Week Three begins with much milder temperatures but the same fire in the belly of UCU picketers. As Sally Hunt, UCU Secretary General, put in her e-mail this morning, “For the avoidance of doubt, this week’s strikes continue.” Here in Cardiff, we saw some strong turnout, no doubt in preparation for the big meeting with our vice-chancellor. But a nice showing for Mick Antoniw AM for Pontypridd who came to visit many of the school pickets. He will ask for a statement on our predicament from the Welsh Government this week in the National Assembly.

Mick Antoniw AM for Pontypridd who came to visit many of the school pickets

Rally at Main Gate
We had a good turnout again for the 11am rally with speeches from Kerry Hood and Mary Heimann, and a reminder of the arrangements for Question Time by Marc Beuhner

Rally – Main Gate – 5th March

Rally – Main Gate – 5th March

Question Time
The main event for the day was an hour’s session with Vice-Chancellor Colin Riordan and chief financial officer Rob Williams, chaired by Cardiff UCU’s own Paul Brennan and Nicky Priaulx. We were at capacity in the main hall of Cathays Community Centre with 200 present – at least 60 were turned away, but we were able to record it. That recording is now available.

The tone was deliberate but respectful, and we appreciate the Vice-Chancellor meeting us face to face and hearing our concerns. Certainly, there was a lot of expertise in the room on these issues, and I think we made it clear that we see alternatives to this pension valuation. Remember this great video, with a choice analogy from Biz School’s Woon Wong. Always worth watching and definitely good for sharing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PY84vOnFSk&feature=youtu.be

The VC was repeatedly urged to add his name to those of other UK Vice Chancellors willing to come out publicly in support of university staff and join UCU in pressing UUK/USS for a better pension deal. The VC repeatedly expressed the view that he would favour an alternative solution to the pension problem, could a practical alternative proposal be found.

In a statement on Twitter, Colin Riordan called the meeting constructive and highlighted the forthcoming work of a group of experts including UCU members and Deputy Vice-Chancellor Karen Holford. This group was, in fact, formed before the strike began and hasn’t yet met. Snow prevented their first scheduled meeting last Friday, but we hope that today’s session will provide significant impetus to make meaningful progress. Colin Riordan promises to bring the results of that group’s work to USS and UUK. It is essential now that everyone (especially the University’s senior management team) moves quickly to make this a reality.

Question Time Colin Riordan & Rob Williams – 5th March

Following the meeting, we sent this text, intended as a joint statement, to the Vice-Chancellor:

Today the Vice-Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer of Cardiff University accepted an invitation from Cardiff University College Union (UCU) to meet with staff and students of the university to account for the Cardiff University position in the current USS pensions dispute. Following discussions at the meeting, the Vice-Chancellor of Cardiff University joins with the Cardiff Branch of UCU in calling upon UUK to ask USS to commission immediately a new and independent valuation of the USS pension scheme to inform current negotiations.

By end of day, we had not heard back from his office. We do hope that the vice-chancellor’s comments to us today were more than just warm words before a frustrated crowd. Agreeing to this statement would be a reasonable, concrete first step, and we hope we get his written agreement soon.

Thanks to everyone for a strong presence and questions!

Question Time Audience – 5th March

The Work Continues
Meantime, we’re not out of the woods. We love the continuing presence on the lines at individual schools and sites. If you haven’t been down, now is a great time to start. The spirit is good, and you’re likely to get someone’s home baking to keep you going. Check with your school picket supervisors: some people are putting rotations through so we don’t exhaust everyone but keep a steady presence at the doors.

Teach-outs continue this week, which is another way to take part. It keeps the enthusiasm going, builds more bridges between staff and students, and shares ideas that will sustain us as we take this fight past the state of our pension fund and right to the heart of what it means to be a university.

• Tomorrow’s theme is mental health. Join Ben Hannigan, Lucy Series, Steven Stanley, Michelle Huws-Thomas, Thanasi Hassoulas, and Kerry Hood to look at the issue from a variety of angles. If you’re nursing private worries amidst all this public enthusiasm, please consider taking part. 1-4 at Cathays Community Centre on 6 March.
• Wednesday, Lydia Hayes leads a workshop on the powerful and relevant theme of Civil Rights and Liberties. That’s at Cathays Methodist Church on Crwys Road, 1-3 on 7 March.

As always, we’ll meet at the gates of Main Building at 11 for a group rally, and as always, we’ll make the last one for the week of strike action a big one. So be sure to join us Thursday for the rally. We already have some strong speakers lined up, including Anna McMorrin, Labour MP for Cardiff North, and Adam Price, Plaid Cymru AM for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr.

Best,
Cardiff UCU Strike Communications Team

Further images from today:

Queen’s Buildings – 5th March

Newport Road – 5th March

Glamorgan Building – 5th March

Glamorgan Building – 5th March

Bute – 5th March

Bute – 5th March

Birthday on the Picket Line – 5th March

Law – 5th March

Psychology – 5th March

Heath Park – 5th March

Heath Park – 5th March

Heath Park – 5th March

AHSS – 5th March

AHSS – 5th March

Colum Road – 5th March

Colum Road – 5th March

Banners at Cardiff UCU Pickets

Law – 28th February

Question Time – 5th March

Question Time – 5th March

Well done, everyone, for making it through five very chilly days of striking! As Karin Wahl-Jorgensen from JOMEC noted, “the colder it gets, the more people turn up.” Standing in the beautiful sunshine does make a difference, and so a special shout-out to those picketing outside Psychology who kind of lost the sweepstakes for weather: dark and shady with a funnel of wind blowing at you up Park Place. However, you’re tops in spirit. Here’s a look at some of you:

Picket Psychology 28th Feb

The media are noticing: we’ve had positive press from the Guardian, the BBC, Times Higher Ed, and others.

Many cheers as well to the musical support, including Cosmo’s anarchist singalongs and the open mic performances.

Cosmo’s anarchist singalongs

Back to work
The next couple of days will be a bit odd. Back inside, out of the cold and snow and away from the warmth of the picket line. We want to keep the momentum going, so here are three things to consider:

• Send an e-mail to your head of school letting them know you’ve been out on strike. It’s professional and a courtesy. We’re not obliged to tell them what we’re up to before we go, but we should let them know after it’s happened. There’s been discussion about a form to fill in, but that form commits you to declaring your entire strike attendance. If you want to make contributions to your pension for the strike days, we recommend saying so in the e-mail. More details are on the Cardiff Uni website.
• Speaking of e-mails, you’ll have a mountain to catch up on. It’s like coming back from holidays or being off sick. Think ahead, make some priorities, and stick to it. You may be asked to do a week’s worth of work in the next two days: remember that you’re working to contract, so think of what can happen and needs to happen over two seven-hour work days.
• We have a simple Excel sheet which allows people to track working hours to facilitate working to contract.  It is pretty self-explanatory, except that “leave time” suggests when you can leave (i.e. 7 hours after start, minus any lunch break)
• Finally, talk about what’s been happening with your co-workers. There is so much to be positive about. Talk about the resilient spirit of the people on the lines. Some people in your department may be members who just haven’t turned up – embolden them to come out. Some people haven’t even joined – tell them it’s not too late. Our memberships are climbing since the strike, and they are protected as members from the moment they complete the online form. We’ve done a lot in five days – remind them of that. Think together of what could be achieved if our union was even bigger!

Rally Cardiff University Main Building 28th Feb

Take care of yourselves and keep an eye on our website and our social media accounts. And we’ll see you back next Monday.

Best,
Cardiff UCU Strike Communications Committee

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Further images from today:

Heath Park 28th February

Heath Park Campus 28th February

Heath Park 28th February

AHSS 28th February

Bute Building 28th February

Bute Building 28th February

Glamorgan Building 28th February

Law School – 28th Feb

Cardiff UCU USS Pensions Strike Rally – Cardiff University Main Gate – 28th Feb

Cardiff UCU USS Pensions Strike Rally – Cardiff University Main Gate – 28th Feb

Cardiff UCU USS Pensions Strike Rally – Cardiff University Main Gate – 28th Feb

Cardiff UCU USS Pensions Strike Rally – Cardiff University Main Gate – 28th Feb

Cardiff UCU USS Pensions Strike Rally – Cardiff University Main Gate – 28th Feb

Cardiff UCU USS Pensions Strike Rally – Cardiff University Main Gate – 28th Feb

Cardiff UCU USS Pensions Strike Rally – Cardiff University Main Gate – 28th Feb

Cardiff UCU USS Pensions Strike Rally – Cardiff University Main Gate – 28th Feb

Cardiff UCU USS Pensions Strike Rally – Cardiff University Main Gate – 28th Feb

Cardiff UCU USS Pensions Strike Rally – Cardiff University Main Gate – 28th Feb

Cardiff UCU USS Pensions Strike Rally – Cardiff University Main Gate – 28th Feb

Cardiff UCU USS Pensions Strike Rally – Cardiff University Main Gate – 28th Feb

Cardiff UCU USS Pensions Strike Rally – Cardiff University Main Gate – 28th Feb

Cardiff UCU USS Pensions Strike Rally – Cardiff University Main Gate – 28th Feb

It’s been great to have so many of us coming down to the picket lines.

We’ve had consistent representation at individual schools, and as for each strike day we all gathered at 11am at University Main Building to hear from students, professional services, and a colleague from Optometry – a veteran of strike action in US higher education, where picketing was illegal. Snow and cold notwithstanding, we’d love to have even more of us tomorrow.

These bulletins are a great way we all (including very recent joiners) can keep in touch with what is going on when:

1. visit this website daily at www.cardiffucu.org.uk
   and
2. follow us on Twitter at @CardiffUCU

Hearing from our Vice-Chancellor
Our actions have had an impact! Colin Riordan has issued a public statement – you can find it on the university’s Twitter account. The vice-chancellor has welcomed the talks between UUK and UCU and stressed the need to find a solution. Cardiff UCU’s response is also available through Twitter, but here’s a highlight: ‘We’re encouraged that the Cardiff University Vice Chancellor has acknowledged the need for Universities UK to talk meaningfully with the union… Any settlement needs to be a fair, sustainable, long term solution for both employers and staff.’ If you’re online, please lend your voice in reply to the statement.

Cardiff University UCU response to the recent @cardiffuni statement about the #USSstrike pensions dispute (see the Uni statement here: https://t.co/lsKQ7omz94) pic.twitter.com/Tap4oG3dGa

— Cardiff UCU (@CardiffUCU) 27 February 2018

Other voices
We’ve had lots of support from other unions. Crucially, representatives from UCU have visited Cardiff Trades Council to drum up support for the Fighting Fund. This work is ongoing: we want to build up the fund to help those members most in need. If you know of other groups that we could turn to for support, let us know.

Llyr Gruffydds, AM for North Wales for Plaid Cymru, asked the Welsh Government to support academic staff and encourage the universities to find a meaningful solution to our dispute. Julie James, speaking on behalf of the government, wants the universities to come to the table with an open mind and believes staff ought to be remunerated properly. The education minister, Kirsty Williams, will speak with UCU representatives soon, and we hope that gives incentive for the vice chancellors to sort this dispute out quickly.

Teach-Outs continue
Today we’ve been continuing our programme of Teach-Outs at the Cathays Community Centre in the afternoons. Students, staff, and members of the public are all welcome, and it is a little bit warmer than the picket line if you need a place to shelter and sit down but still want to keep company with fellow union members. Yesterday’s theme was on the qualities of the university; today, our theme was resistance, with a variety of talks. If there’s a talk you’d like to share, get in touch!

Tomorrow – 28th February
We hope that as many of us as possible can turn out tomorrow, both for the pickets and 11am Rally!

As it’s the last day for this block of strikes, we want a good showing at the picket lines – please ask your colleagues to join us. We will gather for our rally at Main Building at 11am. There will be music, speeches, and also some guests. Things are moving, so join us and keep up the momentum! You’re all doing a great job.

Best,
Cardiff UCU Strike Communications Team

Further images from today:

Heath Park 27th February

Business School 27th February

Physics & Engineering Schools 27th February

Student speaker at rally 27th February

We’re into Week Two – change of persona as reading week and the turn to school after half term mean different people may be enabled to join the picket lines. We’re also joined nationally by King’s College, Queen Mary, Stirling and Edinburgh, whose members are now on strike. Meanwhile, there was a change of climate, with cold days getting colder, but we appreciate you being out in such force.

Picket and Rally at Main Gate
In addition to the Business School, we had picket lines at Heath Park (Rhydelig Ave and Allensbank Rd entrances), Glamorgan Building, Bute Building, Psychology, AHSS Library, Maths, Psychology. As many as on Friday, if not more came to the daily 11am rally at Main Gate. One of the speakers drew attention to the fact that it is now clear Cardiff University has been less than transparent about how it came to a decision to inform UUK that it supported the UUK proposal to change the pension scheme from DB to DC. There remain questions as to whether the process used was sufficient.

Students and Staff United
This afternoon, we had an open meeting, “Staff and Students Unite for Education”. Over 80 staff and students gathered at Cathays Community Centre, and the focus was pretty high-level. Paul Brennan and Huw Williams encouraged us to think about what we could do to make a fairer university and what we think the university should be for. Paul says he has the HOTSS for a fairer university – one that values Honesty, Openness, Transparency, and Students & Staff. I think we can all agree that such a focus would not lead us to the position we’re in now. Huw mentioned talking about the purpose of universities in another group, and someone told him the universities are as important to Wales as coal and steel. This led someone to pipe in, “That makes this a miner’s strike of knowledge.” Good line – one to share!

In the practical discussion that followed, an ambitious – sometimes radical – set of interventions was discussed. With so many students present, speaking about why they support us and what they want to hear from us as academic staff, we moved the discussion from the narrow issue of pensions to the wider issue of the people who make the university what it is. We should all feel enabled to talk with out students about why we’re out and what we’re fighting for.

Feet Up Tonight

If you’re taking a load off after picketing and organising today, be sure to switch on the telly. Dispatches will share their investigation on the expenses scandal of university vice-chancellors. Tune in on Channel 4 at 8 and share your thoughts online with the hashtag #dispatches.

Feet Out Tomorrow
Cold one tomorrow, maybe even snow, but please come out – make sure you bring a thick coat, wollen jumper and double layer your socks. The UCU starts talks with UniversitiesUK, and though this is a success in itself, it won’t help if UUK doesn’t budge on the kind of pension we want. A strong showing tomorrow from all of us will remind our bosses that we mean what we say, and it will remind our negotiators that we’re behind them and want them to represent us to preserve a fair, secure pension. So wrap up: snow didn’t deter them over in London. No reason it should deter us here in Wales.

Planned activities for next two days

• Tuesday 27^th Feb, Teach Out (1pm, Cathays Community Centre Bingo Hall). 
  University Matters Teach-out Event
  Sessions include:
  – “Analyzing the language of strikes”,
  workshop led by Dr. Aimee Grant,
  – “Strikes and other direct action in Children’s literature”,
  two open lectures by Dr. Netta Chachamu,
  – “The digital university: what does it mean for worker resistant?”
  by Dr. Lina Dencik & Dr. EmilianoTreré,
  followed by an open debate – everyone welcome.
  Where?
  Bingo Room, Cathays Community Centre, CF24 4HX
  
• Wednesday 28^th February, Rally at the Main Building, 11am
  Rally and March
  with various invited speakers and performers.
  Where?
  Meeting in front of the main university building.

Best,

Cardiff UCU Strike Communications Team