Academic boycott

Well its not just Mumia and Fidel, now I am getting mail from Sally Hunt...seriously I have worked at Keele University and I am particularly sad that the management are taking this action...lets face it universities are under neo-liberal attack.


Message from Sally Hunt, General Secretary UCU:



Greylisting of Keele to begin Friday 13 June



Greylisting is the ultimate sanction available to UCU members and is only
ever used where a university or college refuses to engage in meaningful
negotiations with a branch or local association.



We are now asking colleagues in UCU, other trade unions, labour movement
organisations and the international academic community to support our
members in any way possible to bring management back to the table.



The term greylisting specifically means a voluntary boycott of academic
and other university activities where appropriate at Keele.



Arising from the university's attempts to make 38 academic staff
compulsorily redundant without meaningful negotiations and now
management's threats to deduct 25% of salaries a day from those taking
part in ongoing lawful industrial action Keele members are seeking the
following from management:



· Engage in meaningful negotiations with the branch and regional officials

· Remove the threat of pay deductions relating to the ongoing ASOS

· Commence the engagement of academic managers with teaching groups in
discussion about future teaching programmes

· Agree an acceptable process for voluntary severance - including an
extension to the time period of the current scheme



Colleagues are asked to show their support for Keele UCU in particular in
the following ways with effect from Friday 13 June, 2008:



* 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 Keele UCU as above, make sure you tell
management that you are participating in the greylisting and notify
campaigns@ucu.org.uk


Here 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) letters@tsleducation.com and
The Guardian letters@guardian.co.uk 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 campaigns@ucu.org.uk
* 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:
j.v.finch@vco.keele.ac.uk and copied to Justine Stephens at
jstephens@ucu.org.uk. Please also forward any replies to Justine at
jstephens@ucu.org.uk




Yours fraternally



Sally Hunt