.bsky.social).

Next Saturday (8/11) at 9 AM, we will honour our dearly missed colleague Agnes Flues with our annual park run in Wollaton Hall. Arrive in time to volunteer, participate, or spectate, and please wear UCU colours (pink and purple) in remembrance of Agnes! www.parkrun.org.uk/wollatonhall/

UCU (@ucu.org.uk) has called a national demonstration against the planned redundancies at the University of Leicester. Please come and march alongside us in Leicester on 12 November. All welcome!

Today colleagues across 5 academic and 1 Professional Services area were informed that their redundancy consultation process starts next week. Spare a thought for all these people who will spend the next 4 months in limbo. Our fight continues and we will be out on strike again from 10 November

We need to combine our local fight @leicesterucu.bsky.social with our national fight @ucu.org.uk for maximum impact.

"It is in this random way that the universe is returned to its benign and hopeful axis, a reminder that you never know who you will meet on a picket line and how much that will mean. " New blog post from a colleague in the School of Business: www.survivingwork.org/surviving-wo...

Universities would not function without support staff. A 1.4% pay offer is an insult to their hard work and dedication. All staff deserve better than a real-terms pay cut. The UNISON pay ballot for industrial action opens TODAY. VOTE YES for industrial action. #fundourfuture #fundourpay

Very proud of my UCU branch for its 15 days of strike action! We stand firm and are planning for further action to force Leicester University to retreat from job cuts. Watch this space for details of a national demonstration in Leicester on 12 November.

Week 3, day 5: Last day of our three week strike. We were joined by Red Leicester choir and staff and students worked on their percussion skills. Back to the office on Monday but our fight against job cuts and course closures continues.

HR departments are finishing their calculations of the harm done by Clearing, it seems… This is completely unsustainable; we can’t drastically adjust our staffing every single autumn in response to the volatility of the recruitment cycle. #SaveHE #UKHE qmucu.org/qmul-transfo...

Thank you to everyone who came to our vigil. It was an incredible display of support. Thank you also to City of Leicester UNISON and York St John UCU, the latest of many Union branches to donate and send messages of solidarity.

How do we defend the UK university sector? Join us at this online rally tonight at 6:30pm with our colleagues from Leicester, London Region and Newcastle UCU, and national negotiators. Register at tinyurl.com/UCU-UniteThe...

Leicester are co-hosting this rally to discuss how we defend education locally and nationally. Hear from local and national negotiators and join in the conversation. More details and registration here: ucl.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Wear black and join us tomorrow at 1.30 outside Fielding Johnson Building ahead of the important Council meeting at 2pm.

Ridiculous that Geography Geology and Environment at Leicester is under threat. @leicesterucu.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk . In the shadow of where David Attenborough grew up (house at the back), we are on strike to protest against this threat. #climatechange #attenborough

Week 3, day 3: GGE showcase, learning the history behind the naming of the Kathleen Kenyon Building with Alice Samson, and more picket animals!

The GGE showcase made us ask ourselves what the loss of GGE and its many connections in the University will mean for the ecosystem and sustainability agenda at the University.

We have had so many great teach outs during the last two weeks of striking and this one turned into a published essay!

Next week picket plans. Note the change in some of the picket times!

Staff and students came together early on a Friday morning to send us into negotiations. Our @leicesterucu.bsky.social community is amazing! Shame our managers were not willing to actually negotiate. At least they listened and they certainly heard the crowd behind us! The strike continues.

Super proud of Kristen, her teach-out was definitely one of the highlights of these first two weeks of industrial action.

EGM tomorrow:

Week 2, day 3: - more pickets! - councillor Patrick Kitterick spoke in solidarity with staff raising key points about the importance of staff and the marketisation of education - Bernard's teach out started an important discussion about the challenges for migrant workers.

@leicesterucu.bsky.social Today we had s lovely showcase from modern languages and why it matters in a multi-lingual city as Leicester. And our students stand with us every day, thank you!

@leicesterucu.bsky.social Our students deserve a big thanks for supporting us at the picket line every day, now in week 2. It means a lot to have the students backing for fighting the looming job cuts at University of Leicester in 6 schools

Our members have voted to support industrial action to fight against job cuts passed today! In the ballot our 72% of members were in favour of strike action, and 90% in favour of action short of strike. Turnout was 58%. Thank you to all members, reps and officials for helping us get the vote out.

Tomorrow's teach out: meet the Modern Languages Team at 1.15 in SBB for their modern languages showcase. Note the change in picket times!

Pay at Kent has remained pretty much static for some years now because of the financial problems. When will UK government realise HE desperately needs support?

A quick overview of our industrial action: What we are doing, why we are doing it, and how you can support us.

It's always 'inevitable' and 'the only option' until workers join forces. Truly inspiring to see how @nteunion.bsky.social has stood firm against the vandalism inflicted on the Australian National University and stopped the worst from happening. #TheresPowerInAUnion indeed!

What will it be like to work or study at Lancaster University, if the current plans to fire 1 out of 4 staff members are implemented? How will these impact local communities and businesses? And who will be held accountable? Sign our petition to stop unnecessary cuts to education! chng.it/xJpLzrsVvs

Week 1 of 3 of @leicesterucu.bsky.social strike action over University of Leicester’s refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies.

...and that's a wrap for week 1 of our strike. Thanks to all the students and colleagues who came to the pickets to support us, we will see you all next week!

Day 2 - more sunshine and happy faces on the pickets!

@ucu.org.uk @leicesterucu.bsky.social can't cancel Chemistry (or Modern Languages or Biomedical Sciences or History or Geography....) #nojobcuts

Today, our branch passed a motion in solidarity with @leicesterucu.bsky.social, donating £500 to their strike fund as they fight redundancies. When so many of our branches are under attack, cross-branch solidarity is key 🫂https://goldsmithsucu.org/2025/09/29/solidarity-motion-with-leicester-ucu/

Are you ready to join us on the pickets? Check out our activities for week 1, starting tomorrow:

We are grateful for the support the students have shown us; we hope to see and talk to many of them on the picket lines starting Monday.

Very grateful for all the donations already received. But we need more. Please help if you can.

EGM tomorrow!

Our branch is proud to stand with our colleagues at @leicesterucu.bsky.social