Rally for UCU University of East London
UEL SOLIDARITY STRIKE RALLY
12:30 Monday 22nd February
A rally in solidarity with UCU strikers fighting redundancies at the University of East London (UEL).
The UCU Solidarity Movement, the University East London UCU branch and the #SaveUEL Campaign invite you to join us on Monday 22nd February from 12:30 – 1:30pm.
This rally supports UEL staff striking on Monday 22nd and Tuesday 23rd February over plans to make five prominent academics redundant. We also highlight other important issues at the UEL community, including situations faced by students and other staff members. We invite the wider activist movements to join us in solidarity with the entire UEL collective.
This is urgent. UEL UCU do not take the decision to strike lightly. Strike action will cause disruption to the operations of the university, not least to UEL students whose education has already been affected by the pandemic. But we cannot let university management handpick colleagues for dismissal. The staff being made redundant include the UCU Branch Chair and Vice Chair, and it is our view that this is a blatant case of trade union victimisation.
#SaveUEL Community Forum
4:30 Monday 22nd February
We are a group of students at UEL who are worried about what’s happening to our university.
As many of you may know, through the majority of this pandemic we have had struggling students, UEL international students relying on foodbanks provided by the local community and students who have uncertain futures. In addition, five highly regarded academic staff who will make us better graduates are due to be made redundant from Tuesday 23 February, and a longstanding cleaner has also been dismissed.
Our ‘student experience’ is being affected and our expensive £9K per year education is suffering. COVID has been tough for us all and everyone is at breaking point. One thing we see, as students, is the ridiculous workloads staff are facing. Academics do really care about students, but our lecturers have next to no time for directly engaging with us, and it makes us question – what are we paying for then?
We want students to get involved and engage with the #saveUEL movement to tell us what you have experienced. There is something that links all of these issues and numerous others: UEL management is failing to care for its community. It’s not good enough.
At this session, we’ll be hearing more about what’s been happening at UEL so far, but most importantly we’ll be working together to think about what comes next for us all. We’ll be in breakout groups of staff, students, and members of the wider UEL community. Come and have your say and share your ideas! Together we can make change happen!
This event takes place after the nationwide rally hosted by the UCU solidarity movement, the University East London UCU branch and the #saveuel campaign. Register here for that event
Leave a Reply