Since November 2024 staff across UEA have been living with the threat of redundancy, many for the second time in as many years. Many have had to make the very difficult decision to leave whilst others wait to hear if they will be forced out against their will. This is not fair and it is not necessary.
UEA UCU has tabled several mitigations and are calling for the University to do the right thing by removing the threat of compulsory redundancy. UEA UCU doesn’t deny the need to save substantial sums of money at this time, nor the challenges facing the higher education sector. There is a way to make the remaining savings without further threatening the livelihoods of staff who make UEA the great University it is today. UEA cannot afford to lose more staff, and staff working here deserve better. If you agree, then please read on to see how you can help.
I’m a student at UEA and I want to help, what can I do?
Staff and students make this University. Your success is critical to everything that we do and we would not take any industrial action that impacts your teaching and learning if it wasn’t the only option available to us. Your support is crucial and we hope that you can understand why we are taking the action we feel is necessary to protect jobs and to protect the UEA we love. If you are a student at UEA and you want to help, please consider any/all of the actions below
(1) Email the Vice Chancellor (David Maguire) and Pro Vice Chancellor for Student Experience and Education (Emma Sutton-Pavli) from your UEA email address to say that you want the University to commit to no compulsory redundancies and UCU’s demands.
(2) Email or chat to the University staff who have supported you, telling them that you back their fight to save jobs – it really does help to hear from our students!
(3) Talk to other students and consider if you can sign or even write open letters.
(4) Talk to your SU representatives, including your society leaders, and encourage them to support the fight to save jobs at UEA and protect your teaching and learning conditions.
I’m a member of the public and I want to support your fight to save jobs. What can I do?
UEA remains one of the largest local employers in Norwich and Norfolk, so the impact of any cuts will have a ripple effect across the region. We are also the only institution that many of our students feel able to study at, whether that’s 18 year olds leaving School or College and wanting to study locally, or our mature students who are often fitting their return to University around a host of other commitments. If UEA is unable to offer the same fantastic opportunities to our community, whether that’s in employment or education, then we all suffer. If you’d like to help our fight, then please consider the following options:
(1) Write to your elected representatives, whether that’s your councillor or MP. Ask them what they are doing to help save jobs at UEA and to ensure that it remains a strong place for people in our community to work and study.
(2) If you work with the university, talk to your contacts about the cuts.
I’m a member of UCU at another branch, what can I do to support your fight?
We have been heartened by the solidarity we’ve received from branches across the UK. If you are a member of a UCU branch, please consider the following options to help publicise our cause and to aid efforts to resist any further job cuts at the UEA:
(1) Contribute to our local hardship fund
(2) Get your UCU branch to pass a solidarity motion
If you are at UEA, but you are not a UEA UCU member, you can:
(1) Join a union! You can join UCU or one of our sister unions at UEA, Unite and Unison
(2) Contribute to the UEA UCU hardship fund
(3) Support the strikes!
If you are a UEA UCU member, you can get more involved!
(1) Join the Day of Action strike day on Wednesday 26 March 2025!
(2) Volunteer with the UEA UCU branch or sign up as a union representative. Email ucu.office@uea.ac.uk if you’re interested!