To our members…
Dear Members,
Update on Pay Negotiations
I am writing to you today to provide an update on the pay dispute for 2023-24. In December we began talks with the University about pay, but they have yet to table an offer. With the help of Unite’s research team, we put together a report on Cambridge Weighting with the intention of improving member’s pay. The Cambridge Weighting Claim, based on the premise of London Weighting, is a local solution that would allow for both the union and university to remain in national bargaining. Requests for further information and financial records have also gone unanswered. It is clear that to get a further response from the University, we will need to take further strike action and apply pressure to the employer.
Further Strike Dates
We have served notice on the University of a further three days of strike action. Rather than one-off days, we are holding the strike from Wednesday January 31st to Friday, February 2nd. To cap off those three days of strike action, we will also be holding a demonstration on Friday, February 2nd, at 12:30 in front of Senate House.
Looking at our participation rates during the strikes in autumn, we need to attract more members to the picket line or to the “digital picket line” at home. It is never too late to get involved, and you are more than welcome on any of the picket lines – even if there is no picket site for your department. We will be confirming the locations and times of each picket line in the following week; when planning a picket location we want to ensure that each site will be well-attended each day and that the site will be visible and safe.
For now we ask that you mark these dates in your calendar and plan to join us – we are also asking for members to take this survey about strike participation.
Survey link : https://cambridge.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0oKyeohVqPyuI7A
If you want to support the campaign, print and post the attached posters in your department – one aimed at members and one aimed at non-members.
FAQs
We are putting together an FAQ page on the branch website to address all of the most common questions that we received in 2023 and hopefully more. You can submit questions to our WhatsApp group as well : https://chat.whatsapp.com/LcFBeV3HWGL9jT0zWd6M25
University management have acknowledged that staff pay is a problem and that the current pay scale is not fit for purpose, but they are moving at a snail’s pace to fix anything, even after we have pointed out how poorly their pay compares to the £70/day strike pay. We have a collective voice and it is time to use it. If you have not yet been on strike, I ask you to think about your co-workers who have been out in force already, standing in the cold and risking a day’s pay. We cannot win alone, and we need everyone in the union to take action now – the sooner we act together the sooner we can resolve this pay dispute!
In solidarity,
Emily
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Emily Perdue [she/her]
Branch Secretary/Workplace Rep