Ei-iE

The University and College Union (UCU) will "greylist" the University of Keele from 13 June. The term greylisting refers to a voluntary refusal to participate in the academic and other university activities where appropriate at Keele.

The move arose from the university's attempts to make 38 academic staff compulsorily redundant without meaningful negotiations and the threats by the university's management to deduct 25% of salaries a day from those taking part in ongoing lawful industrial action.How you can support the UCU's protest of KeeleUCU strongly encourages its partners and colleagues to show support for colleagues working at Keele by participating in the greylisting. This includes: - Non-attendance, speaking at or organising academic or other conferences at Keele; - Do not apply for jobs at Keele; - Do not give lectures at Keele; - Do not accept positions as visiting professors or researchers at Keele; - Do not write for any academic journal which is edited from Keele; - Do not take up new contracts as external examiners for taught courses. When you decide to support the UCU as above, make sure you tell the Keele management that you are participating in the greylisting and notify [email protected]. If you are currently or soon to be involved in any activity as above on or after 13 June please contact UCU Campaigns Team at [email protected] and they will provide guidance on how to support colleagues. Apart from the greylisting, below are some things you can do right now to get the campaign off to a flying start: - Sign the petition calling on managers to stop the cuts and negotiate: https://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=3015 - Write to Times Higher Education (THES) [email protected] and The Guardian [email protected] outlining your support for the academic boycott at Keele and calling on management to negotiate with the local association officers. - Show solidarity now. Send an individual message of support to UCU members at Keele by emailing them to [email protected] - Go straight to the top! E-mail Professor Janet Finch, the Vice Chancellor at Keele to tell her that you will be supporting the academic boycott and asking her to begin negotiations immediately. E-mails should be polite, and to the point and should be sent to: [email protected] and copied to Justine Stephens at [email protected]. Please also forward any replies to Justine at [email protected] - Raise awareness! Pass the message on to all your colleagues, write an article for your university/school newsletter, raise the issue at your local union branch and get your branch to write to the Vice Chancellor, outlining your support for the boycott. If you would like a speaker on the dispute for a meeting, email Justine Stephens at [email protected] The UCU needs the help of other EI member organisations to mobilise members and others to support the boycott if the university refuses to budge. EI supports the UCU's protest actions and calls on its member organisations to help UCU defend colleagues at the University of Keele. For more information please visit the UCU website.