Sheffield UCU condemns University of Brighton derecognition plans
Published on
Sheffield UCU condemns the decision taken by the University of Brighton to terminate its current trade union recognition agreement and all collective agreements on terms and conditions from next June.
The University of Brighton does not need to proceed this way, putting their campus trade unions at risk of derecognition while worsening working conditions at the institution. Trade union recognition is an essential labour right, and choosing to ‘de-recognise’ a union that an employer has already accepted shows thorough contempt for all the institution’s workers, unionised or otherwise.
We stand with comrades in UCU and UNISON at the University of Brighton against this attack on workers’ rights and welcome the decision by the General Secretary of UCU to call a demo on campus.
Review of the Faculty Structures announced- where is the leadership?
Published on
Dear members,
By now you have likely heard the news that the University intends to move from a structure with five faculties to one with only three faculties. In the Vice Chancellor’s email to all staff, he states that “...changes to our faculty structure would…help us to create greater consistency in staff and student experience, and enable more interdisciplinarity and collaboration”, while alluding to the potential for yet more cuts to Professional Services staff in faculty roles, and simultaneously claiming that there will be “...no changes to schools, academic disciplines or programmes…”.
These claims, and this announcement, are at this point beyond preposterous.
In 2019, the University Executive Board (UEB) moved the School of East Asian Studies into the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. Then in 2024 they moved it into the School of Languages and Societies.
In 2023, UEB undertook a major restructure of the Student Recruitment, Marketing, and Admissions (SRMA) team, which led to such unhappiness and so many staff taking voluntary severance that over 70 posts in the new structure were unfilled for months, and the disruptive impact of this restructure is still felt today. 2023 was also the year of the disastrous Student Support Services restructure, which dismantled the University’s Sexual Violence Liaison Service for students, and in the Autumn, the “New Schools” restructure was first announced.
And now, at a moment when the University is pursuing substantial staff cuts in Materials Science, Chemistry, and East Asian Studies, and threatening more cuts in 4 other academic disciplines, the Vice Chancellor has announced a shift from 5 to 3 faculties—a shift which, the VC admits in his email, may result in more redundancies down the line.
This list by no means includes every single bit of change management. Since the Vice Chancellor arrived, we estimate that he has overseen over 45 restructures of teams across the University, including the New Schools Professional Services restructures, which impacted over 800 staff in one fell swoop.
Every single time one of these changes has been announced, we have been told that the purpose is to “strengthen the institution” or “support our world leading ambitions”, to “future-proof the University”, make us “more competitive and agile”, and improve our “financial sustainability”.
If these assurances are true, then why have not a single one of these changes led to the lofty results described above? Why does UEB need to keep constantly imposing changes that lead to more instability, a weaker University, and over-workloaded and under-supported staff and students who can barely manage any ambitions, let alone world leading ones?
And where is Council? As the body which has regulatory and strategic oversight of the University of Sheffield, why do they continue to approve these changes? The Vice Chancellor, and UEB, are not alone in making these poor decisions.
It comes down to this question: Why is the leadership of this University still in post and still making the same ‘strategic’ changes over and over when their previous changes have not had the desired effect?
The truth is that restructuring for restructuring’s sake does not have the positive impacts that our University leadership claims. To be clear, we are not claiming that every single change is necessarily a bad one, and there may be some restructures in the list of 45, or even in the list we gave above, that staff viewed as positive. But every restructure is disruptive, and the sheer number that University management have pursued over a 7 year period is irresponsibly damaging. Moreover, we stand by the position that a substantial proportion of the restructures that have been pursued were both unnecessary and ill-advised.
The leadership of our University is keen to reference a myriad of crises facing this University (including financial, which we as a branch strongly dispute), but much less keen to take responsibility for how their decisions have negatively impacted the staff and students of Sheffield.
It is beyond time for this programme of destructive change to stop. We cannot add yet more change on top of the relentless change that has characterised the last 7 years. This branch has collectively pushed back against the poor strategic decisions of University leadership, but while our activism, organising, and negotiations have mitigated the effects of detrimental policies, and held off the level of staff cuts and redundancies that management were initially pursuing, we cannot change the direction of this University without a fundamental change in leadership. Every member of this University needs to stand up and demand a new vision, and new leadership of this University.
In solidarity,
Sheffield UCU Branch Committee
Notification of Industrial Action- May 2026
Published on
The UCU regional office has just notified management of our plans for upcoming industrial action.
This is a total of six days’ strike action, which we know will cause substantial disruption at the tail-end of the semester across the university. Strike action is always a last resort, but members have told us through numerous general meetings and other communications that they are deeply concerned about the threat that forthcoming restructures in Chemistry, East Asian Studies, and Materials Science and Engineering pose to job security in those departments, together with wider issues of ever-increasing workload and job cuts across the institution.
We are also calling on members to take the following forms of action short of strike, starting from Thursday 7th May:
not covering for absent colleagues, vacant posts, or posts that are discontinued due to change management;
not rescheduling lectures or classes cancelled as a result of strike action;
not sharing materials relating to lectures or classes cancelled as a result of strike action;
not undertaking any voluntary activities;
not undertaking duties which are not commensurate with the grade of the post; and
not using personal devices to conduct work.
Our negotiators will meet again with management to seek to resolve our dispute on Friday 1st May. We expect this industrial action will further incentivise management to make our members a meaningful offer. We will keep you updated on the progress of our negotiations.
Industrial action ballot result- Spring 2026
Published on
Our branch has achieved a strong mandate for potential industrial action in our recent ballot, with a turnout of 50.44%, and 67.6% and 75.37% voting in support of strike action and action short of a strike (ASOS), respectively. This positive result reflects the incredible work of our departmental reps, branch officers, and members who contributed to the Get The Vote Out campaign. The new strike mandate will last for one year thanks to changes in trade union law.
Members have voted to reject management’s extensive and disruptive programme of restructuring, which is creating direct stress for hundreds of staff and negatively impacting the entire university. Despite the incredibly hostile and punitive approach taken by management following our action last semester, members have once again demonstrated their resolve to push back against the threats to jobs, and to demand protections from ever-increasing workloads. We know from our independent financial report that any job cuts are a choice, not a necessity. Management can avoid any further industrial action by negotiating in good faith and committing to no compulsory redundancies.
Our branch committee will meet to discuss these results and how to put a plan of action to our members. We will then consult with members before undertaking any plan of action. So please watch out for further information in later emails.
At this crucial moment, every member matters. We are asking everyone to speak with a staff member or PGR who is not currently a union member about the importance of this dispute and how they can support those whose jobs are at risk by joining UCU and joining our collective action.
Thank you again to everyone who voted. This mandate empowers us to continue ongoing negotiations with management on job cuts, job losses, and workload. We will keep members abreast of any developments in these negotiations in the coming days and weeks.
Dates of industrial action confirmed
Published on
Our strike notification has now been submitted. Industrial action will begin in Week 8 (17 November 2025) and continue for 4 weeks, in line with the pattern in the motion passed by a branch meeting last month. We have given notification for the following dates of strike action:
Week 1: 17, 18, 19, and 21 November 2025
Week 2: 24, 25, 26, and 27 November 2025
Week 3: 1, 2, 4, and 5 December 2025
Week 4: 9, 10, 11, and 12 December 2025
Action short of a strike has also been notified starting on 17 November 2025, including the following actions:
not covering for absent colleagues, vacant posts, or posts that are discontinued due to change management;
not rescheduling lectures or classes cancelled as a result of strike action;
not sharing materials relating to lectures or classes cancelled as a result of strike action;
not undertaking any voluntary activities;
not undertaking duties which are not commensurate with the grade of the post;
not using personal devices to conduct work.
We are dedicated to using the time between now and the commencement of possible strike action to focus on negotiating a satisfactory resolution to the dispute. Although negotiations thus far have not yet led to a resolution, they have been productive. Our branch’s strong membership and our live industrial action mandate have materially helped these negotiations, and we thank members for your work in the GTVO and in organising.
We will provide full details about strike arrangements, including financial support, strike drop-ins, and other practical information later this week (week commencing 20/10/2025).