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Strike!

Being out with UCU is both great because of all they bring with them, but also shaming by comparison because of all they bring with them.

(Still think our branch is decent :thumbs: )
 
With that in mind, perhaps I can 'celebrate' the BBC centenary with this wikipedia quote:

The recommendations of the Crawford Committee were published in March the following year and were still under consideration by the GPO when the 1926 general strike broke out in May. The strike temporarily interrupted newspaper production, and with restrictions on news bulletins waived, the BBC suddenly became the primary source of news for the duration of the crisis.

The crisis placed the BBC in a delicate position. On the one hand Reith was acutely aware that the government might exercise its right to commandeer the BBC at any time as a mouthpiece of the government if the BBC were to step out of line, but on the other he was anxious to maintain public trust by appearing to be acting independently. The government was divided on how to handle the BBC, but ended up trusting Reith, whose opposition to the strike mirrored the PM's own. Although Winston Churchill in particular wanted to commandeer the BBC to use it "to the best possible advantage", Reith wrote that Stanley Baldwin's government wanted to be able to say "that they did not commandeer [the BBC], but they know that they can trust us not to be really impartial". Thus the BBC was granted sufficient leeway to pursue the government's objectives largely in a manner of its own choosing.
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The resulting coverage of both striker and government viewpoints impressed millions of listeners who were unaware that the PM had broadcast to the nation from Reith's home, using one of Reith's sound bites inserted at the last moment, or that the BBC had banned broadcasts from the Labour Party and delayed a peace appeal by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Supporters of the strike nicknamed the BBC the BFC for British Falsehood Company. Reith personally announced the end of the strike which he marked by reciting from Blake's "Jerusalem" signifying that England had been saved.
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While the BBC tends to characterise its coverage of the general strike by emphasising the positive impression created by its balanced coverage of the views of government and strikers, Jean Seaton, Professor of Media History and the Official BBC Historian, has characterised the episode as the invention of "modern propaganda in its British form". Reith argued that trust gained by 'authentic impartial news' could then be used. Impartial news was not necessarily an end in itself.

The BBC did well out of the crisis, which cemented a national audience for its broadcasting, and it was followed by the Government's acceptance of the recommendation made by the Crawford Committee (1925–26) that the British Broadcasting Company be replaced by a non-commercial, Crown-chartered organisation: the British Broadcasting Corporation.
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From BBC - Wikipedia
 
hitmouse said:
MMU will be out then as well:

Still seems weird that we seem to have to gather this info on a branch-by-branch basis, if only there was some kind of a national structure connecting these different branches?
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Unison branches at both the University of Leeds and Leeds-Beckett are out. Also at the University of Leeds the Unite branch is out so there should be some really effective action there (only GMB not out).

Anyone in Leeds on 24th/25th do go along to the picket lines it should be a really strong display.

I don't think any of Unison branches in Yorkshire made it past the threshold
 
hitmouse said:
Still seems weird that we seem to have to gather this info on a branch-by-branch basis, if only there was some kind of a national structure connecting these different branches?
Click to expand...
UNISON now have a list on their website.
  • Bath Spa University: Thursday 24 November
  • Birkbeck (University of London): Thursday 24, Friday 25, Wednesday 30 November
  • City (University of London): Thursday 24, Friday 25, Wednesday 30 November
  • Edinburgh Napier University: Thursday 24 and Friday 25 November
  • Glasgow Caledonian University: Monday 21 and Tuesday 22 November
  • Kings College London: Thursday 24 and Friday 25 November
  • Leeds Beckett University: Thursday 24, Friday 25, Wednesday 30 November
  • Liverpool Hope University: Thursday 24, Friday 25, Wednesday 30 November
  • London South Bank University: Thursday 24 November
  • Manchester Metropolitan University: Thursday 24 and Friday 25 November
  • Robert Gordon University: Thursday 24 and Friday 25 November
  • Royal Northern College of Music: Thursday 24 and Friday 25 November
  • School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London): Thursday 24, Friday 25, Wednesday 30 November
  • University of Brighton: Thursday 24, Friday 25, Wednesday 30 November
  • University of Bristol: Thursday 24 and Wednesday 30 November
  • University of Leeds: Thursday 24, Friday 25, Saturday 26, Sunday 27, Monday 28, Tuesday 29, Wednesday 30 November
  • University of the West of England: Thursday 24, Friday 25, Wednesday 30 November
  • University of Winchester: Thursday 24 and Friday 25 November
  • University of Gloucestershire: Thursday 24, Friday 25, Wednesday 30 November
 
The RMT union has announced four weeks of fresh strike action on the railways.

Workers from 14 train operating companies will take strike action on 13, 14, 16, 17 December and 3, 4, 6, 7 January.

There will also be an overtime ban from 18 December until 2 January.
 
PR1Berske said:
The RMT union has announced four weeks of fresh strike action on the railways.

Workers from 14 train operating companies will take strike action on 13, 14, 16, 17 December and 3, 4, 6, 7 January.

There will also be an overtime ban from 18 December until 2 January.
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Oh ffs - that week in December will cost me a week of lost pay. Just before Christmas :(
 
Good turnout on the picket line this morning; no one crossed (the two managers who made a fleeting appearance don't count) and nothing went out.

There has also been a definite hardening of attitude. The mood was definitely one of 'well if the company wants to break us then we will break them'. Everybody saying it's not about pay now, it's about conditions, it's about jobs and it's about the service.

Feels good - Louis MacNeice
 
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has announced its members will stage national strikes – the first in its 106-year history – on 15 and 20 December, with action expected to last for 12 hours on both days.

The unprecedented industrial action will seriously disrupt care and is likely to be the first in a series of strikes over the winter and into the spring by NHS staff, including junior doctors and ambulance workers.


The union said ministers had not taken up the offer of formal talks since the ballot result over a fortnight ago and so “chosen strike action”.


RCN’s general secretary, Pat Cullen, said: “They have the power and the means to stop this by opening serious talks that address our dispute.

“Nursing staff have had enough of being taken for granted, enough of low pay and unsafe staffing levels, enough of not being able to give our patients the care they deserve.”

It came as postal workers, university staff and Scottish schoolteachers went on strike on Thursday, while rail unions reaffirmed plans for eight days of national strikes despite a “positive” meeting with ministers.

The dates planned for strikes are clustered around the week before the Christmas holidays begin, when demand will be high for restaurants and retail as office party season peaks and shopping activity surges.

The first nurses’ strike on 15 December will fall during a planned week of rail strikes by the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, on 13-14 and 16-17 December, and on the second day of a 48-hour walkout by the Communication Workers Union (CWU) at the Royal Mail, on 14-15 December.
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Lord Camomile said:
View attachment 352437

....and bloody UNISON members, ffs! :mad: :(





I know, it's not all UNISON HE branches, but it'd be nice for us members that are striking if we were included.
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Would you be more or less offended if they'd written "CWU, UCU, EIS and Unison will all be taking action"? ;)
Also, respect to UoLeeds for how hardcore they are, everyone else has just gone for 2 or 3 days but they're out for a full week, so will still be out on Monday-Wednesday.
Notes from Below have relaunched the University Worker project for this set of strikes:
notesfrombelow.org

The University Worker

bulletin
notesfrombelow.org notesfrombelow.org

Also, finally some proper fucking progress on reballoting from UNISON, reballots at 51 unis to start next week, so from January onwards there could be up to 51 more branches joining in the strikes, congratulations to whoever managed to twist arms there:
www.unison.org.uk

Higher Education Pay 2023-24 | UNISON National

Where will UNISON re-ballot for strike action? UNISON members will be re-balloted for further strike action over the 2023-24 pay uplift at the
www.unison.org.uk www.unison.org.uk
 
hitmouse said:
Also, finally some proper fucking progress on reballoting from UNISON, reballots at 51 unis to start next week, so from January onwards there could be up to 51 more branches joining in the strikes, congratulations to whoever managed to twist arms there:
www.unison.org.uk

Higher Education Pay 2023-24 | UNISON National

Where will UNISON re-ballot for strike action? UNISON members will be re-balloted for further strike action over the 2023-24 pay uplift at the
www.unison.org.uk www.unison.org.uk
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"Finally", as you say, but given turnout on Thu and Fri I'm not sure I can see our branch voting for more strike days any time soon. That's just the pickets, though, don't know how many actually went on strike across the branch yet.

Also, feel like the ballots of the 19 run out around Feb time, don't they?

I do hope things go well for the 51, but honestly not sure how all this will play out across the different branches and unions. Could get very fiddly.
 
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