Email to staff 17 November 2021

Important update - dates announced for industrial action

Dear colleagues,

As you may be aware, the national University and College Union (UCU) has announced that industrial action will take place in universities across the UK in the form of three days of action accompanied by continuous action sort of a strike.

• Strike action will take place on Wednesday 1, Thursday 2 and Friday 3 December 2021.
• The action short of a strike is intended to be continuous and will start on Wednesday 1 December 2021 and will finish no later than 3 May 2022.
• The action short of a strike is staff working their contracted hours and duties and not volunteering to do more.

I have no doubt that this will be a difficult time for the University and there will be differences of views within and between departments. I intend to do all I can to make sure we continue to work together respectfully, listen to views and opinions, and I ask that everyone appreciates that many staff face very difficult decisions ahead.

A contingency group has been meeting regularly and we have created an industrial action page for staff and students, which covers FAQs and links to further information and support. Postgraduate researchers will be able to draw on different elements of both sections.

We also know many of our students will have differences of view and experience over the coming weeks, and I continue to share regular updates, as well as information and guidance. This included taking part in a YUSU student forum this week to answer questions. Together with York UCU, we each submitted statements in advance, which you can read.

There is also a lot of common ground to build on, both at the national and local level. Nationally, Governance reform of the USS is a major factor to continue to push hard for, and locally, I will continue to meet regularly with our local UCU branch and our student unions to carry on our very constructive conversations about how we best support our staff and students.

With best wishes

Charlie