Peter Crowther

Pay cuts are rubbish 🪧

We were proud to support the excellent Brum Bin Strike march & demo organised by @unitetheunion.bsky.social .

The support for this dispute is getting stronger.

Your move Keir Starmer

(c) 📷 @redhen90.bsky.social #StrikeMap

#Solidarity #BirminghamBinStrike

It's also really worth stressing that BCU is not loss-making and was profitable for the entirety of the five years I was there. Changes are being made solely because this is what this VC wants. He'll implement them, move on, and leave a diminished institution in a great city.

Backlash at BCU: the divisive reign of David Mba The vice chancellor says he's bringing much needed change - and anyone who disagrees can get out of his way

www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/a-new-vice-c... This is an excellent piece. I was at BCU until April (left for another job, not part of either redundancy scheme), the atmosphere was garbage at the time and according to my colleagues has only gotten worse.

SHUT IT DOWN 2

Five sites, one day. Not a wheel turned.

Victory to the Brum Bin workers.

#Megapickets work, pass it on.

#StrikeMap

Workers from an array of unions standing in front of the gates at the Perry Barr Bin Depot. A bin lorry unable to leave the depot is in the background.

Workers in front of the Perry Barr bin depot preventing a bin lorry from leaving. They are holding flags, banners and placards.

A very early but very worthwhile start of the day supporting the Brum bin workers picket at the Birmingham Perry Barr Depot representing @bcu-ucu.bsky.social, we shut the place down! I’ll take that energy into meeting with management today as 342 staff are still at risk of compulsory redundancy.

“Warwick is distinctive because it’s real.” Using university funds to pay for an advertorial in Vogue Singapore where an executive is featured in a fashion photoshoot and discusses his legacy is possibly one of the most tone-deaf moves I’ve ever seen in UKHE and the bar was already incredibly high.

As well as the copy that would also be the new inaccessible font designed to ‘provoke debate’.

Birmingham City University website with the tagline of the new brand “Beyonder”. It is presented like a dictionary definition. The definition is apparently “a person who doesn’t settle, follow or fit the mould. Someone who chooses to go further”.

Imagine how you’d feel if your employer launched a very similar brand to a uni down the road just weeks after them. A new brand that was also developed by external consultants, while 342 staff are at risk of compulsory redundancy.

Professional Services rep Pete reading a list of areas affected by cuts at lobby

Professional Services rep and @ucu.org.uk negotiator @pjcrowther.bsky.social reads out a list of the areas affected by cuts and downgrades at our lunchtime lobby of the @mybcu.bsky.social governors today.

No to redundancies, no to downgrading, no to cuts to student support!

UCU members outside BCU

🚨 Lobby the BCU governors! 🚨

On Wed 16th BCU governors are meeting for an update on the current review, which has put 342 staff at risk of redundancy & cuts student support in multiple ways.

Join our lobby: 1pm outside Parkside Building

Bring your solidarity and your sun cream! #SaveBCU

Sign the Petition Stop redundancies and cuts to student support at Birmingham City University

Please support @bcu-ucu.bsky.social and sign our petition to stop the threat of compulsory redundancy for 342 staff. chng.it/nKTdm2RCZ7

@ucu.org.uk branches we need your support!

They flew out the door! I’ll hopefully have more time do them again in future.

Production underway for the next batch of Join UCU fidget toys for @bcu-ucu.bsky.social’s recruitment push as we battle the threat of compulsory redundancy with 342 colleagues put at risk.

when you and your bestie* accidentally show up in a matching outfit

* and by you and your bestie we mean universities prioritising branding and vibes over students and staff

Mama said don’t cross picket lines. ✊

The march which is the culmination of the festival. On the left of the picture is a banner for the Birmingham District of the National Education Union. In the centre is a red banner for Birmingham City University UCU. It reads “Knowledge is Power. Unity is Strength”.

A photograph of me holding the BCU UCU banner in the march along Cradley Heath High Street.

BCU UCU Chair, Rhiannon Lockley, sat behind a table with a microphone in front of her. She is part of a panel of women discussing women’s rights.

A beautiful day in the Black Country today for the Women Chainmakers’ Festival. Privildged to carry the @bcu-ucu.bsky.social with our wonderful Branch Chair @illdoitanyway.bsky.social in the march remembering the courage of the Cradley Heath Chainmakers.

BCU UCU members in sunshine with banner at strike rally

BCU UCU members 📢

Branch meeting Monday 1pm. Check your email for your link. Come along to build our collective fight-back!

A MASSIVE WIN AT NEWCASTLE UNI ICU

Rhianwen Roberts, @ucu.org.uk FE policy officer, opens her keynote at the BCU FE conference with a message of solidarity for @bcu-ucu.bsky.social & all affected by the 340 potential redundancies announced. Calls on leadership to take them off the table & to negotiate with the branch.

Phenomenal work from @ducuuo.bsky.social. They’ve worked tirelessly to save jobs amidst a crisis not of their own making.

Surely BCU can see the light and take compulsory redundancy off the table when our finances are in good order? @bcu-ucu.bsky.social

Absolute legends! ✊ Great to see this as we start a fresh struggle @bcu-ucu.bsky.social

Please sign this petition for @ucusurrey.bsky.social.

We’ve already lost our new professional services colleagues to a subsidiary @bcu-ucu.bsky.social with a weaker pension provision and no union representation.

This needs to be resisted at every institution!

Awful to see the great city of Liverpool suffer on what was such a joyous day. I was in town until early this afternoon for @ucu.org.uk Congress and the atmosphere building was wonderful and friendly. The community they showed today in celebration will get them through this horrible ordeal. #YNWA

#UCU2025 Congress has voted to raise a trade dispute with the government.

@drjogrady.bsky.social On BBC Radio 4 this morning our general secretary @drjogrady.bsky.social lays out the stark reality of the crisis facing our sector

Father and daughter showing me their Palestine Liverpool flags on their backs

#YNWA #FreePalestine
Not a football or sport person, never felt so safe and uplifted around fans as the crowds I am stuck in today! Liverpool ❤️

Funding for ‘high cost’ university courses to be cut in England Education secretary says top-up support for subjects including media must be scaled back because of ‘extremely challenging’ fiscal environment

There’s always salami left in the salami stand:

Durham Catherdral seen from the banks of the River Wear

The inside of Hexham Abbey. Ornate arches with a stained glass window at the end.

The 1900s street at Beamish Museum. Filled with Victorian shops and houses.

The arch of the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle with a blue sky behind.

Not saying getting active @ucu.org.uk improves the weather but I joined @newcastleucu.bsky.social’s picket last week and have had the most stunning few days in the north-east.

📸 Huge thanks to everyone who joined today’s emergency rally and mass picket at Newcastle University.

✊ The trade union movement stands united behind UCU members fighting mass redundancies.

Solidarity makes us strong – and visible #ProtectEducationNow

A screen grab from BBC Look North this evening. It shows a UCU picket line in front of Newcastle University’s King’s Gate building.

As a trainee journalist in Huddersfield I always wanted to get into BBC Look North. Very proud to appear on the programme tonight stood alongside @newcastleucu.bsky.social on their picket today.

I’ve visited the @newcastleucu.bsky.social picket this morning to bring some Brummie solidarity from @bcu-ucu.bsky.social. Great turnout here.