For Staff

Email from Roger Gair, University Secretary

Industrial action at Leeds

Dear colleagues,

As I am sure you will be aware, members of the trade union, the University and College Union (UCU) may choose to take part in industrial action this week.

Three days of strike action are planned. These will take place on Wednesday 1, Thursday 2 and Friday 3 December 2021. During this time, we expect that campus, and all our facilities, will operate as normal.

The UCU represents academic and professional and managerial staff. Some postgraduates are also members of the UCU. We know that less than half of the academic, professional and managerial staff at the university are members of the UCU and not all members will choose to participate in the industrial action.  

Prior to this action happening, I wanted to take the opportunity to share my appreciation and thank you in advance for your help ensuring that our University services run normally across these three days and our students are supported as much as possible.

Industrial action is difficult for all staff, including those of you not directly involved, and I know we all want to do the best for our students.

To support all colleagues during this period, we have also developed a set of questions and answers on industrial action. These include information about the industrial action, picket lines and information for students.

During this period, as a University community, we will be guided by three underlying principles: 

  1. Protecting the interests of students
  2. Retaining the cohesion of our community and thus retaining a focus on the wellbeing of staff
  3. Protecting the standard of Leeds awards.

Many of the other issues in the dispute – which were the subject of UCU’s second ballot – are within our gift to tackle. We are already taking action at Leeds to address UCU’s concerns about workload and casualisation. Commitments to improve these areas are already firmly part of our strategic plans, as discussed recently at the all staff Fairer Future for All events, and demonstrated by our Fairer Future For All pledges.

With my best wishes,
Roger Gair

University Secretary