Support the Staff Strike

Birmingham University UCU are fighting at national level against a real terms 4.6% pay cut to staff and for job security against unesscesary cuts to our education that will affect us all. UCU are also fighting against regressive changes to the University Superannuation Scheme (USS), which potentially hits female members harder and damages member’s benefits.

There are real alternatives in the universities budget and of course on national level. At the University of Birmingham by 2015 over half of the money the university is planning to make up in £10 million pounds worth of cuts to our courses will have been lost in increases in executive pay for just 97 top paid staff.

Executive pay at the University of Birmingham is spiralling out of control. In the academic year 1999/2000 the VC earned £169,000, and there were 28 staff earning more than £100,000 p/a with a combined pay of £3.3 million. 10 years later the VC's pay equaled £392,000, and there were 97 staff earning more than £100,000 p/a with a combined pay of £14.7 million, unlike average staff pay, far above inflation and the average growth of the university.

It is in our best interest as students' for to support UCU in fighting against job losses as lecturers made forcibly redundant by the university will result in less teaching, support and contact hours for students.

So want to do something to support staff?

Why not e-mail the university staff, let ‘em know what you think ask them to stop taking such a hardline stance and give staff a fair deal.

Professor D Eastwood The Vice-Chancellor and Principal d.eastwood@bham.ac.uk

Professor M C Sheppard The Vice-Principal M.C.Sheppardl@bham.ac.uk

Tell your friends, not to go lectures, encourage your friends to walk out of classes, write to your departmeant head and lecturers saying you won’t be attending in solidarity with staff on strike.

Write to your lecturers let them know you really don’t mind missing a lesson on Tuesday, if it means that they won’t lose their jobs or have their pensions raided

Bring food and drink to picketing lecturers on Tuesday and thursday.

there may well be more organised efforts to support staff I'm sure you know who to contact if you want to take part