Climate action
This is what it sounds like when members of UCU and Students' Union want to be heard. Positive, not despairing, in the face of the Climate Emergency. Around 70 branch members came out for a 30-minute work stoppage on Friday, 20 September, to join forces with Extinction Rebellion.
All Extinction Rebels set their alarms to go off simultaneously at 1pm on Friday, 20 September – not just in Newcastle, but all over the world. This is our symphony. The composer: Greta Thunberg.
Strike pay
UCU Northumbria University Branch are delighted to inform members that your branch officers have negotiated a refund of the difference between deductions at 1/260ths and deductions at 1/365ths in respect of any strike action you may have taken during the six years prior to the date of the claim.
In addition we have won 8% interest for you on this amount. HR tell us it will be paid in April, but you need to claim this money.
There is a claim form attached here, which has been agreed with HR. Please complete and submit it as soon as possible. If you know anyone who has since left they university they may be eligible too, so please feel free to pass on this message.
Northumbria UCU @ Domestic and Sexual Violence Champions Network
‘We need the university to have a policy’ (Rachel Lawson, Research and Project Officer, The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, Northumbria University 22/1/19)
Along with members of Human Resources and UNISON branch officers, several members of Northumbria UCU recently attended a training and information session on becoming part of Northumbria Police’s Domestic and Sexual Violence Champions Network. The excellent session was convened and led by Rachel Lawson, from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, Vera Baird, at the direct request of Northumbria UCU.
The statistics and human stories relating to domestic violence are harrowing, and demand a response: 1 in 4 women (aged 16-59) will experience domestic violence and abuse at some point in their lives, and on average 2 women are killed by their present or ex-partner every week in the UK.