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Colleagues will have seen the message from UCU announcing fourteen days of strike action this term, commencing on 20 February.Ìý

This action will take place over a four-week period. UCU is calling members at Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø to take action on the following dates:

• Week one: Monday 24 - Wednesday 26 February
• Week two: Monday 2 - Thursday 5 March
• Week three: Monday 9 - Friday 13 March
• Week four: Thursday 19 - Friday 20 March

As in 2018, due to different term dates, there is some variation between universities, with action beginning on Thursday 20 - Friday 21 February in many colleges. Other UCU branches have varied their strike dates to avoid members being asked to strike during Reading Week or past the end of their semester or term.

The following London university branches have been called out on strike. Imperial, King's, SOAS, Birkbeck, Greenwich, East London, University of the Arts London and the Royal College of Art join Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø, Queen Mary, City, Royal Holloway, Goldsmiths, Courtauld Institute of Art and Roehampton University. The total number of institutions with strike mandates is now 74, covering some 60,000 union members.

Progress on the disputes in negotiations has been slow, but some good news may be coming in the USS dispute. One of UCU’s negotiators,Ìý. This offers a route to both resolving the current dispute andÌýÌýlong-term. Needless to say we would not have made this progress without our strike action. We have to keep up the pressure.

The ‘Four Fights’ campaign has wrung limited concessions at the national table, but university managements are clearly under pressure to take steps locally.ÌýWe have seen a Teaching Fellow campaign take off, with a ‘review’ announced by Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø before Christmas.Ìý.Ìý

We need to keep the pressure up on both the 'Four Fights' and USS campaigns and emulate success elsewhere.

Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø UCU Extraordinary General Meeting

We have called an Extraordinary General Meeting to discuss next steps and organisation for the strike: Thursday 13 February, 1-2pm,ÌýCruciform Lecture Theatre 2, Gower Street.Ìý.

Regional coordination

London Region UCU is holding an open meeting to coordinate action across branches (this meeting is open to all members): Tuesday 11 February, 6-8pm,ÌýDrayton House, Basement, Room B19, Gordon Street.Ìý.

Department Meetings

We encourage colleagues to consider organising meetings in their department. If you are organising such a meeting and would like a Committee member to speak, please emailÌýucu@ucl.ac.uk.

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