Appendices:
Appendix 1: Testimonies from Organisers
Appendix 2: Comments from Signatories
Appendix 3: Relevant UCU motions
Appendix 1: Testimonies from Organisers
Testimony from SOAS
Alex and Ellie were both central to multiple wins for PGRs over the last couple of years. At SOAS, two PGRs (myself included) approached them with an overwhelming number of issues against the university. Alex and Ellie assisted us with their know-how, advising them on further organising and with their assistance, the campaign at SOAS has grown visibly.
It was in fact Alex’s keen observation that PhD continuation fees at SOAS were disproportionately high. With the advice and assistance of Alex and Ellie, we came to the conclusion that reducing continuation fees should be our first campaign. Both members assisted us with the drafting of petitions, finding out information etc. Within weeks our PGR campaign had grown in size. The petition brought funded and non funded students into common territory and was overwhelmingly successful. The two organisers found a way to make two vastly different groups work together. Thanks to this campaign, our continuation fees have been reduced for the year 2023-24. We wish to carry on the campaign further into stipend equality (making private funders pay the same as UKRI rates), increasing doctoral grants and scholarships, increasing conference funding etc.
This campaign is now being slowly built through petitions, meetings, posters etc. Alex and Ellie are both helping us with the nitty-gritties of it, telling us how to involve more people in our campaigns, how to create a solid organisation etc. The work is long term and painstaking, but without their assistance we would not have known where to even start. We have a win and a strong ongoing campaign thanks to these two organisers. Making them redundant would directly harm our campaign.
Testimony from Cambridge
Within Cambridge we have a campaign around small group teaching (supervisions) with three central demands: increased pay, paid training and contracts for all who provide this teaching. A large percentage of this teaching is done by PGRs and as such we are in regular contact with Alex and Ellie for advice and support. Both of them came to speak at rallies we held and invigorated our local base in doing so.
We have won paid training and have just submitted a pay proposal to ask for a doubling of our pay. A lot of the tactics and techniques we have used have been shared with us, via a network of national PGR organisers that Alex and Ellie started and continue to facilitate through events such as the PGR conference in January 2023. In return, we also now share our experiences in these forums, too. All of this was aided by Alex and Ellie, whether it was us sharing knowledge of postcard campaigns with Sussex or Bristol sharing knowledge of organising boycott action with us. For instance, one question our management keeps asking is how it would be possible for us to work via contracts, rather than as freelancers. In response, Alex and Ellie helped set up a cross-university spreadsheet of PGR contracts - this spreadsheet is now full of sample contracts that we can now use as examples in our negotiations. As these examples illustrate, they have been invaluable to our campaign, which is one of the real local bright spots. We are about to ramp up the pressure locally to make sure as much of our pay proposal as possible is implemented and to win on contracts. To lose Alex and Ellie at this current juncture would be devastating.
Testimony from Sussex
We have worked with Alex and Ellie from day one of our local PGR as Staff Campaign. With their support, we conducted an email campaign that secured back-pay and an incremental uplift for PGRs with their AFHEA qualification, and in February 2022, we submitted a claim seeking to renegotiate our existing contract arrangements. As negotiations developed, both Alex and Ellie have continued to work with us, shaping a campaign that saw over 300 postcards delivered to our VC in support of our negotiating position. During this campaign, Alex and Ellie facilitated a workshop that upskilled UCU PGR reps - and Alex led our Organising For Power group, the largest UCU cohort to take the course - which will strengthen our branch long after these negotiations close. We are expecting to receive a final offer from our employer this week (20th June), so, as with Cambridge, to lose Alex and Ellie now would hamstring our ability to respond and, if necessary, escalate.
Their positions as salaried members of UCU staff provided consistency in an organising environment that, until their hiring, was characterised only by absence. They provide a wealth of experience, deep knowledge of strategy, and lived experience of the struggle of PGR organising. Our branch at Sussex, and the wider union, is much stronger as a result of their efforts and they need to be able to continue.
Testimony from PGRs Against Low Pay
Last year I reached out to Alex and Ellie about campaigning to increase PhD stipends in line with inflation. As a first year PGR and new UCU member I didn’t really know where to begin with organising but they were happy to meet with me and help get the campaign going, offering lots of support and advice.
Through their previous experience with Pandemic PGRs we were quickly able to amass a large organising group and Alex and Ellie continued to be incredibly supportive and would help facilitate meetings. They would never try to take over or micromanage the campaign, but instead letting the organising group make decisions and organise horizontally. But this wouldn’t have succeeded without their advice, knowledge and expertise.
The stipend win is valued at over £50m but the difference it made to people’s lives is unquantifiable. Tens of thousands of PGRs were able to make it through the cost of living crisis thanks to this campaign and Alex and Ellie’s support.
Without Alex and Ellie and without dedicated PGR organisers at UCU, much needed campaigns like this would struggle to get started in the future. Some grassroots activist with a campaign idea would not know who to go to and where to get advice and support from, and UCU would become decoupled from PGR organising. It cannot be overstated how important it is to keep them doing what they’re good at.
Note also: UCU article by Newcastle UCU
Note also the
account from Newcastle UCU for the UCU website (14 Jun 2023) about the victory of their PGR contracts campaign. It contains the following paragraph:
Appendix 2: Comments from signatories
"I have been so impressed by Ellie's and Alex's organising work, from the very start of the pandemic before UCU hired them until now. They've done so much themselves, but more importantly they've organised strategically, constructively, and effectively to empower so many other PGRs to become organisers ourselves and achieve victories. They don't take over; they listen, offer encouragement and advice and expertise, link us up with each other, and they help PGRs lead and win, both locally and UK-wide. PGR organising is such a positive environment compared to any other organising I've been part of. It is cheerful, supportive, collaborative, and liberatory, and never characterised by egos or factional infighting. This is largely down to Ellie and Alex and their positivity, inclusivity, and results focus. They draw in PGRs and other allies from all factions and all walks of life to support us to get results. They're a huge asset to UCU and we don't want to lose them. 22 months is not long enough for this work and 1.0FTE is the minimum required to do it."
"Alex and Ellie were two amongst many people who managed to turn an experience of misery and desperation (the impact of the pandemic on PGRs) into a force for good to give focus to PGR organising. UCU made the clever choice to bring such organising within the union in 2021 by setting up the PGRsAsStaff campaign. Alex and Ellie have worked tirelessly every single day to prove what seemed unthinkable: the employers can even deny you are a worker, and this won't prevent you from organising and winning - and win big. It would be too easy to say we cannot afford to lose Alex and Ellie now - they are amazing people. But the reality is that UCU can simply not afford to cut the resources of one of the fastest-growing and highest-achieving sectors of our membership. This decision can be reversed - all disputes end through negotiations, and this is true no matter who the employer is."
"Our union is acting like our bosses - profiting off of the strategies, collaborations, and creativity of 'new blood', and disposing of them as soon as it wants to protect its profits during a cost of living crisis. Alex and Ellie solidified the foundation for anti-casualition in early career researchers across the UK, they give folks hope, they make our managers listen. This pattern of promises-turned-redundancy partly speaks to why black lecturers are 3% of the faculty population in UK HE. Enough with the lip-service. Permanent contracts for UCU PGRs hard work, now!"
"Ellie and Alex’s work has been invaluable to the Justice For College Supervisors Campaign at Cambridge University, and their redundancies would be a betrayal of PGR members of the union"
"Getting PGRs the status of staff with all the conditions and decent salaries this entails requires nationally based, permanent organisers. It needs Ellie and Alex. No decisions about our campaign without us please."
"Alex has supported the Bristol branch enormously, helping us to understand processes and organise around PGR issues. We also learnt so much at the UCU PGR Conference, organised by Alex and Ellie!"
"The gains won by Ellie and Alex, in particular the stipend lift, have made it possible for me to remain doing my research as a first generation, working class student who financially supports her family."
"The two national PGR organisers have played invaluable roles in supporting PGR organising at the local level. From holding regular local strategising meetings throughout the past year, to the national PGR organising conference in January, as well as constant support through WhatsApp networks, we could not be where we are now at the University of Bristol without Alex and Ellie! PGR organising is such an important part of the wider anti-casualisation agenda. While good progress has been made, there is a long way to go to develop a culture of supporting PGR organising within branches. Continuing workout the amount of support we have had until now would be difficult! Congress 2023 democratically voted through a host of motions to support PGR organising (see Appendix 3), we need to act on those! Furthermore, as an employer, UCU must practise the employment practices that we call for!"
"PGRs are the junior staff that keep universities running - we offer vital teaching, not just using our technical skills and qualifications, but our uniquely liminal position within institutions to support students academically. As staff who are closer to undergraduates in terms of our institutional power, we are often more equipped to understand and relate to challenges undergraduates face. Speaking from personal experience, my line managers have routinely relied on me to get a better understanding of what students are struggling with, or what their opinions are, as they recognise as junior staff, Ugrads often find it easier to express a fully honest opinion with us as PGR staff than more senior staff at the department. I am lucky that said line managers routinely acknowledge this and offer gratitude and mutual support in exchange for our help, sometimes even in the form of supporting IA we have undertaken in pay disputes. If academic staff recognise this, so should UCU. More importantly, when academic staff do NOT recognise this work we do, then it is all the more vital we have union support to ensure this changes.
UCU head office often talks of unity - where is the unity with junior staff, who face the brunt of pay cuts, casualisation, and dangerous work environments? Why are we routinely trotted out as precarious workers UCU is defending when it is useful to head office, and why are we relegated to studenthood when we stop being useful? let us define ourselves, and our role - give us the staff that work for us, and support them. Empower us - don’t disenfranchise us, or risk the union falling apart. We run union drives, we get members. We will withdraw that if the union fails to honour its agreement to support us as casualised, precarious staff."
"What is happeninng to Ellie and Alex is a disgrace. These two committed activists have given their all to UCU and PGRs across the UK. They have been excellent and tireless activists in their own branches and through national campaigns as well as incredibly effective in their subsequent and much needed staff roles for the PGRsAsStaff UCU campaign. I also had the pleasure of working alongside and learning from Ellie as an activist in Birmingham UCU - never would I have imagined that my own union’s HQ would later treat Ellie, as an organiser, with such contempt.
The management of this union is undermining all anticasualisation and PGRsAsStaff campaigns and demands by enforcing precarious contracts on the union’s own staff, refusing to negotiate with the trade union of these staff, and sacking the staff members instead of extending their contracts, especially given that the work itself will continue. This is an attack on all PGRs, casualised members, and other members more broadly."
"Ellie & Alex have been crucial to PGRs gaining support across the UCU membership & improved the rights of PGRs at various institutions - their work continues to be vital to current & future PGRs. UCU as a trade union currently in dispute on issues of casualisation should be ashamed of its treatment of these fantastic workers. The union will be worse off without them in these roles & we implore leadership to negotiate with Unite UCU."
"Alex and Ellie have been doing phenomenal work supporting PGRs as Staff across the UK. As someone who was employed on several casualties contracts during my time as a PGR at Sheffield (2017-2021), I only wish this vital work had been supported by UCU sooner. To hear that both Ellie and Alex are now being made redundant makes me feel so disappointed for all of our current and future PGRs who could further benefit from their campaigning. When life for PGRs is as tense and precarious as ever, why stop now?"
"Demonstrably valuable workers being undervalued. I cannot understand why this decision was even suggested."
"Alex’s tireless dedication, organising abilities, kindness, and passion have been absolutely crucial to the development and submission of Sheffield UCU’s ongoing anti-casualisation claim. The decision to not renew Alex and Ellie’s contracts is incredibly short sighted and risks scuppering the moment of local campaigns across the UK. UCU has come a long way in the past few years in making PGRs feel more like active stakeholders within the union, the PGRs as staff campaign is such an important part of this, and the loss of its organisers would be a marked step back."
"... UCU as an employer [should not] use exactly the same tactics of casualisation and undermining of workers' rights that we've all been fighting against as a union. Those who made the decision to offer a 22 month contract ... should consider their position ..."
"The two UCU PGR as staff campaign leads has been pivotal in shaping SUs to better organise with PGRs locally. They have provided me with resources, knowledge and tools to organise on campus and to push for better working conditions for all PGRs. Without their hard work, this would not be possible!"
"It's essential that resources are invested and expertise retained in effectively representing PGR interests within our union. I feel angry that the leadership does not view the continuation of this campaign as an area worthy of the investment it deserves. It is an issue on which the union is united and leadership should respond to it with as such."
"Alex was the person whose support got me interested in PGR campaign work at a time when I was facing a difficult situation. His support and advice at that time helped me a lot. Later on by his involvement and support I got inspired to participate in campaigning work and now I do this voluntarily. The good thing about volunteering is I can do it at my own pace, still be part of campaigns, and contribute to important causes. This is all because of Alex. He should stay on the terms beneficial to him."
"It is absurd to fight against casualisation, precarious employment, short contracts, lacking employment security, etc. and then practice all these things oneself; I am appalled that UCU leadership would even consider similar practices to those it condemns from Universities"
"You guys are vital!!!"
"Making these fantastic activists redundant is an act of ... tactical ineptitude. Not in my name. I worked for AUT when the Fixed Term Employer Regs hit the statute books and recall the hope and the campaign the union launched. Depressing enough that the campaigning against casualisation is still required but I despair to see this kind of decision making within the union."
"Ellie & Alex have been instrumental to both the wider PGRs As Staff campaign and the fight against the 2022 PGRs Against Low Pay fight; the 13% increase in the UKRI stipend level won by the latter having been, frankly, one of UCU's most significant recent wins at the national level. Through this work they have galvanised PGRs within and without UCU, injecting a much-needed new energy to the Union by ensuring the needs of an oft-forgotten group have been placed firmly on the agenda. This has emboldened increasing numbers of PGRs to join the Union who had previously felt there was no place for them in it. While PGRs are still yet to be classified staff today, we are undoubtedly the staff of tomorrow - a move like this undermines our faith in the Union that will represent us. We cannot expect better from our employers if our own house is not in order and I hence trust this decision will be swiftly reversed."
"We must uphold the principles we fight for as a union in our own employment practices."
"Ellie and Alex have gone above and beyond for PGRs for years now, and they have made incredible progress on the PGRs as Staff campaign, which it is essential that they are allowed to continue. I collaborated with Ellie in particular at Birmingham and on the national open letter demanding better treatment of disabled, chronically ill and neurodivergent PGRs during the pandemic - Ellie is an amazing union activist and researcher. It is a disgrace that they are both being made redundant and I will be cancelling my UCU membership in protest."
"Ellie & Alex are superstars, but you shouldn't have to be a superstar to have your basic employment rights respected by your employer. The fact that this is happening in a trade union, who are supposed to be leading the fight against casualisation, is devastating. UCU leadership are dragging our union through the mud and setting us back in our fight against precarious fixed term contracts. The work is continuing. The PGRs as Staff campaign is going from strength to strength. UCU has the money. Stop the redundancies!"
"As a recent international PGR, I was feeling a bit alone in a constant fight with Coventry University. But after knowing about the campaign and its leaders, I have not felt alone anymore. This campaign and its leadership (Ellie and Alex) have connected me to a nationwide network that is much bigger than I could have possibly imagined. That is inspirational!
I totally support the PGRasStaff campaign Ellie and Alex have put forward and their role in articulating it and helping PGRs across the UK to build local collective action that feeds the campaign. Alex helped a group of us to organise our thoughts and put them into practice at Coventry. Ellie's guidance was instrumental in the preparation of the meeting with the UKRI months ago. Objectively speaking, not a single campaign is able to be enforced if it is decapitated. I say they should stay to continue the fight and make PGR staff in the UK."
"I think that concerned UCU members should threaten to withhold their union fees en masse, if necessary by temporarily leaving the union at an appropriate time, unless or until the demands of this open letter (and more generally the demands of UCU staff represented by Unite) are met. It's our money that is used to employ and pay staff, we should have a say in how that money is used, beyond electing a General Secretary every five years."
"The proposed redundancies fundamentally undermine UCU's 4 fights (pay, equalities, casualisation and workload). Congress carried a motion that allows continuation of the work done by Alex and Ellie. In effect, the roles are not redundant. So why are they under threat?"
"As chair of the national Recruitment, Organising and Campaigns Committee until May this year, I saw the wonderful work Alex and Ellie have done. Importantly as a trade union that is organising and taking action against casualised contracts, that UCU could even consider the use of them (except in specific circumstances) is awful. I wrote to the General Secretary at the time the jobs were advertised as fixed term, expressing my concern. More importantly the Casualised Members Standing Committee also did, yet were ignored.
Solidarity to Alex and Ellie, and to the UCU Unite branch. I do hope UCU HQ changes its mind over this and does the right thing"
"I joined UCU as a PGR years ago, and know first hand how difficult it is to organise when each cohort moves on so quickly. The PGRs as Staff campaign and the staff leading it have made an enormous difference to the current and future organising power of UCU."
"Ellie has supported us in organising our first ever campus-wide PGR network, offering her guidance and time. Alex and her are assets to our union and the wider labour movement, and should be permanently employed!"
"Both Alex and Ellie were instrumental in setting up PandemicPGRs and PGRs as staff and in raising the exploitation of unpaid research labour at the heart of the UK marketised HE system, and by that bringing PGRs into the union. They've done brilliant work, empowering PGRs. If the campaign goes on, they need to stay."
"The ‘PGRs as staff’ campaign is a vital battle in the fight against marketisation and UCU should be pumping more resources into it instead of implementing compulsory redundancies for these staff members. Solidarity with Ellie and Alex."
"hmm, I assumed we were against casualization..."
"Their work on the PandemicPGRs and PGRs as staff initiatives have shown Ellie and Alex to be hugely dedicated, effective, and inspirational UCU campaigners. ... How damning it will be for the UCU if they are not respected and retained as employees."
"I benefitted directly from the 13% UKRI stipend increase. With the huge increases in the cost of living I still find myself a bit short on money at the end of each stipend period, so I cannot imagine how much worse it would have been without that increase. I feel very grateful to have received it. But, really, it's the sort of increase everyone in every industry should be getting. It was only won due to the strength of organising in our sector. Vital to that effort are experienced organisers.
Furthermore, it is concerning to hear that UCU is deploying similar tactics to unscrupulous bosses with 22 month long contracts."
"We expect our union to practice what we preach to our employers. This is an embarrassing example of poor employment practice from those who should know better. Solidarity with Ellie and Alex."
"Ellie has helped us in the past mobilising staff on our picket lines. The work that she and Alex have done has been amazing."
"it is frankly hypocritical to mistreat casualised staff in this way when we are literally taking industrial action against our employers for doing the same - get them a proper contract ASAP."
"Without PGR UCU I would have stayed working with an abusive toxic supervisor and they were exceptionally helpful during a period of prolonged illness."
"Until all PGRs truly receive an equitable, abuse free higher education experience and are genuinely fit for employment at the end of it we need the UCU PGR Reps - in fact, we need more as the NUS is silent in this space."
"Alex and Ellie proved an invaluable source of guidance and support for PGR organising in Bristol, and it would be a massive loss to all PGRs if they stopped doing the work they are doing"
"Without their work in helping us gain a stipend increase you would have seen huge numbers of PGRs drop out of their courses due to being unable to support themselves, their role is vital."
"I am frankly disappointed UCU have decided to make Ellie and Alex redundant and have failed to recognise the work they have done for PGRs across the country. The stipend increase they helped secure has shielded my household from the brunt of the cost of living crisis. As their employer, I am shocked that UCU have failed to see they themselves are part of the problem and urge them to reconsider this and protect their workers and the principles they stand for."
"these two PGRs, so active in promoting the interests of their colleagues, [who] have been selected for redundancy ... deserve the full support of other academics and UCU members."
"I am extremely grateful to Ellie and Alex and UCU for considering PGR students and fighting for us. I fully support this letter and a united front."
"There is a real need for dedicated staff to be available for this important work."
"When I was a PGR (2012-2016) I was rep for my local branch (Sussex). A role I was not well supported in taking up and had no good way to pass on knowledge to rep after me because of short term. Ellie and Alex provide continuity of organising and knowledge to the most precarious, most pressured members of our union. I have seen the impact their coordination has on effectiveness of PGR reps in my current local branch and know how much I would have appreciated them when I was in post. It is essential they are retained"
"I do not understand how PGRs can trust the UCU with decisions like this."
"I joined UCU in part because of the stipend increase which was won thanks to Ellie and Alex's fantastic organising. To make them redundant is a major step backwards. Please reconsider"
"I am quite shocked to learn that UCU is not only using casualised contracts but is also terminating the contracts of workers who have been excellent representatives of PGR issues. Not only is it a disgrace that UCU is subjecting people to further casualisation, it seems wholly unfair to treat these clearly fantastic campaigners so poorly. It's also a clear signal of how far down UCU's priorities PGRs are. We are the future of the profession and some of the most affected by its current state - seems crazy that UCU thinks it's ok to do this. Honestly makes you wonder what the union is for and is so disappointing to me, as someone who has in the past given a great deal of my time to union activism in my local branch, often doing far more than permanently employed colleagues. This decision needs to be reversed immediately."
"Making pgrs staff, the core aim of Ellie's and Alex's positions is absolutely vital for the survivability of the UK university system. Under the current funding structure many PGRs have significant struggle finding houses, many have had to move due to rising rent or landlords selling their place. I have personally seen a +25% increase in rent as a result of having to move house serveral times. Making pgrs staff as Ellie and Alex have been fighting for will solve several issues with being considered students and therefore being excluded from many housing options."
"The uplift on the stipend has been absolutely essential to me as a disabled person in this cost of living crisis, as I have more costs than non-disabled people. The work done by Ellie and Alex is what UCU should fundamentally be about. PGR students are often marginalised and treated and paid poorly. We are also the future of the institutions that employ us. We have been the foot soldiers in the recent strikes and MAB. UCU should be just as much about our voices as it is lecturers' and other staff, and this move is a slap in the face to that."
"PGRs need consistent and reliable support in representing their interests"
"their work has helped all phd students, it should not go unappreciated or forgotten"
"Without representation or advocates for the interests of postgraduates in research, the postgraduate student body will inadvertently become less diverse and thus will lose out on talent. The current state of science and its position in society cannot afford to lose more of its reputation to elitism. We need science to remain an accessible career path for everyone. This means upholding fair and stable working conditions; including for those who are advocating for our interests."
"Funding is a signal of what matters, and it affects what can get done. I believe these positions ensured that PGRs were represented during the pandemic and resulted in a significant stipend increase. Issues such as classification as staff may evolve, but PGRs do need dedicated national advocacy in general. To cut funding for this position is a signal PGRs don't matter."
"PGRs too often fall through the cracks between UCU campaigning for staff and NUS campaigning for students, despite often being at the sharp end of policies affecting both groups. PGRs are the future of UCU and of HE, and it is vital that they are fully included in the union and that PGR focused organising is properly resourced, starting with permanent positions for Ellie and Alex."
"It appears that both Alex and Ellie were deliberately put on slightly shorter contracts (22 vs 24 months) so that they would have less rights. This is an oxymoronic thing to do for a union that ostensibly opposes such practices."
"UCU should implement the employment policies it is seeking from the Universities. These posts have resulted in increased support for PGR's and are essential."
"Alex has been my first port of call whenever I have an issue as a PGR or GTA. He has always responded in a kind, well thought out, and timely manner, as well as giving me the confidence to approach others about PGR/GTA issues. Additionally, he and his involvement in the PGRs as staff campaign is the primary reason I still have some belief left that UCU have any intention of addressing the exploitation of PGRs rift in academia."
"My experience doing anti-casualisation work (which is still the most important part of the ongoing dispute to me despite no longer being casualised myself) has taught me that UCU often treats part-time/hourly paid contracts and lack of job security as of secondary importance to pay/pensions. This is evidence of that attitude. For a union to employ the very kind of contracts and practices that it is ostensibly trying to eliminate from its sector is hypocritical in the extreme. This cannot stand. Solidarity with Ellie and Alex."
"Alex and Ellie have fought tirelessly for our interests and have won us real-terms improvements to our quality of life as PGRs. They are vital to the union's commitment to an inclusive approach to bettering higher education for all, just as PGRs are vital to the life of the institution itself."
"There can be no UCU and progress for us if we don't acknowledge us PGRs as staff. Otherwise academia will continue to eat its own tail. Make Ellie and Alex permanent staff!!"
"We are one of the most vulnerable groups in higher education, not staff or students. We require collective action supporting us for better contracts, inclusivity, diversity and campaigning for our needs."
"We must walk the talk!"
"It would be a massive step back to lose Ellie and Alex, PGRs need to be represented and having this support from the UCU is super important."
"The work to establish a route towards PGRs as staff is only just beginning. One EDI aspect to keep hold of is that some PGRs will be better off with option to remain as a student (or risk losing benefits or just facing extra stress to reclaim later on). Losing these focused roles to support the campaign risks dropping the campaign overall, and losing the knowledge that the current staff have built up over time through engagement with individual PGRs to ensure nobody is left behind."
"The work of Ellie and Alex is hugely important to allow the UK PGR system to catch up to where most other European countries have already set the standard for their PhD students, who get acknowledged as workers with equal rights and employment benefits. In order to create better and more sustainable working conditions in academia, both of them and their contributions are hugely important and need to be kept in their current positions."
"Crucially and uniquely important work by Ellie and Alex with a vital impact on the quality of work and life in the PGR community"
"I started doing volunteer work for the PGRs as Staff campaign because of Alex. I was a UCU member since 2019, but became actively a part of it only after I myself encountered a problem as a GTA and Alex was the person who supported me and explained things in detail to me. I also understand that the better working conditions in the department of Sociological studies is due to the combined efforts of Alex, Maria and some other UCU members. I can see a substantial (negative) difference in pay and work conditions of GTAs in other departments, as I, myself am a doctoral student in another department but employed as a GTA in the Sociology department. Alex is the backbone of PGRs and is and will be the reason of change in our work conditions, present as well as future."
"UCU should be consistent in treating its workers as it calls for its members to be treated."
"A union is for all workers or none at all. This hypocrisy is stunning and must be reversed."
"Doctoral tutors fulfil a vital role within universities but the PGRs that take these roles on often do not have any job security. This makes it very difficult for PGRs to plan how to manage their finances and increases stress levels."
"I think this one's pretty straight forward folks. Are we really going to be this hypocritical?"
"It is shameful for the UCU to treat its own staff so appallingly while asking universities to meet demands UCU won't meet for its own. Appalling."
"Ellie's work with UCU has offered considerable support to PGR and student organising at the University of Birmingham, and was undoubtedly a considerable factor in improving student and PGR awareness and support of industrial action. This includes the achievement of a landmark student vote that has since permanently shifted the Student Guild's position on industrial action to one of more active support."
"How on earth can we demand minimum 24 month contracts from employers, when our union employs staff on 22 month contracts? Come on, UCU, show some commitment to fighting casualisation!"
"The university consistently treats PGR like workhorses, often with language implying that our careers or livelihoods will suffer if we don't overwork ourselves whenever they demand. UCU has consistently failed to address the unique pressures that face PGR members of the union. Despite being pressured by the universities to do the same jobs as full staff members, we are often treated as if we're children. We are on precarious contracts and precarious incomes, and many of us are barely keeping afloat in the current cost of living crisis. The only people who have consistently listened to our concerns thoughtfully are those on the PGRs as Staff campaign. Ellie and Alex do important work that should be rewarded with permanent contracts. We as a union simply cannot claim to care about anti-casualisation while keeping our own staff on precarious contracts."
"UCU needs to lead by example."
"Abhorrent act of double standards on display here. Yet again, UCU, for shame."
"We deserve better pay and we deserve to keep the people effectively fighting for that."
"I'm pretty frustrated about this. While I'm no longer a PhD in the UK, that is where my research career began in earnest and, after really shit treatment over the pandemic I was glad that UCU *finally* started to engage with PhD students and focus on issues important to them.
My future support for UCU is contingent on them helping out those at the beginning of their academic journeys. It does not sit right only looking out for pensions for senior staff when PhD students struggle to get by. A conviction that becomes firmer when comparing the UK to countries like Norway or The Netherlands where livable salaries are provided."
"UCU must lead by example. The hypocrisy of this decision is breathtaking and it must be reversed at the earliest opportunity. We don't need to give our employers any more ammunition to undermine our work. United we stand, divided we fall"
"Congress clearly indicated the value of the PGRs as staff campaign and by all accounts Ellie and Alex have been fantastic at their job. It would be a shame to lose them, and also undermines our credibility as a union if we use tactics we ourselves criticise when used by our employers."
"I would not have been able to continue my research without the pay increase these members fought hard for. The UCU owes them better employment rights than the universities they campaigning to change."
"PGRs are staff full stop."
