A strike ballot will open at the University of East Anglia (UEA) on 14th January 2025 over huge job cuts that are once again being pushed through by management. The ballot will run until Tuesday 4 February and a successful result will pave the way for strike action to begin as soon as next month, unless management rules out compulsory redundancies.
Members are advised to check for emails from the branch committee with relevant information and updates.
The UEA UCU branch is having a general meeting on Tuesday 12th March, 14:00-15:30 on Teams (check email for link).
The main focus of this session will be the UCU Congress or the Higher Education Sector Conference (HESC) that is taking place in Bournemouth in May 2024.
It is likely that this Congress will be asked to hear a series of motions that will dictate upcoming industrial action strategy and we feel it is important that members of UEA get the opportunity to contribute to this debate. We will be discussing and voting on any motions that members want the branch to submit.
As such, we ask that members wishing to submit a motion to Congress/HESC do so no later than 15:00 on Monday 4th March so that these can be circulated on the 5th of March and allow a week’s notice of the general meeting. It is important that members have time to read and consider these motions ahead of the meeting, so motions received past this deadline will not be ordered onto the Meeting’s business.
Motions for Congress/HESC must conform to the strict word counts required, which can be found here.
Members can also submit motions for the UCU UEA branch to consider that relate to local UCU UEA positions, ahead of any general meeting. The same deadline for these will apply and these will be tabled for business after any Congress/HESC motions.
We encourage any member wishing to submit a motion to the general meeting to reach out to the branch first (ucu.office@uea.ac.uk) so we can help you with the formatting of motions.
With key elections ongoing within UCU for the General Secretary, NEC and other positions, and ballots due to close by 1 March 2024, we are holding an online election briefing at 3:00 pm on Teams on 14 Feb 2024 led by the branch membership secretary, Nick Grant. (The Teams link is in the branch email from 13/02/24)
This informal session will be a chance for you to get more information to complete your ballot. We have also posted some information about the different groupings on our website.
Often there is very low turnout for these positions despite the fact that these are for important decision-making bodies within our union. We strongly encourage all branch members to complete their ballots and mail them in time. Replacement ballots can be requested up until Thursday 22 February 2024 by filling this online form.
We want to confirm that we have served the University of East Anglia with an official notice that the branch will take a day of strike action on Wednesday 12th July 2023.
This day of strike action needs to be the biggest that UEA has ever seen. We want to show the employer that we have the power to cause significant disruption to the institution and that we will continue to do so if they do not shift their position on our key demands.
Strike action is always a last resort, but we cannot and will not tolerate any of our members being under threat of compulsory redundancy. Being a part of this union is about solidarity. It’s about acknowledging that if they come for one of us, they come for all of us.
We need to see massive picket lines, cross-institution solidarity, and a promise of more action if our demands are not met. We need each and every member to engage with this action. We are also seeking volunteers to help out with the planning and day of action so please contact the branch if you are willing to help.
We have a branch meeting on Wednesday 28th June 2023 from 15:30 – 17:00 on Teams. Please attend if you can. The link for the meeting was in the branch email of 26th June, but do contact us if you don’t have it!
You can always email us at Ucu.Office@uea.ac.uk.