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This message is to let members know about the details of the strike action and the picketing that will take place starting on the 1st February.

Reminder: Our next strike organising meeting is on Tuesday 31 January, 12-1pm, and is open to all members.Ìý

Here is what you need to know (this is a long list of information that colleagues can use as a reference):

1. The strike days: 18 days of strike action have been called, starting on the 1st of February: a mass day of strike action coinciding with strikes by school and sixth form teachers, train drivers, civil service staff, and IWGB members at »Ê¼Ò»ªÈË: security staff, porters, and cleaning staff)
2. Dates: This day of action will be followed by 17 further days of UCU strike action (). Please note that we are trying to get the days that fall in our reading week changed, so watch this space.Ìý
3. Pickets for the 1st February:

• Picketing will run from 8am - 10:45am
• Central picket: main Gower Street gates, for picking up materials, getting information, and linking up.
• Two other large pickets: the Student Centre Arch entrance, and the Malet Place gates, where the IWGB will also be picketing on the 1st.
• Local pickets: Department Reps will be organising picketing for their respective department buildings - please contact your Department Rep to find out about picket locations and rotas.

4. Child-friendly pickets on 1 February: we are arranging a child-friendly picketing area on the Institute of Education (IOE) Concourse, since the schools will be on strike. The area is away from traffic and there will be activities for children . The IWGB outsourced security guards will also have a family-friendly picket at Malet Place from 6-11am. Colleagues are encouraged to bring their children to the picket lines, and pick up drawing materials for them from the IoE Concourse if they prefer to keep them at their local picket line.
5. Wednesday 1 February demonstration: ÌýÌý(NEU) starting from Portland Place at 11.45am, going to Whitehall. This will also be a family-friendly demo. London UCU branches are assembling at Malet Placefrom 10.30am to march together to join the NEU demonstration at 11am.
6. Strike Fund: There is a that any member taking strike action (regardless of salary) can claim from, to reduce the personal cost of striking. In addition, the local strike fund will cover the same amount for a) the first day’s strike action, and b) a flat rate payment for those especially in hardship. The only condition for claiming from the fund is Ìýhaving taken strike action.
7. Near you: For those who cannot join our pickets or demo because of train strikes, we encourage you to join a picket line (e.g., at a university, school or rail station) near you. You can use this to find your nearest one.
8. Donate! Colleagues who are not striking or not in UCL UCU can donate to the local hardship fund to support strikers. Details soon on how to donate online.

We are keenly aware that colleagues make sacrifices to be able to strike. Colleagues might ask themselves, is it worth it? But the costs of not striking can be so much greater: losing pay and pension benefits over the longer term, and continuing with ever worsening working conditions. Our industrial action has won in the past - a real-terms pay increase in 2006, and in 2018 we saved our Defined Benefit pensions. We can win again.

Members often do not lose as much pay for striking as they might think. See this .Ìý

We know that unless we draw a line right now, Higher Education will only get worse at the hands of Senior Managements that care more about cutting staff costs than about maintaining Universities as places of learning and scholarship.

UCL UCU Executive Committee

@ucl_ucuÌý

PS: please see our .Ìý