A message from Roger

The UCU general secretary ballot result has now been declared and Sally Hunt has been elected. The union and our members face major and difficult challenges from employers and government in almost every aspect of our working lives. The turnout was just 13.9 per cent which in itself suggests the scale of the challenge the union faces. I wish Sally Hunt very well in meeting those challenges. To meet them successfully will require a clear strategic vision and a determined articulate response which members can have confidence in and ownership of. I will seek to play my part in ensuring that is the case through my continuing role as Head of Equality and Employment Rights Finally I would like to sincerely thank the hundreds of members who sent messages of support and campaigned during the election.

Tuesday, 6 February 2007

Monday 5th February

Dundee pudding

About fifteen years ago I was responsible for Alan Langlands, now Principal of Dundee University. He was then the head of the NHS Executive and missed much of the FA Cup Final as he scrabbled around to respond to a press conference I had called earlier that day when I was head of Labour Relations at the Health Visitors association. The press conference was called to announce the first ever ballot of industrial action ever called by the HVA – over pay. According to the BBC he was not best pleased to have his afternoon’s viewing interrupted to have to do a live interview.

The memory came back as I read this message received today from the President of Dundee. No wonder the NHS was in a mess.

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Dear All,

DUNDEE UCU CAMPAIGN AGAINST CUTS

Director of Finance is forced to resign amid growing pressure against cuts

Dundee University's Finance Director has resigned. DUCU are concerned that his resignation represents the finding of a scapegoat for the financial crisis rather than the seeking of a solution which provides a genuine way forward for the University. We continue to be concerned that we have yet to receive the information on the financial position of the University.

While the University this week claims to be in deficit of £10m rather than the £1.6m last week DUCU remains unconvinced that the University has reliable information on its financial state.

UCU nationally and in Scotland needs to link the job losses at Dundee & Strathclyde and campus closure at Glasgow to the privatisations of languages (see motion below). Keep the pressure on by emailing messages of support and joining in the campaign.

Rush messages of support to ducu@dundee.ac.uk

See http://www.dundee.ac.uk/ducu/ for further details of the campaign.

NEXT MOVES

The campaign meeting this week, which is open to all interested staff and students, will be on Tuesday, 6th February, at 1 pm, in T9.

Please pick up attached informal Minute of what happened at the Emergency Branch meeting and the first campaign meeting last week. Meanwhile contact us for posters to put up, and for our postcards Penny For The Principal, which you can distribute.
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A trade unionist all his working life. An activist and a proud campaigner, Roger has consistently worked to defend human rights of workers. As the leader of the Equality and Employment Rights team in the newly formed UCU he continues to unite the movement around equality and keep employment rights at the top of the agenda.