This time it’s different. “UCU Rising” is the current, massive, national ballot of members on both the pensions dispute, and on pay and conditions. The results will be known late in October, and the threshold for action is national. What this means is, any one branch failing to get over the threshold doesn’t matter if, nationally, turnout is above 50%.
So every vote counts, no matter what.
The national union is pulling out all the stops and you can see the pages, videos, FAQ and so on, here.
Locally we know that members are struggling with enormous workloads, with stagnant and decreasing pay in real terms, and with a top-down managerial culture of “do this because I said so”. We know Christ Church can afford a pay rise for its staff, easily. We know that we agreed to sacrifice 20% of our salary during the pandemic, and the university did not repay us, instead granting a “bonus” worth maybe 1/7th of what most staff lost.
We know management won’t really listen to us unless we rise. So we’re pulling out all the stops too to get out the vote. If you can help us, please do email: