Email originally sent to members on Thursday 18th December 2025
Dear Members
A last email from 2025 from me, and what a year it has been! Your anger, your strength, and the fight back demonstrated the solidarity we have, the love we have for the Institute we believe in, the work we do tirelessly to deliver teaching, student learning, pastoral care and administration. The work we do to advance global research and knowledge, outreach activities, all make our University the place it is. Yet again we delivered all this, despite the adversities and the appalling lack of judgement from people who do not understand this or what a university is about, that it is people who make the university.
Phase 1 saw us losing amazing APM colleagues, a direct result of fiscal decisions on vanity projects and surpluses wanted by UEB. We did manage to challenge the processes, the pooling and bumping, the Industrial action we called and participated in, which averted compulsory redundancies, legally appropriate conversations and at least decent VR payments. A loss nevertheless. Now, the Phase 2, Strategic Change has begun, where yet again the price of everything and the value of nothing is being displayed. The choice of suspending 42 courses on flawed SSR rationale, start of performance conversations using inaccurate metrics, and now pausing of promotions that people richly deserve, is infuriating. But the fight back continues. You saw the numerous press releases, BBC and ITN coverage, MP letters, the published SSR document that challenges the metrics and emphasises the danger of loss of QS rankings, and the financial counterproposal (AFS2). Please also find a link here to the UCU Close Closures counter proposal, written by an amazing group of colleagues in record time so it can go to JNCC in January. https://uonucu.org/counter-proposal-to-course-suspensions/
The fight continues. Last week 97% of members at the members meeting approved the latest motion on balloting for further industrial action in 2026 if our demands are not met. The letter, re on this, has been sent to the VC, and talks on resolving this will occur in January. It should be within 15 days of receiving official notification. However, not being the ‘Bah Humbug” brigade, we stated we can talk in January.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our Reps, our Caseworkers, our branch committee, for the amazing work they have done, supporting members, writing counter-proposals, sitting on dispute negotiation meetings, consultation/discussion meetings on the various policies University wants to take, and producing alternate excellent counter-proposals in record time, to try and avert this disaster to our university and colleagues livelihoods. I would like to thank all our members for showing support, being there at the picket lines, rallies, your speeches, the ” singers in the courtyards and lawns!”, all showing the solidarity we have and the fight back. (Please see below some images, that we leave behind for history).
Please do have a lovely festive break, enjoy the company of your nearest and dearest. Come back in January 2026, ready for the push back and the climb down we expect from UEB. We will call a meeting in January to get your approval on some key new things we plan to do.
Yours,
Lopa
