DonnaGuthrie

🚨 FIFTH consecutive vote for industrial action 🚨

🔥 Two week ballot window
🔥 75% turnout
🔥 73% YES to strike action
🔥 81% YES to ASOS

Our members will not tolerate victimisation and won’t be intimidated.

UCU staff are not the enemy. It’s beyond time for the GS to talk to us.

#HandsOffMarie

Unite national officer Andy Murray said: "Our members will not tolerate this approach from UCU management and with no resolution in sight feel they have no choice but to show their anger on the picket line. We urge UCU to come back to the negotiating table and make the concessions necessary to end this dispute."

#HandsOffMarie

www.unitetheunion.org/news-events/...

Pride flag taken down from Stonewall Monument by Trump administration The multicolored flag was quietly taken down recently from a flagpole at the National Park Service-run site

Trump administration takes down a rainbow flag at the Stonewall National Monument trib.al/OiAJxNd

LAUNCHING NOW in Cape Town: report on Anglo American's 'Accountability Deficit'

The devastating 100 year legacy of extraction by South Africa’s largest mining company: A call for corporate accountability in Southern Africa, Latin America & Global South.

➡️ shorturl.at/9mcp3

Photo of Marie, Unite UCU's health and safety rep, who is being victimised by her trade union employer

📣 Hands off Marie!

Tell @drjogrady.bsky.social and @ucu.org.uk to stop victimising Unite UCU's safety rep.

✍️ jgrady@ucu.org.uk

#HandsOffMarie

#UniteTheUnion @unitetheunion.bsky.social

I have witnessed injustice after injustice occur to members of @uniteucu.bsky.social - utterly shameful to see UCU threaten the livelihood of a single mother of 3 for being a TU health and safety representative and fighting for a safer workplace. This threatens the wellbeing of a whole family.

UCU staff walk out over alleged ‘trade union victimisation’ Leaders of the union call the claims ‘categorically untrue’

Two thirds of UCU staff walk out. I worked for UCU two decades ago. In fact I ran for General Secretary and just lost. There is no way two thirds of the staff would walk out if the story of victimisation isnt true. My sources say its been coming for years.
feweek.co.uk/ucu-staff-to...

2: Somehow management is still taking down posters, art, and articles from staff doors?

Including this @theguardian.com piece about @qmul.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Headline: 'Unite staff to strike over union victimisation' with the quote 'Across the trade union movement there is one thing we are all united on: that we do not act unlawfully towards our own. This issue will now bring together all voices across our movement. The victimisation of our Health and Safety rep and the threat to their job and livelihood must end immediately."

Regrettably our members will be commencing strike action from 9 February over the victimisation of our Health and Safety Officer.

uniteucu.wordpress.com/2026/01/28/u...

We're ready to go on strike to call out UCUs behaviour towards our colleague and comrade. Only UCU management can call this off.

Trade union victimisation IN a trade union. You couldn’t make it up.

Yet, here we are…

#UniteUCU #Victimisation #TUC #TradeUnion #UCU #NDFE #HE #TradeDispute #Unite #MorallyBankrupt

Sending solidarity to my former colleagues and unite comrades at @uniteucu.bsky.social
Trade unions as employers should lead by example.
@ucu.org.uk should not target union reps and activists.

An injury to one is an injury to us all.
#HandsOffOurUniteReps

This is disgraceful from a trade union employer. Sending solidarity ✊🏾

Ricky “Fuquan” McGee has been freed after 28 years in prison for a murder he says he didn’t commit. Prosecutors now admit major errors in his trial. A judge now considers whether to overturn his conviction. He deserves the due process and transparency he was denied decades ago.

This is the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica. Absolutely horrific level of destruction, all visible on NOAA imagery. View the map here: storms.ngs.noaa.gov/storms/melis...

We call on Jo Grady and UCU SMT to: • Enter negotiations with Unite UCU without preconditions. • Stop the threat of punitive deductions for ASOS - this breaches UCU and TUC policy and only serves to undermine all of us, not least those UCU members currently involved in legal test cases against punitive deductions after taking lawful industrial action. Signed, 25, no 37, no 46, no 50 UCU branch committees (and still counting)

Fifty branches, representing over 36% of UCU members, have now called for @drjogrady.bsky.social to enter unconditional negotiations & remove the threat of punitive deductions against staff.

Unite's repeated requests for such talks have had no response. Will she now listen to @ucu.org.uk members?

Photo showing an article from the latest Private Eye on the Unite dispute which exposes UCU management's hypocrisy, in particular highlighting a quote from an SMT member that strongly suggests our action short of a strike (ie, continue doing your job but office attendance remains voluntary as it has done over the last five years) is somehow irresponsible.

ASOS which is "work in the same way you’ve done for years" is not irresponsible. It's protecting our members until a fair & equitable hybrid policy is agreed.

UCU SMT then deducting 100% of daily pay from staff taking ASOS & undermining its own policy?

Now that’s irresponsible.

Return to offices imposition, London Weighting, and the financial penalties facing disabled staff Following the employer’s imposition of a return to office working, most London based members will be aware of the sudden change to London Weighting imposed without negotiation by the employer, wher…

It’s also well past time for our employer to sit down and negotiate a fair policy on hybrid working with us.

We once again call on @drjogrady.bsky.social to meet us for unconditional talks to resolve our dispute.

/end

uniteucu.wordpress.com/2025/10/29/r...

At our Emergency General Meeting, our branch unanimously voted in support of this solidarity motion with @uniteucu.bsky.social. This behaviour by @ucu.org.uk senior management is unacceptable and threatens the entire @tuc.org.uk movement.

Read in full:
qmucu.org/2025/09/24/b...

Compensation for sick miners: only 30% of claimants paid out by Tshiamiso Trust Most claims do not meet the medical criteria, AGM told

Only 30% of ex miners claiming compensation for lung disease from mining companies have been compensated

Mass rejections based on technicalities go against the administering body Tshiamiso Trust's values of giving claimants the benefit of the doubt

A huge injustice for ex miners in Southern Africa

A Gender-Responsive BHREA – Corporate Justice Coalition This briefing outlines the urgent need for new UK legislation that responds to the gendered impacts of corporate abuse. Women, especially in the Global South, face disproportionate harm from exploitat...

ACTSA joins the call by Corporate Justice Coalition for a gender-responsive Business Human Rights & Environment Act

Corporate harms affect women & girls more, from direct discrimination and sexual violence to being more impacted by environmental loss

UK legislation must respond to and address this

South Africa to reopen Steve Biko inquest 48 years after death in police custody Death of anti-apartheid activist in 1977 after police beat him into a coma sparked outrage across the world

Steve Biko's principles still stand firm today: land justice, social protection, decolonising education. Black people are still fighting for justice across Southern Africa today, in South Africa's gold mines and Kabwe's polluted land, in Swaziland's trade unions and Zimbabwe's student halls.

QMUCU branch committee statement. We learnt with dismay about UCU Senior Managements’ threats of 100% pay deductions for Actions Short of Strike against Unite UCU members.

We oppose these threats in the strongest of terms. They breach union policy voted on in congress. They replicate the worst employers' practice. They contravene our legal work challenging ASOS deductions.

We express our solidarity with Unite UCU and call on UCU senior management to revoke these threats, protect all workers from disproportionate deductions, and negotiate with Unite UCU without preconditions.

As a union, we have been fighting employers’ attempts at making 100% pay deductions for ASOS legal since 2019. As a branch, we’ve been at the forefront of that fight since 2022.

Our own union going against our policies, workers’ interest, and legal cases hurts.

Letter: qmucu.org/2025/09/12/l...

Jo Grady calling Queen Mary management "vindictive" for making deductions from UCU members taking action short of a strike: Jo Grady, UCU's general secretary, said Queen Mary's senior management had "launched a vindictive attack" on its members, "punishing them for taking part in lawful industrial action" and "cementing its reputation as the worst university employer in the UK" She said: "It is wrong to do this at any time and all the more deplorable as staff struggle to make ends meet in a cost of living crisis."

Screen shot of the article from The Guardian about Queen Mary ASOS deductions in which Jo Grady is quoted

🚨 Third consecutive vote for industrial action 🚨

✅ strike action: 76%
✅ action short of a strike (ASOS): 80%
✅ turnout: 77%

ASOS begins today with @ucu.org.uk threatening staff: "We'll deduct your wages."

Double standards and vindictive attacks undermine us all.

#ReclaimUCU

When he reached the Israeli prison, U.S. human rights defender Chris Smalls was physically assaulted by seven uniformed individuals. They choked him and kicked him in the legs, leaving visible signs of violence on his neck and back.

When his lawyer met with him, Chris was surrounded by six members of Israel’s special police unit. This level of force was not used against other abducted activists.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalitions condemn this violence against Chris and demand accountability for the assault and discriminatory treatment he faced.

At the Israeli prison, US human rights defender Chris Smalls was physically assaulted by seven uniformed individuals. They choked him and kicked him in the legs.
We condemn this violence against Chris and demand accountability for the assault and discriminatory treatment he faced. #BreakTheSiege

Interception du navire Handala par Netanyahu : kidnapping de 21 humanitaires et activistes pacifistes !

La solidarité n’est pas un crime. Libérez l’équipage du Handala sans conditions et immédiatement !

#FreedomFlotilla

Amazon Union Leader Chris Smalls Detained & Beaten by IDF, But US Media Ignores It This week, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) boarded the Handala, a ship associated with the Flotilla Freedom Coalition, that was attempting to reach Gaza with supplies for starving Palestinians. The ID...

NYT even did a Style section profile of how Chris Smalls dressed.

Wild no major outlets are covering Chris Small being detained and beaten by the IDF

paydayreport.com/amazon-union...

How the climate crisis and aid cuts could devastate global supplies of vanilla Vanilla farmers in Madagascar, a country that supplies up to 80 per cent of the global crop each year, face a difficult future as the climate crisis and aid cuts bite, writes Nick Ferris

Vanilla farmers in Madagascar, one of the world's poorest countries, are already hard hit by aid cuts and devastating cyclones.

With Donald Trump's huge 47% tariff on the country looming, the international community and UK must urgently work to make trade fairer and tackle the climate crisis.

Africa to be hit hard as UK foreign aid cuts revealed A Foreign Office report shows the biggest cuts will come in Africa with less spent on women's health and water sanitation.

Disappointing to see that women's health in Africa and water sanitation (which also affects women and girls more) will face the biggest UK aid cuts. Women and girls are already poorer and lack access to education, health, transport, opportunities and more.

Lesotho Declares State of Disaster After U.S. Tariffs. Rescissions Impact U.N. : State of the World from NPR The southern African nation's garment industry is being gutted by U.S. tariffs. And United Nations peacekeeping and UNICEF are amongst the agencies facing major cuts after a new U.S. funding rollback.

Lesotho has declared a state of disaster after Trump's 50% tariffs gut its garment industry

All in all, 40,000 people will lose their job - in a small state with almost 50% youth unemployment already

The global power assymetries that make this possible must be redressed
www.npr.org/2025/07/23/1...