University staff members took to the picket lines across Streatham and Penryn today to protest against freefalling working conditions and changes to their pension benefits. The University and Colleges Union (UCU), the largest Higher Education union in the world, have announced eight days of industrial action that will run from 25 November to 4 December. […]
UCU
78 per cent of Exeter Students Vote To Support UCU Cause
The Students’ Guild have voted to support the UCU cause as a result of an online poll they held. 78% of students have voted to support the cause, with 2,427 students voting. The Guild ran the poll from 11 Nov to 20 Nov, with the multiple choice question “What stance do you have regarding the […]
Life’s nice for the Vice
Life’s nice for the Vice EXETER’S Vice-Chancellor, Sir Steve Smith, is to be paid a massive £830,000 total as part of a special end of career remuneration package. This has been determined by a remuneration committee who have decided that this amount is justified. The package is around double his regular £424,000 salary, which is […]
USS engaging in new pensions consultation
Discussion began on 2 January about a new valuation of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), a pension scheme for university staff. USS are indicating that they are not seeking to implement the recommendations of the Joint Expert Panel (JEP), which was set up by Universities’ UK (UUK) and the University and College Union (UCU) and […]
UCU strike action suspended as membership votes to accept UUK deal
Members of the University College Union have voted in favour of accepting a set of proposals aimed at ending the ongoing academic pension dispute. Further industrial action (including action short of a strike), planned for the summer turn, has been suspended as 64% of votes expressed favour towards accepting the deal on 13 April. In […]
Exeter UCU demand Sally Hunt’s resignation
Exeter UCU have called for the resignation of Sally Hunt, the General Secretary of the UCU. This follows the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) which was called on Friday 6th April, where members debated and voted on the offer by the USS and UUK to ballot UCU members on the proposal negotiated by the leadership of […]
Live Review: Occupy LIVE @ Northcote House
On the morning of February 22nd, the first of the fourteen non-consecutive days of striking that have dominated the last four weeks at Exeter, I spoke on the picket line with English lecturer Dr Joe Crawford. Our assembly, guitar-accompanied, had just finished singing the famous and verbose union song ‘Solidarity Forever’, which would become the […]
UCU Strike: The Exeposé Verdict
IT is rare for Exeposé to stand up and openly take a stance on controversial topics. We have not done so for some time, and do not intend on making a habit of this. Instead, we have always focused on bringing the facts to students, and leaving them to make up their own minds. However, […]
UCU Strike: Can we really be neutral? The Guild’s response
With the industrial action that is proposed can the Guild really be neutral? Should the Guild be neutral? When we sent out our position last week we sided with the students at Exeter. Unlike the NUS and a small number of other student unions we put the ideology of trade union solidarity aside, instead focusing […]
UCU Strike: The University’s Response
We fully recognise the importance of pensions savings to our colleagues and their families. The USS includes in its membership virtually all academic staff at Exeter, and more than 1000 professional services staff. We understand the concerns that staff will have about the sustainability of this national scheme and the impact of any proposed changes. […]