National UCU Strikes

• National UCU has called three national strike days over USS pensions and pay on: Thursday 24th November; Friday 25th November and Wednesday 30th November.

• Action short of a strike begins from Wednesday 23^rd November.

• There will be financial support from UCU for pay deductions resulting from industrial action.

• All information about the strikes is here.

• A schedule of strike and picket events at Kent will be circulated in due course.

• See attached for a presentation that can be shown to students.

Local Kent UCU update

• Because you voted to ballot for LOCAL industrial action if necessary, EG offered a ‘commitment to all Arts and Humanities staff that there will be no compulsory redundancies as a result of the current review.’ This is a big win considering what is going on elsewhere in the sector, especially at Birkbeck.

• The local Kent UCU negotiators you elected continue to attend many hours of negotiation meetings.

• However, due to significant recruitment, retention and Kent Vision issues in some cases, negotiations will continue to be challenging.

• It is therefore vital that you engage with all Kent UCU activity, so the branch can continue to mitigate the Arts & Humanities Review as much as possible. The review has significant implications for conditions for all staff at Kent.

What you need to do now

• Reply to this email to help organise national strike pickets & events

• Attend our in-person Meeting:

“Why join UCU? Protecting your security, pay and conditions at Kent”

16:15—17:30, Wednesday November 9th

Grimond Lecture Theatre 3 (GLT3)

No booking required

Join your local University & College Union branch for a glass of wine and a meet-and-greet immediately after the virtual induction session for new staff. In this informal wine reception we’ll be explaining the benefits of UCU membership, the protections you will receive and telling you about our successful recent campaigns to protect your job security and negotiate improvements in your pay and conditions. All are welcome and there is no need to book—feel free to pop in for fifteen minutes for a glass of wine to meet us and your new colleagues!”

Other news

• Note that Kent UCU did not vote for senior management’s newly imposed policy whereby “Academic promotions process for 2022/23 will proceed, but any salary increases will not take effect for a period of 12 months for staff in the Division of Arts and Humanities”.

• On another note, we had a very high proportion of members train to be caseworkers – if you want to join them, reply to this email.