Dear UCU member

As we begin taking a full week of strike action from today, we wanted to put the record straight on what our employer has been reporting to you and your members about our dispute.

Every trade union member knows that when their branch goes into dispute and starts to take industrial action, the employer’s propaganda machine starts churning out disinformation to damage and undermine action. It is important that you are aware of the facts behind the employer’s rhetoric so we have published a ‘UCU SMT Myth Busting [uniteucu.wordpress.com]’ page on our website.

But beyond this, what you may not know is that UCU management is proactively exacerbating the dispute and undermining the possibility of finding a resolution through a series of union-busting actions that wouldn’t be unknown among the most hawkish of your employers: 

• they’re employing non-unionised fixed-term/agency staff to cover striking workers, and are outsourcing other work
• they’re openly crossing picket lines themselves, covering the work of striking staff, and are suggesting core teams are functioning normally
• they’re circulating misleading propaganda, which accuses our negotiators of acting in bad faith
• they’re threatening Unite members with disciplinary action if they mention strike action in out-of-office email messages so as to reduce wider awareness of our action
• they’re targeting a number of branch committee members and leading activists through repeated abuse of agreed policies and procedures
• they have breached our recognition agreement through recognising another union for managers.

It is beyond sad that we are in this situation. Our density is over 65%, which represents many dedicated and long-serving members with an enormous wealth of experience working for UCU branches and members. They are simply no longer able to properly do their jobs and are leaving UCU employment at an alarming rate.

Some of our matters in dispute could be close to resolution – or at least could be making enough meaningful progress that Unite action would be unnecessary – which makes management’s refusal to talk to us all the more incomprehensible. 

But the major sticking points, about which they are silent, are the safety and work-related stress crisis [uniteucu.wordpress.com], and now, their attacks on Unite branch officers [uniteucu.wordpress.com] which are further undermining our broken industrial relations.

In the coming days and weeks we will be reaching out again and providing opportunities for you to speak with us, ask questions and demonstrate the support so many of you have openly offered. 

We want to build this union into one that can best deliver for UCU members, one that is safe for its staff and one that allows us to support you in the best and most effective ways we know how. One in which both the union and its staff can thrive.

Thank you for reading

Unite UCU (LE127)