The ongoing and horrific war in Gaza continues, and BUCU have been pressing for better action to call for an immediate ceasefire and to end any connection that we might implicitly have with the sustained bombing of people in Gaza. We have signed this letter to Jo Grady, calling for all universities and USS to divest from companies complicit in Israeli apartheid and genocide. Tomorrow there is a day of action to call for a ceasefire.

UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People

UCU is committed to support the Palestinian struggle against settler colonisation. Tomorrow (29 November) is the UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People and UCU is joining thousands of workers across the country as part of the Workplace Day of Action to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Students for Justice in Palestine have called for UCU members who wish to call for an immediate ceasefire and end to the University of Birmingham’s complicity in Israeli occupation and apartheid, to join them tomorrow on the Green Heart at 2pm on Wednesday 29th November.

Local negotiations

In local news, we recently met with the University HR team to discuss measures that can be put in place to deal with the University’s gender and ethnicity pay gap. We have proposed a number of measures, including greater transparency regarding appointment to posts (including ‘acting-up’ positions), and strengthening of the ‘remission of duties’ option for staff returning from maternity leave. All updates on our local negotiations can be found here.

Honorary Professor Appointments?

We note with some concern that Liam Byrne MP has been made an Honorary Professor of the College of Social Sciences, and is due this week to give a lecture on wealth. This is despite the fact that Mr Byrne recently had a complaint against him upheld, after he was found to have used his parliamentary staff to help his unsuccessful campaign to become West Midlands mayor. It also comes after Mr Byrne was suspended from the House of Commons for two days, after he was found to have bullied a member of staff (and now local councillor in Birmingham), David Barker. We have written to VC Adam Tickell to question the message that Mr Byrne’s appointment sends to staff and students, about the University’s commitment to addressing workplace bullying.

Support the Support Staff

Councillor David Barker was last seen on the UNISON picket line here at the University of Birmingham, calling for a better response from the University to the ongoing UNISON support staff dispute. Rather than resolve this dispute, it seems that the University management and VC Adam Tickell are intent on digging in their heels. UNISON have published their most recent response to the VC here. As UNISON show, the failure to resolve the dispute is ‘symptomatic of poor communication and leadership’. Support the Support Staff Dispute!

Hard times

Finally, in the last VC’s “View from the Top” you may have noted the rather alarmist tone with which we were told “our financial position would deteriorate” if we don’t “make cuts or grow”, and that even if we manage to grow we will need to be “as efficient and effective as possible”. Of course, these declarations of impending doom are ‘par for the course’ in university management, given the ever-present need to manage the expectations of the university community (we can’t afford you!). At such times, it’s usually reassuring to check the published annual accounts. The most recent accounts show how the University has over £1.1 billion in assets! The most recent combined salary of the UEB topped £2.5 million. And the compensation for our (2) VCs combined was £600,000. Hard times indeed!