Durham UCU
@ducu.bsky.social
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Durham UCU
@ducu.bsky.social
· May 30
Yesterday, at a well-attended General Meeting, Durham UCU voted to go ahead with three days of strike action. These dates are:
Friday 13th June
Saturday 14th June
Thursday 19th June
Friday 13th June
Saturday 14th June
Thursday 19th June
Reposted by Durham UCU
Power struggles at the management level? And who’s picking up the pieces? We need to stop these toxic people from making terrible decisions. Again, and again. Vote Yes!
'Power struggles and toxic culture' at University of Aberdeen
A review says the structure at the University of Aberdeen is
www.bbc.co.uk
November 4, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Power struggles at the management level? And who’s picking up the pieces? We need to stop these toxic people from making terrible decisions. Again, and again. Vote Yes!
Reposted by Durham UCU
The #UKHE mess is never going to be solved without a change in governance practices alongside a change in the funding model. And our overlords aren't going to change themselves. We need staff back in the room, we need a mandate. Vote YES.
By his own admission “the story of the University of Dundee has been leadership failure and ineffective governance oversight”.
So why then was the interim Principal “focussing on other things”?
So why then was the interim Principal “focussing on other things”?
November 16, 2025 at 10:34 AM
The #UKHE mess is never going to be solved without a change in governance practices alongside a change in the funding model. And our overlords aren't going to change themselves. We need staff back in the room, we need a mandate. Vote YES.
This is an amazing victory for our colleagues at Nottingham. Full solidarity in their continuing efforts to hold their management to account.
It's also a very timely reminder: industrial action WORKS.
It's also a very timely reminder: industrial action WORKS.
In response to our industrial action, the university proposed a resolution that removed the threat of compulsory redundancies for the next year and introduced a negotiation process over course closures. And at our branch meeting, we accepted this offer.
November 16, 2025 at 9:43 AM
This is an amazing victory for our colleagues at Nottingham. Full solidarity in their continuing efforts to hold their management to account.
It's also a very timely reminder: industrial action WORKS.
It's also a very timely reminder: industrial action WORKS.
Reposted by Durham UCU
The fabulous team @ducu.bsky.social outline in this blog 26 good reasons for voting YES in the ballot: durhamucu.org.uk/26-reasons-y...
Let's get staff a seat at the table again, because it's clearly not working without us...
Let's get staff a seat at the table again, because it's clearly not working without us...
We need a mandate, because managers and their consultants have pivoted the purpose of our institutions from research & education to prioritising financial gain over everything.
Enough.
Staff and students need to be central in the decision-making processes and priorities again.
#SaveHE #WeAreTheUni
Enough.
Staff and students need to be central in the decision-making processes and priorities again.
#SaveHE #WeAreTheUni
November 14, 2025 at 4:32 PM
The fabulous team @ducu.bsky.social outline in this blog 26 good reasons for voting YES in the ballot: durhamucu.org.uk/26-reasons-y...
Let's get staff a seat at the table again, because it's clearly not working without us...
Let's get staff a seat at the table again, because it's clearly not working without us...
For the morning crowd: we released some graphs last night about the scale of our real-term pay cuts since 2008. We might have lowballed the severity of the situation, actually, as was pointed out: cuts of 20% require a pay rise of 25% to reverse, even before taking inflation into account.
And here we are! Literally every spine point is paying less in real terms than it was back in 2008. Spine point 5 (now replaced by the real living wage) is down by about 3.4%. By spine point 10, we're down over 10%. By spine point 23, over 20%, ultimately reaching a 22.1% reduction. 3/3
November 14, 2025 at 9:46 AM
For the morning crowd: we released some graphs last night about the scale of our real-term pay cuts since 2008. We might have lowballed the severity of the situation, actually, as was pointed out: cuts of 20% require a pay rise of 25% to reverse, even before taking inflation into account.
Reposted by Durham UCU
Even more petitions popping up. Doesn't make for a great endorsement, does it?
Please sign, spread the word, and help us push back against the constant undermining of our university:
c.org/MwqdpHLCnZ
c.org/Q6pTJXz87F
c.org/sGNYk5yGpM
Please sign, spread the word, and help us push back against the constant undermining of our university:
c.org/MwqdpHLCnZ
c.org/Q6pTJXz87F
c.org/sGNYk5yGpM
November 9, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Even more petitions popping up. Doesn't make for a great endorsement, does it?
Please sign, spread the word, and help us push back against the constant undermining of our university:
c.org/MwqdpHLCnZ
c.org/Q6pTJXz87F
c.org/sGNYk5yGpM
Please sign, spread the word, and help us push back against the constant undermining of our university:
c.org/MwqdpHLCnZ
c.org/Q6pTJXz87F
c.org/sGNYk5yGpM
Reposted by Durham UCU
Note that optically that’s also the gentle presentation of the numbers … a 10% reduction requires an 1/(1-0.1) = 1.111 => 11.1% pay increase to restore. For a 22.1% reduction that’s a 1/(1-0.221) = 1.284 => 28.4% pay increase to restore.
November 13, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Note that optically that’s also the gentle presentation of the numbers … a 10% reduction requires an 1/(1-0.1) = 1.111 => 11.1% pay increase to restore. For a 22.1% reduction that’s a 1/(1-0.221) = 1.284 => 28.4% pay increase to restore.
With a national ballot live regarding a number of pressing issues in UK HE, including the seemingly ever-worsening pay situation in the sector, we thought we might throw together some graphs on where we are. Headline result: it isn't great! 1/3
November 13, 2025 at 10:14 PM
With a national ballot live regarding a number of pressing issues in UK HE, including the seemingly ever-worsening pay situation in the sector, we thought we might throw together some graphs on where we are. Headline result: it isn't great! 1/3
Reposted by Durham UCU
University workers stand together for better pay!
November 13, 2025 at 6:08 PM
University workers stand together for better pay!
Reposted by Durham UCU
Hey, @durham.ac.uk #DUBS colleagues, let’s show @aomconnect.bsky.social that UK Business School staff are different!
@ucu.org.uk is balloting right now for the #WeAreTheUniversity campaign. Join us! @ducu.bsky.social
(Psst, @unitetheunion.bsky.social &
@unison.org.uk are balloting at DU, too! 😉)
@ucu.org.uk is balloting right now for the #WeAreTheUniversity campaign. Join us! @ducu.bsky.social
(Psst, @unitetheunion.bsky.social &
@unison.org.uk are balloting at DU, too! 😉)
"Typical U.S. business faculty members do not hold an identity that allows them to see the challenges facing higher education as their challenges. Moreover, business faculty have tended to be architects and proponents of the managerialism we claim to reject."
journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5...
journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5...
Cultivating Courage, Cowardice, or Complacency? An Identity-Based Perspective on Faculty Resistance to Managerialism | Academy of Management Learning & Education
The vast majority of colleges and universities in the United States are beset by existential challenges in the form of falling enrollments, rising costs, pressure to keep tuition affordable, and polit...
journals.aom.org
November 13, 2025 at 8:40 AM
Hey, @durham.ac.uk #DUBS colleagues, let’s show @aomconnect.bsky.social that UK Business School staff are different!
@ucu.org.uk is balloting right now for the #WeAreTheUniversity campaign. Join us! @ducu.bsky.social
(Psst, @unitetheunion.bsky.social &
@unison.org.uk are balloting at DU, too! 😉)
@ucu.org.uk is balloting right now for the #WeAreTheUniversity campaign. Join us! @ducu.bsky.social
(Psst, @unitetheunion.bsky.social &
@unison.org.uk are balloting at DU, too! 😉)
Kicking it with cousins: Durham UCU stands alongside our colleagues in the DU branch @unitetheunion.bsky.social. The recent round of "voluntary" severance & its consequences are being felt by members in both unions, and we will work together to fight against continually worsening working conditions.
unitelive.org
November 13, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Kicking it with cousins: Durham UCU stands alongside our colleagues in the DU branch @unitetheunion.bsky.social. The recent round of "voluntary" severance & its consequences are being felt by members in both unions, and we will work together to fight against continually worsening working conditions.
Reposted by Durham UCU
Solidarity with Leicester. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see more of these across the sector.
Confidence vote in our leaders is now open.
Please vote yoursay.ucu.org.uk/s3/Universit...
Please vote yoursay.ucu.org.uk/s3/Universit...
November 11, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Solidarity with Leicester. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see more of these across the sector.
Reposted by Durham UCU
Picket demonstrating feeling about announcements of cuts to courses at University of Nottingham @uonucu.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk
November 10, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Picket demonstrating feeling about announcements of cuts to courses at University of Nottingham @uonucu.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk
Reposted by Durham UCU
Very strong turnout this morning on the first of our five days strike.
On Friday, in a meeting with the interim Principal, he confirmed his ideology is to cut as many jobs as possible.
Support our action to save jobs and save the University!
#SaveHE #SaveDundeeUni #WeAreTheUniversity
On Friday, in a meeting with the interim Principal, he confirmed his ideology is to cut as many jobs as possible.
Support our action to save jobs and save the University!
#SaveHE #SaveDundeeUni #WeAreTheUniversity
November 10, 2025 at 10:24 AM
Very strong turnout this morning on the first of our five days strike.
On Friday, in a meeting with the interim Principal, he confirmed his ideology is to cut as many jobs as possible.
Support our action to save jobs and save the University!
#SaveHE #SaveDundeeUni #WeAreTheUniversity
On Friday, in a meeting with the interim Principal, he confirmed his ideology is to cut as many jobs as possible.
Support our action to save jobs and save the University!
#SaveHE #SaveDundeeUni #WeAreTheUniversity
Reposted by Durham UCU
I knew @northumbriauni.bsky.social had taken away staff desks in NBS this summer, making them essentially hotdesk. Now the employer has informed staff that they are gutting their pensions, too.
If there was EVER a time to join @ucunorthumbria.bsky.social, NOW is the time!
If there was EVER a time to join @ucunorthumbria.bsky.social, NOW is the time!
November 9, 2025 at 11:00 AM
I knew @northumbriauni.bsky.social had taken away staff desks in NBS this summer, making them essentially hotdesk. Now the employer has informed staff that they are gutting their pensions, too.
If there was EVER a time to join @ucunorthumbria.bsky.social, NOW is the time!
If there was EVER a time to join @ucunorthumbria.bsky.social, NOW is the time!
This needs saying again & again: UK unis are knowingly accepting 1000s of students without the necessary English skills to fully engage with their courses they'll be studying on. And *that's not those students' fault*. Why wouldn't they assume these institutions know how to teach them effectively?
I saw this when I was teaching in 2014: students from China who didn't know that their agents had submitted someone else's TOEFL scores with their applications. They reasonably thought their English must be adequate or they wouldn't have been accepted. It was very hard for them, sad for everybody.
November 9, 2025 at 10:31 AM
This needs saying again & again: UK unis are knowingly accepting 1000s of students without the necessary English skills to fully engage with their courses they'll be studying on. And *that's not those students' fault*. Why wouldn't they assume these institutions know how to teach them effectively?
Reposted by Durham UCU
Reposted by Durham UCU
PORTUGAL: A general strike is coming, the first since the days of the troika lnginnorthernbc.ca/2025/11/08/a...
A general strike is coming, the first since the days of the troika - News Room USA | LNG in Northern BC
FILIPE AMORIM/LUSA General strike of public administration workers, at the Social Security headquarters in Lisbon, October 24, 2025 This scenario is taken…
lnginnorthernbc.ca
November 8, 2025 at 11:53 AM
PORTUGAL: A general strike is coming, the first since the days of the troika lnginnorthernbc.ca/2025/11/08/a...
Reposted by Durham UCU
Someone at a Russell Group university was moved to almost-poetry by their Faculty Meeting… Can anyone do better?
November 7, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Someone at a Russell Group university was moved to almost-poetry by their Faculty Meeting… Can anyone do better?
This. On 3 particularly, I used to live five minutes from a hotel being used to house asylum seekers. Conditions were absolutely appalling, but the hotel owners were absolutely raking it in. *That's* the problem - legalised profiteering from other's misfortune.
Dear GOD if you want to save money in the asylum system
1. LET ASYLUM SEEKERS WORK
2. FAST TRACK STATUS FOR EVERYONE FROM CLEARLY UNDAFE COUNTRIES like Sudan, Syria, etc
3. Run an asylum accommodation system that is NOT FOR PROFIT #r4today
1. LET ASYLUM SEEKERS WORK
2. FAST TRACK STATUS FOR EVERYONE FROM CLEARLY UNDAFE COUNTRIES like Sudan, Syria, etc
3. Run an asylum accommodation system that is NOT FOR PROFIT #r4today
November 7, 2025 at 10:37 AM
This. On 3 particularly, I used to live five minutes from a hotel being used to house asylum seekers. Conditions were absolutely appalling, but the hotel owners were absolutely raking it in. *That's* the problem - legalised profiteering from other's misfortune.
Was really good to hear colleagues from other unions yesterday, talking about their own approaches to getting the vote out in what I understand to be the first multi-union balloting window in Durham since 1996. It's clear across the board just how badly "voluntary" severance has hurt us.
Calling all branch members: multi-union campus meeting 12:30-13:30 TODAY in The Ken Wade Lecture Theatre (Calman 203), to talk about our respective ballots and the ongoing state of affairs at our university.
November 6, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Was really good to hear colleagues from other unions yesterday, talking about their own approaches to getting the vote out in what I understand to be the first multi-union balloting window in Durham since 1996. It's clear across the board just how badly "voluntary" severance has hurt us.
Solidarity!
How amazing was our picket line today?? We even had sparklers 💥
Thanks to everyone who joined us in support of our fight against staff cuts at @thinkuhi.bsky.social 💪 particularly @choochod.bsky.social from @ucuscotland.bsky.social
See you all on the 17th!
#SaveUHI #ThinkUHI
@ucu.org.uk
Thanks to everyone who joined us in support of our fight against staff cuts at @thinkuhi.bsky.social 💪 particularly @choochod.bsky.social from @ucuscotland.bsky.social
See you all on the 17th!
#SaveUHI #ThinkUHI
@ucu.org.uk
November 6, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Solidarity!
Reposted by Durham UCU
We’re leading 5 days of industrial action at the University of Dundee.
We’re calling on all our members to participate in this action. You can join us on the picket line or strike from home. You can legally join the strike if you aren’t a member of a union
The people united will never be defeated.
We’re calling on all our members to participate in this action. You can join us on the picket line or strike from home. You can legally join the strike if you aren’t a member of a union
The people united will never be defeated.
November 5, 2025 at 11:23 AM
We’re leading 5 days of industrial action at the University of Dundee.
We’re calling on all our members to participate in this action. You can join us on the picket line or strike from home. You can legally join the strike if you aren’t a member of a union
The people united will never be defeated.
We’re calling on all our members to participate in this action. You can join us on the picket line or strike from home. You can legally join the strike if you aren’t a member of a union
The people united will never be defeated.
Some of our grooviest colleagues are running a "How To Talk About Palestine" Workshop TOMORROW at 1pm, in the Calman Learning Centre. This will take place after tomorrow's walkout/demo in solidarity with the people of Palestine, taking place as usual at the Map opposite Whitechurch.
November 5, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Some of our grooviest colleagues are running a "How To Talk About Palestine" Workshop TOMORROW at 1pm, in the Calman Learning Centre. This will take place after tomorrow's walkout/demo in solidarity with the people of Palestine, taking place as usual at the Map opposite Whitechurch.