@vickyblake
♥️education ♥️unions ♥️democracy Widening Participation @ Leeds Uni UCU NEC, negotiator, Educ'n Comm Chair, Climate+Ecological Emergency Comm Co-chair @leedsucu Branch Sec vickyblakeucu.uk Neurodivergent, LC #EduSky #AbortionIsHealthcare #CleanTheAir
About 454,000 registered as displaced in Lebanon, minister says - https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/about-454000-registered-displaced-lebanon-minister-says
Thanks to everyone who has expressed support or concern. I wish this was not necessary, but as I have said before, we exhausted the internal routes.
As members, we must be able to trust the democratic governance of our union at every level if it is to function.
bsky.app/profile/vick...
Our Certification Officer hearing (Blake & McGaughey v UCU) resumes tomorrow (Tue 3 March 2026) online
As before, it is open to the public if you have requested a link from the CO’s office (info [at] certoffice [dot] org)
@ewanmg.bsky.social and I continue to represent our own case in this process
Hearing about the building to win project, identifying concepts behind engagement and then discussing that into concrete ideas was a really valuable part of today’s #UCU #ARPS AGM
A UCU poster with colourful football shirts labelled things like "tutors", "clinicians", "librarians" etc etc, with the slogan: "Your team needs you" and "Not just a lecturers' union"
It looks like several of the breakout groups were reminded of the excellent "football team" poster.
www.ucu.org.uk/media/13309/...
We've been in breakout groups for about an hour discussing challenges and opportunities for organising framed by @howardstevenson.bsky.social 's keynote and questions about sense of community, career and progression pathways (or not!) at our HEIs and sharing what works well / needs changing?
Howard reports a powerful aspect of Building to Win pilot branches talking to each other in a horizonal learning model - recognising this is also happening more widely. Energy driven by branches sharing work they're doing & building confidence through organising conversations that can change minds.
(More on Build the Union and associated resources here: www.ucu.org.uk/btu)
Build the Union project currently working with 19 branches across FE and HE sectors, with important cross-sectoral experiences shared. Emphasising that the very *process* of collective bargaining builds the union, and importance of understanding our interests are not "the same" as our employers(!)
We're kicking off this afternoon at the #UCU ARPS annual meeting with guest speaker @howardstevenson.bsky.social from @uonucu.bsky.social, talking about the Building to Win project. Situating our struggle & challenges in wider trends in tertiary education and the union movement in and beyond the UK.
*Waving from the meeting*
I'm so sorry to be missing the UCU ARPS meeting this year - the first one I haven't made in a while.
Thanks @vickyblake.bsky.social for enabling following from afar (in between meetings) These discussions are so important to enable ARPS staff recognition of their roles as beyond 'support'.
Conversation around what resources and tools we need definitely underlines the importance of collecting experience and good practice, which needs to be concrete rather than abstract!
Delegate online commenting on the challenge of profile raising, recruitment, and organising members who are working remotely at least some of the time, versus more traditional physical workplace based advice - can we bring together a repository of good practice?
And now talking about how to update and strengthen #UCU negotiating toolkits to support ARPS members in all branches (whether covered by JNCHES or not) in challenging poor management practices, with practical bargaining advice and tactics grounded in experience across the sector.
Theme of discussion in this section could perhaps be summed up as "we are worth more than being treated as replaceable cogs" when ARPS staff hold a diverse range of roles vital to the academic teams / academic "mission" (by extension civic responsibilities) of our institutions...
Discussion now about bargaining units & what is needed to support ARPS members who are in branches outside JNCHES and/or where increasing use of subsidiary companies means HEIs are trying to move staff outside direct employment. Delegate noting ARPS staff are often used as a "test case" by employers
(Should note the meeting today is fully hybrid for all discussions & decisions so we have ARPS members in the room and online - if you're an ARPS member and would like to attend the annual meeting as a delegate for your branch next year, it is possible to come in 3D or attend remotely!)
Our discussion today links the work on the JNCHES claim for 2026/7 with ongoing work to support branches negotiating locally for improvements to conditions for ARPS staff, with emphasis on need for meaningful career paths and progression, and tackling grade drift for ARPS staff across the sector.
Our Head of HE Shahenda now talking about how the "New JNCHES" pay & conditions bargaining framework operates in HE + how aspects relating to ARPS staff have been incorporated into the joint trade unions side's claim in the next round of bargaining (the TU "side" is comprised of 5 unions in HE)...
Image of violet Loveheart sweet (round with raised purple heart outline) with purple text in the middle that says "#LoveOurARPS
#UCU annual meeting for Academic Related & Professional Services (ARPS) staff today. We began with heartfelt thanks to our former committee secretary Jenny + introductory speech from current president Maria @chondrogianni.bsky.social recognising the breadth of work ARPS members undertake across HE.
Every word of @lucyburkemcr.bsky.social thread + this point especially. Why is our own union behaving like this in its capacity as an employer? Why are elected democratic bodies prevented from having the basic discussions about solidarity we ask of everyone else when our members are threatened?
This is a thread about UCU & what it has become over the last few years. But the first thing I want to say is I didn’t join a union to stay silent or turn my back on a single parent of three facing dismissal on the basis of their trade union activities. Marie Monaghan is the Unite UCU 1/12
Unite members in the north west on a picket line while taking strike action to defend Marie, their H&S rep, who is being subject to trade union victimisation by our employer.
Unite against TU Victimisation
@Unitetheunion.bsky.social doesn't tolerate the victimisation of its reps by employers. Today our members in the North West are showing what solidarity looks like.
It's time UCU ended the victimisation of Marie, our Health & Safety Officer.
#Strike #HandsOffMarie
Members can apply to observe the 10 February Certification Officer hearing online by emailing info [at] certoffice [dot] org
Whatever the outcome, the evidence underpinning this case speaks to wider questions of democratic accountability inside our union.
vickyblakeucu.uk/202...
/7
A Certification Officer hearing cannot resolve wider political disagreements inside the union.
Those challenges remain, and they require space and support for open, constructive debate about how we organise, bargain, and campaign together.
/6
Members’ subscriptions fund the union’s staff time and infrastructure.
Those resources belong to the membership collectively. A clear separation between union resources and election campaigns is a basic democratic requirement.
Without it, democratic governance cannot function properly.
/5
Rather than engaging with the substance of the rule-compliance issues raised, in commentary supplied to THE, UCU described the complaint as a “smear” driven by dissatisfaction with an election result.
That is a revealing response to scrutiny of internal governance in a democratic organisation.
/4
WhatsApp messages in the evidential record alongside commentary provided by UCU to THE & FE Week point to a culture where challenge is personalised and dissent framed as bad faith.
That helps explain why internal routes could not command confidence and why independent scrutiny became necessary.
/3
Some key evidence in this case came from whistleblowers who required anonymity - which is not incidental. It reflects recent experience inside UCU where raising concerns about governance, decision-making, or use of union resources has not always been possible or consequence-free for everyone.
/2