Please read our joint update with Queen Mary UCU on the industrial action and sign the petition for deducted wages to go to the student hardship fund.
On Friday 17 February, UCU announced a pause in the current industrial action after developments in negotiations with employers. The negotiations are bound by confidentiality and are taking place between the employers and the five unions that represent staff across the sector.
The pause has meant that strike action did not take place on 21-23 February, 27-28 February and 1-2 March. Students should have received emails from their module convenors, tutors and departments to make sure you had up-to-date information with regards to teaching resuming.
Action taken by union members has got the sector to this improved position. Students and staff expect employers to use this time to settle the dispute once and for all, with an offer to staff that seriously addresses the crisis in pay, pensions and working conditions at UK universities. If employers do not make sufficient progress on an offer in the next two weeks, industrial action will resume.
As it stands, the strikes planned for 16-17 and 20-22 March remain in place, with an additional day of strike action recently announced for 15 March; however, if the negotiations proceed well and an agreement ending the dispute is reached before these dates, strikes in March could also be called off.
The Students’ Union has reached out to the University to clarify how wages deducted from staff for participation in industrial action will be used to support students. There is also a joint petition to call on the management at Queen Mary to direct these deducted wages straight to the student hardship fund.
Sign the joint petition
We encourage students to check the Students’ Union and QM UCU social media pages @QMSU and @QM_UCU for further updates, and to attend the regular drop-in sessions;
The solidarity between students and staff these last few weeks, at Queen Mary and across the country, has been immense. UCU members at Queen Mary are hugely appreciative of student support and continue to stand with students in the fight for justice on campus.