Bee Hughes (they/them)

Thank you for joining us as our guest speaker!

Image showing outcome of ballot - 86.05% in favour of strike, 91.86% in favour of ASOS

Way passed the threshold, #LincolnUCU members have smashed it!

Unless #LincolnUniversity rule out #compulsoryredundancies, we will strike!

COME AND JOIN US in the FIGHT FOR HE! 11 JUNE

Newcastle University academics to strike for 30 more days Industrial action among academics at Newcastle University has been extended again, alongside a national demonstration in Newcastle next week

📢 National Demo Announced at Newcastle University

UCU members from across the UK will descend on Newcastle on Wednesday 11 June for a national demonstration against job cuts.

✊ Join us and make your voice heard

www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-e...

Letter to member of the Women and Equalities Committee, June 2025 Please fill out the form below by Friday, 20 June 2025, to add your signature to this letter. Share this form widely to anyone who might be interested. The author, Anna Langley, is doing this to help...

🚨🚨CALL TO ACTION🚨🚨

The new EHRC chair candidate, Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson, has a history of transphobic actions. MPs *must* scrutinze her.

Sign the open letter and use the template to email the WEC to demand MPs protect trans rights!

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Things to know before you answer How long will it take? There are a lot of questions to answer (up to 52 if you respond to all sections). However, even if you only have ten minutes, it’s still really important to have your say and tell the EHRC how you feel. If you have… 10 minutes: Answer all of the tick-box ‘would you like to provide feedback’ questions with ‘yes’ and answer all of the tick-box ‘to what extent do you agree with’ statements. 15 minutes: Answer all of the tick-box ‘would you like to provide feedback’ questions with ‘yes’ and answer all of the tick-box ‘to what extent do you agree with’ statements, then fill in the open-text ‘general comments’ section at the very end. 30 minutes or more: Answer all of the tick-box ‘would you like to provide feedback’ questions with yes and answer all of the tick-box ‘to what extent do you agree with’ statements, fill in as many of the open-text ‘is there anything you would like to change’ boxes as you can, then fill in the open-text ‘general comments’ section at the very end.

🏳️‍⚧️🚨🏳️‍⚧️Please share!

Here is the guidance from @transactualuk.bsky.social @scottishtrans.bsky.social and #Mermaids on the EHRC Code of Practice consultation.

Overview: transactual.org.uk/equality-act...

Guidance: transactual.org.uk/equality-act...

**Please excuse temporary typos!** We're on it 😅

Solidarity to all of you @ducuuo.bsky.social!

Thank you Rhiannon - you’ve been an inspiration since I got active in UCU. Thanks for all you do and I know you will be a VP/President all UCU can be proud of.

If you haven’t posted your ballot you’ve got a few days! Please vote Rhiannon for VP

Sending all the solidarity to our sibling branch at UoL - and all of you facing these horrific cuts. Staff, students and the future of academic thought all suffer at the hands of poor leadership

Only a nationwide strike can stem the carnage in UK higher education Limiting industrial action to defensive branch battles on redundancy is not enough. We need to politically challenge the HE funding model, says Rhiannon Lockley

Excellent piece by @illdoitanyway.bsky.social in @timeshighered.bsky.social outlining a strategy for unions to defend jobs and HE
www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/only...
@ducuuo.bsky.social @uculeft.bsky.social @ucuscotland.bsky.social #elections2025 #HigherEducation #UCU

Text of multiple choice q In general, how satisfied are you with how your branch operates? • Very satisfied • Somewhat satisfied • No opinion either way • Not very satisfied • Not satisfied at all

In midst of heavy redundancies, with branch reps working into night & weekends, it’s v difficult to see how this q doesn’t:

- position union members as passive consumers right when we need action
- treat unpaid work of volunteers as something to be performance managed

Is this trade unionism?

Yes, it started coming through yesterday late evening

Thanks Richard! You too

UCU election hustings 2025 Watch the official UCU hustings with UCU vice-president (HE) and honorary treasurer candidates, which took place online on Wednesday 5 February 2025, 16:30-18:00.

🚨 UCU hustings uploaded🚨
The union is going to the polls while the HE sector is in crisis. Watch me and Deepa Govindarajan Driver making the case for left & independent candidates & the fightback here: www.ucu.org.uk/article/1389...

UCU Left For a democratic accountable campaigning union

And I would ask you to vote for UCU left candidates. We are committed to members having space for discussion, respecting democratic structures & decisions, using our collective power to win for members, and fighting all forms of discrimination. More here: uculeft.org

I’m standing for NW HE Rep and for LGBT+ HE Rep. I can’t do both, but you can read about my priorities & approach for both:

uculeft.org/bee-hughes-f...

uculeft.org/bee-hughes-3/

Deepa for Treasurer: Get Involved!

Read about Deepa’s experience and vision for taking up the Honorary Treasurer role here: deepadriver.org

Rhiannon for UCU VP (Higher Education) Vote Rhiannon Lockley (she/her) for UCU Vice President (Higher Education): ballots are live 27th January till 3rd March 2025

Sorry to have missed the UK-wide UCU VP and Treasurer hustings today, but I hear @illdoitanyway.bsky.social and Deepa Driver were articulate, and had concrete plans on how to move forward. Read more about Rhiannon here: rhiannonforucuvp.wordpress.com

Quarter of leading UK universities cutting staff due to budget shortfalls Up to 10,000 redundancies or job losses feared as institutes undergo restructuring

Chaos & heartbreak. The HE funding model is broken beyond repair. Solidarity with all the individual UCU branches who are fighting heroically to defend the sector. The leverage to push Labour on from the rotten ideology causing cuts - now & still coming - demands full union mobilisation.

UCU Left For a democratic accountable campaigning union

read more about UCU left and our candidates here: uculeft.org please vote for @illdoitanyway.bsky.social for UCU VP and Deepa Driver for treasurer alongside our other candidates and supported independents.

I’m standing alongside candidates who are members of UCU Left, who share my commitment to developing strategy through meaningful discussion, debate + consultation with members, using advisory (eg BDMs) & instructive (Congress/Sector conference) to inform decisions.

I’m also standing in the lgbt+ HE constituency, and I ask for your first pref vote there. It’s a seat I’ve held before, being active in UCU’s lgbt+ work through the lgbt+ members committee and beyond. Read more about my record + approach to LGBTQIA+ inclusion here:
uculeft.org/wp-content/u...

Bee Hughes (Liverpool John Moores University)  HE North West

We want change for our members - the sector can’t go on like this, and there needs to be a serious reset of industrial strategy to bring the pressure of properly supported industrial action alongside political pressure to achieve this. Read my full statement here: www.ucu.org.uk/article/1385...

Bee Hughes (Liverpool John Moores University)  HE North West

In the NW HE seat, please vote Peta Bulmer #1 & me #2. We’re committed to fighting for our members in the region. We work hard in our branches and engage with our regional structures.

It’s been *a month* at work, so I’m a bit behind in sharing my candidacy in the upcoming UCU NEC elections, I’m standing for 2 seats in the UCU nec elections, and though I can’t do both, if elected to either position I will do my best to represent and support our members.

Endorsement from Elizabeth Lawrence, former President of UCU Image shows Liz Lawrence taking part in a demonstration, carrying a placard which reads “defend jobs, defend education, NO CUTS” I have known Rhiannon for over a decade as a union …

A big thank you to Elizabeth Lawrence, former President UCU. I first met Liz in the freezing cold at Sheffield station when she welcomed our branch campaign against TU victimisation to Yorks with strike funds & a list of solidarity visits booked.

rhiannonforucuvp.wordpress.com/2024/12/17/e...

Grant is an excellent candidate for UCU Scotland President. If I was able to, I’d vote for him

Thanks for your endorsement Grant!

HEC votes for a ballot – and a campaign to save the sector The fight is on to save Higher Education. UCU’s Higher Education Committee (HEC) met on Thursday 12 December to consider what the union should do in the light of the financial crisis hitting our se…

I'm not a member of @uculeft.bsky.social but fully endorse this as an accurate account of yesterday's HEC meeting uculeft.org/hec-votes-fo...

Members deserve to be told the whole story.

📣Tell Wes Streeting:
🏳️‍⚧️Lift the ban on Puberty blockers, trans healthcare now, protect trans kids
🗓️5pm, Monday 16th December
📍Wes Streeting’s constituency office, 12a Highview Parade, Woodford Avenue, Ilford, IG4 5EP

Organised by local community activists and trade unionists
#TransRight