Monday 30 November 2009

Indigenous leaders will share inspiring examples of environmentally sustainable alternative development models based on millennia-old indigenous ways

If you haven't already done so, please remember to register your attendance at the public event at UCL this Friday - you can do so by replying to this email.
Please also circulate this advert to anyone else who may be interested.
With best wishes
The Bolivia Information Forum
www.boliviainfoforum.org.uk
enquiries@boliviainfoforum.org.uk
+44 (0)20 7503 4163

Indigenous leaders will share inspiring examples of environmentally sustainable alternative development models based on millennia-old indigenous ways of life.

Bolivia's social movements are demanding climate justice for the world's poor who are most impacted by climate change, which they recognise as being caused primarily by industrialised countries.

Event open to all, to register please email:
enquiries@boliviainfoforum.org.uk


See also:
www.boliviainfoforum.org.uk




PUBLIC EVENT:

“Bolivian indigenous leaders taking action on climate change”

Friday 4 Dec 2009
6.30pm

Darwin Lecture Theatre
University College London
Gower Street,
London WC1E 6BT
(entrance via Malet Place)

Speakers including:
Ever Choquehuanca - CSCIB (peasant social movement)
Cristian Domínguez - CSUTCB (peasant social movement)
Rafael Quispe Flores – CONAMAQ (indigenous social movement)
Elyzabeth Peredo (Fundación Solón)
Marcos Nordgren (Climate change
expert from Bolivian NGO CIPCA)

The Bolivia Civil Society Platform on Climate Change is an initiative coordinated by the key social and indigenous movements of Bolivia and is supported jointly by the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD), Christian Aid and Oxfam.




Bolivia Information Forum (BIF), Unit 3 Canonbury Yard, 190a New North Road, London N1 7BJ www.boliviainfoforum.org.uk
Posted by DODO MODERN POETS at 14:42 0 comments

NATIONAL CLIMATE EMERGENCY DEMO this SAT 5TH DEC 2009

NATIONAL CLIMATE EMERGENCY DEMO this SAT 5TH DEC 2009
BRING YOUR LOCAL PARTY BANNERS
We have hundreds of placards to hand out. A new leaflet on the way.
We will be joining hundreds of Trade Union members and setting up a stall at the
CLIMATE EMERGENCY RALLY
SPEAKERS CORNER
HYDE PARK
NOON

The main body of the demo will leave from Grosvenor Square, and the trade union march will feed into this one.
Cyclists may wish to join the Climate Emergency Bike Ride. This assembles at Lincoln's Inn Fields at 10 am. It looks as if this will feed into the demo at Hyde Park Corner.


There will be a stall at Parliament Square at the end. Come and say hello / help out / collect placards / sticks for re-use and £ saving .
SEE YOU ALL THERE- BRING YOUR LOCAL PARTY BANNERS

Tuesday 24 November 2009

schools and Copenhagen

Anon - a real teacher - from Islington, London says;




"There is a push on from the Islington sustainable schools group for schools to take their own demonstrative action for a proper deal at Copenhagen on Friday 4th Dec.

One of the year 5 classes at my school discussed this this morning and are proposing that we have a whole school demo round the block (a mini wave, maybe a ripple), make posters, send letters to Downing Street, get a petition up for parents, write to the local MP, do press releases. Good start. Shows what one lesson/discussion can do. There are only about a dozen schools signed up to the sustainability group, but there's no reason why others shouldn't join in too. How many school demos can we get on the day?

Checking out the Islington Council website, they signed up to the 10:10 campaign in September (one of the first to do so). Amongst other stuff in their statement they claim that all schools in Islington are going to get their roofs insulated "in time for winter". As winter is about a week away, has anyone seen any sign of this initiative?

I've asked the sustainability group for a brief summary of their initiatives/action plan so we can have a look at it at the meeting."


Let's have thousands of schools doin stuff during Copenhagen week!


Change our Climate
Change our World

Petition for minimum wage for UCL staff

Petition for minimum wage for UCL staff



Please could you take a few moments out of your day to sign this petition;

As things stand, a significant number of contract staff at University College London receive the national minimum wage, £5.80 per hour, which is simply not enough to survive in London. Other University of London colleges such as SOAS, LSE, Birkbeck and Queen Mary’s have already adopted the London Living Wage (LLW), while UCL lags behind.

Former UCL cleaner Juan Carlos Piedra Benitez was dismissed from his job at UCL by contracted cleaning company Office & General. Recordings exist between Mr Piedra and O&G managers which prove that Mr Piedra’s trade union activity, especially in campaigning for the LLW, played an active role in his dismissal. This is not only unfair, but illegal.

Mr Piedra’s case attests quite clearly to the part that the out-sourcing of jobs plays in ensuring staff receive no better than poverty wages. Further, recent events at SOAS have proven contracting companies’ willingness to collude with UK Borders Agency to set up aggressive immigration raids and deportation programmes against cleaners.

Link here;

http://www.gopetition.co.uk/petitions/a-living-wage-for-all-at-ucl.html

Monday 23 November 2009

JERRY HICKS to stand for Unite Gen Sec

Dear Friends,

After careful consideration and taking into account all the excellent offers of support from every section within Unite I have decided that it would be the right decision to stand again in the election for General Secretary.
Although there is no date yet for the election it has to happen at some point next year, most likely soon after the General Election.

It is well worth reminding ourselves that our campaign last time went from strength to strength, despite being given no chance of even forcing an election.
We were then given little hope of securing enough nominations when not backed by the Gazette group (who supported Laurence Faircloth). We actually gained far more than he did and he then withdrew, which is something we had predicted but it was not given much credence at the time.

You will probably remember the detractors then went on to say that a 'vote for Jerry Hicks' would let the right wing candidate in (Kevin Coyne). Nothing of course could have been further from the truth. Not only did our campaign lead to Laurence Faircloth withdrawing we then soundly beat both Kevin Coyne and Paul Reuter at the ballot box finishing second only to the incumbent Derek Simpson.

It is my view that since that election things have got much worse, not just the economy but also the union leaderships failure to defend our members. We have also missed opportunities that have presented themselves, quick to make demands but slow to inspire or galvanise our members.

As was with the last election it is likely that all the other candidates will be senior officials of the union, indeed many have already been campaigning and not surprisingly often saying the right things. But its not what someone says its what they do that counts.

I have been a critic of Derek Simpson but truth is he has been allowed to get away with far too much with too little opposition from the same senior officials who would have us believe they should run our union. Our members deserve a better choice than simply more of the same.


Keep on keeping on, and expect the unexpected; Jerry Hicks.

http://jerryhicks.wordpress.com

Friday 20 November 2009

German student protests

Link to German student protests that are ongoing:

http://www.euronews.net/2009/11/17/german-university-strike-spreads/

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4901195,00.html

Thursday 19 November 2009

General strike in the Irish Republic next Tuesday (24/11/2009)

There will be a general strike in the Irish Republic next Tuesday across the whole public sector. This is in response to proposed savage cuts in the budget next month and proposals even going as far as reducing the minimum wage and old age pension. The Irish unions are also discussing a further strike in December. The budget proposals in Ireland mirror in some ways the proposals which a Conservative government would be likely to implement in the UK. The EU has also announced that they have given Ireland until 2014 to cut its budget deficit.



http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/1116/breaking52.htm



http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1118/1224259043143.html

Thursday 12 November 2009

URGENT: CLOSURE OF SOCIOLOGY at the University of Birmingham

From: Natasha Macnab >
Date: 2009/11/11
Subject: [activists] FW: URGENT: CLOSURE OF SOCIOLOGY
To: UCU activists e-group
>

Dear All

Please see the important message below on the planned closure of the Department of Sociology at the University of Birmingham. Please sign the petition at the bottom of the page and have a look at the website. Thank you:

An urgent message from staff in the Department of Sociology

Dear Colleagues,

Following a Review of the Sociology Department that was first proposed 18 months ago, the Head of the College of Social Sciences is seeking through the College Executive Board to close the Department. One of our degree programmes (Media, Culture and Society) will be closed altogether, and the other (Sociology) 'transferred' to Social Policy with just 3 staff retained and the rest (14 academics and 2 out of 3 support staff) made redundant.

We are asking you to join us, our students, and colleagues in the wider academic community in fighting this unwarranted closure proposal: it is based on a deeply flawed review process and evidence base. We suggest the decision brings to a head problems in the College arising from a total lack of strategy for Birmingham social science, and an out of control College management that is a threat to academic integrity and the reputation of the University.

The reasons for the Review were never adequately explained: at different times it was said to be about finances, or research performance, or student recruitment. At the outset, we welcomed the opportunity to engage constructively and collegially in the Review Process to develop strategies for the Department, but this opportunity was systematically denied to us. Incredibly, no staff or students from the Department were invited onto the Review Group, and we were never told how the
Department's submissions to the Group were being used. In addition, the External Advisors appointed to the Review - two very senior British Sociologists - have gone on record as saying they were marginalised from the process. We were not even allowed to see the Review report itself until it had passed through the College Board, and the Head of College announced his decision verbally to Department staff.

As many of you will know, the present Department was established in 2004 following another previous closure in 2002. Predominantly early career staff were recruited to what was heralded as a 10- year project to re-establish Sociology at Birmingham. The fact that this strategy would likely lead to a modest RAE 2008 result was explicitly recognised, although the Department went on to submit the highest proportion of staff into the RAE of any unit in the University. The Chair of a Strategic Review of the Department undertaken in 2004, Professor Judith Petts (current PVC Research and Knowledge Transfer) stated that: "the University needs to recognise that the outcome of 2008 may be modest relative to the leading departments. The panel cannot emphasis strongly enough that should this be the case, the University must hold its nerve
and continue to support the department."

The Department's two undergraduate programmes are ranked 4th (Sociology)and 5th (MCS) in The Guardian's national league tables. Feedback from students and external examiners, degree results and relations between students and staff are all excellent. College mismanagement of undergraduate recruitment in the current academic year led to over-recruitment in some areas and cut backs in others; this has not been explained. We are particularly upset that, having ignored student interests throughout the process, College managers have now wasted no time in launching a PR offensive on students, writing and arranging 'briefings' to assure them that their degrees will be 'unaffected'.

In short, as a result of a botched Review and a College management determined to look 'tough', committed, predominantly early career academics and support staff are to be made redundant in a frozen jobs market. The education of a diverse body of students will be severely harmed and the reputation of social sciences at Birmingham further damaged.

We believe that we are the first on the line in what will be a series of similarly aggressive Reviews of Departments.

We urge you to support our call to the University Senate (18 November)
and Council (26 November) to:

1) Reject the proposals of the College of Social Sciences Executive
Board as being based on a flawed review process and evidence base.

2) Institute a new, transparent review of Sociology that includes all
stakeholders, lifts the threat of redundancies and addresses the
institution's wider strategy for the social sciences.

Sign the Petition at:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/keepsociologyatbirmingham/

For more information and copies of review documents and our responses
see the link below. We're working to get the site up and running over
the next 24 hours and will be updating it as this situation unfolds:

http://www.keepsociologyatbirmingham.com



Signed,



Ross Abbinnett

Gezim Alpion

Louise Brown

Shelley Budgeon

Sin Yi Cheung

Justin Cruickshank

Jonathan Fish

Emma Foster

Andrew Knops

Will Leggett

Jose Lingna Nafafe

John Lynch

Mairtin Mac an Ghaill

Giovanni Porfido

Alex Smith

David Toke

Dan Whisker

___________________________________________________________________________

ACTIVIST LIST SETTINGS
Unsubscribe by emailing
leave-activists@mercury.ucu.org.uk - alternatively, and to change your activists list email delivery options,
please go to:
http://www.ucu.org.uk/listoptions









-----------------
Forwarded Message:
Subj: FW: URGENT: CLOSURE OF SOCIOLOGY
Date: 11/11/2009 11:27:56 GMT Standard Time
From: joycecanaan@blueyonder.co.uk
To: Gary.Hazeldine@bcu.ac.uk, worthers21@hotmail.com, analiameo@omicron.com.ar, A.Abbas@tees.ac.uk, annikatmc@yahoo.co.uk, anthony.green@ioe.ac.uk, salem_ayman@hotmail.com, bela_arora@hotmail.com, Bill.Roper@bcu.ac.uk, cath.lambert@warwick.ac.uk, EScandrett@qmu.ac.uk, George.Smith@bcu.ac.uk, h.v.sauntson@bham.ac.uk, Ian.S.Fairweather@manchester.ac.uk, j_contre@hotmail.com, Jane.Hill@bcu.ac.uk, jim.crowther@ed.ac.uk, judith.burnett@hotmail.co.uk, julie.pickmol@ntlworld.com, karima.kadi-hanifi@blueyonder.co.uk, kenneth.roberts18@btopenworld.com, K.V.Schaefer@exeter.ac.uk, LKC074@bham.ac.uk, M.Williams@plymouth.ac.uk, m.bowl.1@bham.ac.uk, Matthew.Badcock@bcu.ac.uk, mike.cole2@ntlworld.com, Mneary@lincoln.ac.uk, M.David@ioe.ac.uk, Morag.MacDonald@bcu.ac.uk, Neil.Staunton@bcu.ac.uk, patrickjdainley@aol.com, p.chatterton@leeds.ac.uk, p.c.warmington@bham.ac.uk, richard.johnson61@btinternet.com, s.cooke@bham.ac.uk, s.housee@wlv.ac.uk, sthemgr@yahoo.co.uk, Steve.Aldred@bcu.ac.uk, S.Spencer@shu.ac.uk, t.mccowan@ioe.ac.uk, zohre_zohre1979@yahoo.co.uk
Sent from the Internet (Details)





-----Original Message-----
From: Amsler, Sarah [mailto:S.S.AMSLER@aston.ac.uk]
Sent: 11 November 2009 10:17
To: Gurnam Singh; Joyce Canaan; sara-catherine motta-mera; Steve Cowden;
Mahmood Delkhasteh
Subject: FW: URGENT: CLOSURE OF SOCIOLOGY



Dr Sarah S Amsler
Lecturer in Sociology
Room NW920
Languages and Social Sciences
Aston University
Birmingham B4 7ET
s.s.amsler@aston.ac.uk
http://www.aston.ac.uk


-----Original Message-----
From: Bhattacharyya, GS [mailto:g.s.bhattacharyya@aston.ac.uk]
Sent: 11 November 2009 10:01
To: UCU@aston.ac.uk
Subject: FW: URGENT: CLOSURE OF SOCIOLOGY

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Natasha Macnab >
Date: 2009/11/11
Subject: [activists] FW: URGENT: CLOSURE OF SOCIOLOGY
To: UCU activists e-group
>



Dear All

Please see the important message below on the planned closure of the
Department of Sociology at the University of Birmingham. Please sign the
petition at the bottom of the page and have a look at the website. Thank
you:

An urgent message from staff in the Department of Sociology

Dear Colleagues,

Following a Review of the Sociology Department that was first proposed
18 months ago, the Head of the College of Social Sciences is seeking
through the College Executive Board to close the Department. One of our
degree programmes (Media, Culture and Society) will be closed
altogether, and the other (Sociology) 'transferred' to Social Policy
with just 3 staff retained and the rest (14 academics and 2 out of 3
support staff) made redundant.

We are asking you to join us, our students, and colleagues in the wider
academic community in fighting this unwarranted closure proposal: it is
based on a deeply flawed review process and evidence base. We suggest
the decision brings to a head problems in the College arising from a
total lack of strategy for Birmingham social science, and an out of
control College management that is a threat to academic integrity and
the reputation of the University.

The reasons for the Review were never adequately explained: at different
times it was said to be about finances, or research performance, or
student recruitment. At the outset, we welcomed the opportunity to
engage constructively and collegially in the Review Process to develop
strategies for the Department, but this opportunity was systematically
denied to us. Incredibly, no staff or students from the Department were
invited onto the Review Group, and we were never told how the
Department's submissions to the Group were being used. In addition, the
External Advisors appointed to the Review - two very senior British
Sociologists - have gone on record as saying they were marginalised from
the process. We were not even allowed to see the Review report itself
until it had passed through the College Board, and the Head of College
announced his decision verbally to Department staff.

As many of you will know, the present Department was established in 2004
following another previous closure in 2002. Predominantly early career
staff were recruited to what was heralded as a 10- year project to
re-establish Sociology at Birmingham. The fact that this strategy would
likely lead to a modest RAE 2008 result was explicitly recognised,
although the Department went on to submit the highest proportion of
staff into the RAE of any unit in the University. The Chair of a
Strategic Review of the Department undertaken in 2004, Professor Judith
Petts (current PVC Research and Knowledge Transfer) stated that: "the
University needs to recognise that the outcome of 2008 may be modest
relative to the leading departments. The panel cannot emphasis strongly
enough that should this be the case, the University must hold its nerve
and continue to support the department."

The Department's two undergraduate programmes are ranked 4th (Sociology)
and 5th (MCS) in The Guardian's national league tables. Feedback from
students and external examiners, degree results and relations between
students and staff are all excellent. College mismanagement of
undergraduate recruitment in the current academic year led to
over-recruitment in some areas and cut backs in others; this has not
been explained. We are particularly upset that, having ignored student
interests throughout the process, College managers have now wasted no
time in launching a PR offensive on students, writing and arranging
'briefings' to assure them that their degrees will be 'unaffected'.

In short, as a result of a botched Review and a College management
determined to look 'tough', committed, predominantly early career
academics and support staff are to be made redundant in a frozen jobs
market. The education of a diverse body of students will be severely
harmed and the reputation of social sciences at Birmingham further
damaged.

We believe that we are the first on the line in what will be a series of
similarly aggressive Reviews of Departments.

We urge you to support our call to the University Senate (18 November)
and Council (26 November) to:

1) Reject the proposals of the College of Social Sciences Executive
Board as being based on a flawed review process and evidence base.

2) Institute a new, transparent review of Sociology that includes all
stakeholders, lifts the threat of redundancies and addresses the
institution's wider strategy for the social sciences.

Sign the Petition at:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/keepsociologyatbirmingham/

For more information and copies of review documents and our responses
see the link below. We're working to get the site up and running over
the next 24 hours and will be updating it as this situation unfolds:

http://www.keepsociologyatbirmingham.com



Signed,



Ross Abbinnett

Gezim Alpion

Louise Brown

Shelley Budgeon

Sin Yi Cheung

Justin Cruickshank

Jonathan Fish

Emma Foster

Andrew Knops

Will Leggett

Jose Lingna Nafafe

John Lynch

Mairtin Mac an Ghaill

Giovanni Porfido

Alex Smith

David Toke

Dan Whisker

Closure of the Department of Sociology at the University of Birmingham.

From: Natasha Macnab n.a.macnab@bham.ac.uk Date: 2009/11/11
Subject: [activists] FW: URGENT: CLOSURE OF SOCIOLOGY
To: UCU activists e-group
mailto:activists@mercury.ucu.org.uk>>

Dear All

Please see the important message below on the planned closure of the Department of Sociology at the University of Birmingham. Please sign the petition at the bottom of the page and have a look at the website. Thank you:

An urgent message from staff in the Department of Sociology

Dear Colleagues,

Following a Review of the Sociology Department that was first proposed 18 months ago, the Head of the College of Social Sciences is seeking through the College Executive Board to close the Department. One of our degree programmes (Media, Culture and Society) will be closed altogether, and the other (Sociology) 'transferred' to Social Policy with just 3 staff retained and the rest (14 academics and 2 out of 3 support staff) made redundant.

We are asking you to join us, our students, and colleagues in the wider academic community in fighting this unwarranted closure proposal: it is based on a deeply flawed review process and evidence base. We suggest the decision brings to a head problems in the College arising from a total lack of strategy for Birmingham social science, and an out of control College management that is a threat to academic integrity and the reputation of the University.

The reasons for the Review were never adequately explained: at different times it was said to be about finances, or research performance, or student recruitment. At the outset, we welcomed the opportunity to engage constructively and collegially in the Review Process to develop strategies for the Department, but this opportunity was systematically denied to us. Incredibly, no staff or students from the Department were invited onto the Review Group, and we were never told how the
Department's submissions to the Group were being used. In addition, the External Advisors appointed to the Review - two very senior British Sociologists - have gone on record as saying they were marginalised from the process. We were not even allowed to see the Review report itself until it had passed through the College Board, and the Head of College announced his decision verbally to Department staff.

As many of you will know, the present Department was established in 2004 following another previous closure in 2002. Predominantly early career staff were recruited to what was heralded as a 10- year project to re-establish Sociology at Birmingham. The fact that this strategy would likely lead to a modest RAE 2008 result was explicitly recognised, although the Department went on to submit the highest proportion of staff into the RAE of any unit in the University. The Chair of a Strategic Review of the Department undertaken in 2004, Professor Judith Petts (current PVC Research and Knowledge Transfer) stated that: "the University needs to recognise that the outcome of 2008 may be modest relative to the leading departments. The panel cannot emphasis strongly enough that should this be the case, the University must hold its nerve
and continue to support the department."

The Department's two undergraduate programmes are ranked 4th (Sociology)and 5th (MCS) in The Guardian's national league tables. Feedback from students and external examiners, degree results and relations between students and staff are all excellent. College mismanagement of undergraduate recruitment in the current academic year led to over-recruitment in some areas and cut backs in others; this has not been explained. We are particularly upset that, having ignored student interests throughout the process, College managers have now wasted no time in launching a PR offensive on students, writing and arranging 'briefings' to assure them that their degrees will be 'unaffected'.

In short, as a result of a botched Review and a College management determined to look 'tough', committed, predominantly early career academics and support staff are to be made redundant in a frozen jobs market. The education of a diverse body of students will be severely harmed and the reputation of social sciences at Birmingham further damaged.

We believe that we are the first on the line in what will be a series of similarly aggressive Reviews of Departments.

We urge you to support our call to the University Senate (18 November)
and Council (26 November) to:

1) Reject the proposals of the College of Social Sciences Executive
Board as being based on a flawed review process and evidence base.

2) Institute a new, transparent review of Sociology that includes all
stakeholders, lifts the threat of redundancies and addresses the
institution's wider strategy for the social sciences.

Sign the Petition at:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/keepsociologyatbirmingham/

For more information and copies of review documents and our responses
see the link below. We're working to get the site up and running over
the next 24 hours and will be updating it as this situation unfolds:

http://www.keepsociologyatbirmingham.com



Signed,



Ross Abbinnett

Gezim Alpion

Louise Brown

Shelley Budgeon

Sin Yi Cheung

Justin Cruickshank

Jonathan Fish

Emma Foster

Andrew Knops

Will Leggett

Jose Lingna Nafafe

John Lynch

Mairtin Mac an Ghaill

Giovanni Porfido

Alex Smith

David Toke

Dan Whisker

___________________________________________________________________________

ACTIVIST LIST SETTINGS
Unsubscribe by emailing
leave-activists@mercury.ucu.org.uk - alternatively, and to change your activists list email delivery options,
please go to:
http://www.ucu.org.uk/listoptions









-----------------
Forwarded Message:
Subj: FW: URGENT: CLOSURE OF SOCIOLOGY
Date: 11/11/2009 11:27:56 GMT Standard Time
From: joycecanaan@blueyonder.co.uk
To: Gary.Hazeldine@bcu.ac.uk, worthers21@hotmail.com, analiameo@omicron.com.ar, A.Abbas@tees.ac.uk, annikatmc@yahoo.co.uk, anthony.green@ioe.ac.uk, salem_ayman@hotmail.com, bela_arora@hotmail.com, Bill.Roper@bcu.ac.uk, cath.lambert@warwick.ac.uk, EScandrett@qmu.ac.uk, George.Smith@bcu.ac.uk, h.v.sauntson@bham.ac.uk, Ian.S.Fairweather@manchester.ac.uk, j_contre@hotmail.com, Jane.Hill@bcu.ac.uk, jim.crowther@ed.ac.uk, judith.burnett@hotmail.co.uk, julie.pickmol@ntlworld.com, karima.kadi-hanifi@blueyonder.co.uk, kenneth.roberts18@btopenworld.com, K.V.Schaefer@exeter.ac.uk, LKC074@bham.ac.uk, M.Williams@plymouth.ac.uk, m.bowl.1@bham.ac.uk, Matthew.Badcock@bcu.ac.uk, mike.cole2@ntlworld.com, Mneary@lincoln.ac.uk, M.David@ioe.ac.uk, Morag.MacDonald@bcu.ac.uk, Neil.Staunton@bcu.ac.uk, patrickjdainley@aol.com, p.chatterton@leeds.ac.uk, p.c.warmington@bham.ac.uk, richard.johnson61@btinternet.com, s.cooke@bham.ac.uk, s.housee@wlv.ac.uk, sthemgr@yahoo.co.uk, Steve.Aldred@bcu.ac.uk, S.Spencer@shu.ac.uk, t.mccowan@ioe.ac.uk, zohre_zohre1979@yahoo.co.uk
Sent from the Internet (Details)





-----Original Message-----
From: Amsler, Sarah [mailto:S.S.AMSLER@aston.ac.uk]
Sent: 11 November 2009 10:17
To: Gurnam Singh; Joyce Canaan; sara-catherine motta-mera; Steve Cowden;
Mahmood Delkhasteh
Subject: FW: URGENT: CLOSURE OF SOCIOLOGY



Dr Sarah S Amsler
Lecturer in Sociology
Room NW920
Languages and Social Sciences
Aston University
Birmingham B4 7ET
s.s.amsler@aston.ac.uk
http://www.aston.ac.uk


-----Original Message-----
From: Bhattacharyya, GS [mailto:g.s.bhattacharyya@aston.ac.uk]
Sent: 11 November 2009 10:01
To: UCU@aston.ac.uk
Subject: FW: URGENT: CLOSURE OF SOCIOLOGY

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Natasha Macnab >
Date: 2009/11/11
Subject: [activists] FW: URGENT: CLOSURE OF SOCIOLOGY
To: UCU activists e-group
>



Dear All

Please see the important message below on the planned closure of the
Department of Sociology at the University of Birmingham. Please sign the
petition at the bottom of the page and have a look at the website. Thank
you:

An urgent message from staff in the Department of Sociology

Dear Colleagues,

Following a Review of the Sociology Department that was first proposed
18 months ago, the Head of the College of Social Sciences is seeking
through the College Executive Board to close the Department. One of our
degree programmes (Media, Culture and Society) will be closed
altogether, and the other (Sociology) 'transferred' to Social Policy
with just 3 staff retained and the rest (14 academics and 2 out of 3
support staff) made redundant.

We are asking you to join us, our students, and colleagues in the wider
academic community in fighting this unwarranted closure proposal: it is
based on a deeply flawed review process and evidence base. We suggest
the decision brings to a head problems in the College arising from a
total lack of strategy for Birmingham social science, and an out of
control College management that is a threat to academic integrity and
the reputation of the University.

The reasons for the Review were never adequately explained: at different
times it was said to be about finances, or research performance, or
student recruitment. At the outset, we welcomed the opportunity to
engage constructively and collegially in the Review Process to develop
strategies for the Department, but this opportunity was systematically
denied to us. Incredibly, no staff or students from the Department were
invited onto the Review Group, and we were never told how the
Department's submissions to the Group were being used. In addition, the
External Advisors appointed to the Review - two very senior British
Sociologists - have gone on record as saying they were marginalised from
the process. We were not even allowed to see the Review report itself
until it had passed through the College Board, and the Head of College
announced his decision verbally to Department staff.

As many of you will know, the present Department was established in 2004
following another previous closure in 2002. Predominantly early career
staff were recruited to what was heralded as a 10- year project to
re-establish Sociology at Birmingham. The fact that this strategy would
likely lead to a modest RAE 2008 result was explicitly recognised,
although the Department went on to submit the highest proportion of
staff into the RAE of any unit in the University. The Chair of a
Strategic Review of the Department undertaken in 2004, Professor Judith
Petts (current PVC Research and Knowledge Transfer) stated that: "the
University needs to recognise that the outcome of 2008 may be modest
relative to the leading departments. The panel cannot emphasis strongly
enough that should this be the case, the University must hold its nerve
and continue to support the department."

The Department's two undergraduate programmes are ranked 4th (Sociology)
and 5th (MCS) in The Guardian's national league tables. Feedback from
students and external examiners, degree results and relations between
students and staff are all excellent. College mismanagement of
undergraduate recruitment in the current academic year led to
over-recruitment in some areas and cut backs in others; this has not
been explained. We are particularly upset that, having ignored student
interests throughout the process, College managers have now wasted no
time in launching a PR offensive on students, writing and arranging
'briefings' to assure them that their degrees will be 'unaffected'.

In short, as a result of a botched Review and a College management
determined to look 'tough', committed, predominantly early career
academics and support staff are to be made redundant in a frozen jobs
market. The education of a diverse body of students will be severely
harmed and the reputation of social sciences at Birmingham further
damaged.

We believe that we are the first on the line in what will be a series of
similarly aggressive Reviews of Departments.

We urge you to support our call to the University Senate (18 November)
and Council (26 November) to:

1) Reject the proposals of the College of Social Sciences Executive
Board as being based on a flawed review process and evidence base.

2) Institute a new, transparent review of Sociology that includes all
stakeholders, lifts the threat of redundancies and addresses the
institution's wider strategy for the social sciences.

Sign the Petition at:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/keepsociologyatbirmingham/

For more information and copies of review documents and our responses
see the link below. We're working to get the site up and running over
the next 24 hours and will be updating it as this situation unfolds:

http://www.keepsociologyatbirmingham.com



Signed,



Ross Abbinnett

Gezim Alpion

Louise Brown

Shelley Budgeon

Sin Yi Cheung

Justin Cruickshank

Jonathan Fish

Emma Foster

Andrew Knops

Will Leggett

Jose Lingna Nafafe

John Lynch

Mairtin Mac an Ghaill

Giovanni Porfido

Alex Smith

David Toke

Dan Whisker

Wednesday 11 November 2009

The Working Class Movement Library marks the 25 anniversary of the Miners Strike 1984-1985

Forwarded from Miners info by National Shop Stewards Network
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The Working Class Movement Library marks the 25 anniversary of the Miners
Strike 1984-1985

The Working Class Movement Library will be holding a meeting to mark the 25th anniversary of the Miners Strike 1984-1985.

On Saturday 21 November at 2.30pm speakers Granville Williams, editor of Shafted; the Media,the Miners'Strike and the Aftermath (2009) and Paul Kelly (Ex-Agecroft Miner) will look back at the personal, political and economic effects of the strike.

The strike was one of the largest and most significant industrial disputes of the 20th Century. The role of women in the strike enabled the strike to last longer than any national strike in British history.Throughout the country people decided what side they were on and diverse groups rallied to support the miners.

Shafted;the Media,the Miners'Strike and the Aftermath was edited by Granville Williams and published by the Campaign for the Press and Broadcasting Freedom earlier this year The contributors reflect on topics such as the press and TV coverage of the strike, documentaries about the strike, the role of the security services and the role of women during the strike,

Bernadette Hyland of the WCML said "We meet on the 21 November to remember how much we gained from the strike, not just how much we have lost in terms of our trade union and human rights. Please join us and bring with you your remembrances, both good and bad, of that traumatic year. We also hope that young people will come along to find out more about this historic event."

The meeting will take place in the Working Class Movement Library, 51 Crescent Salford M5 4WX, Tel :0161-736-3601. email; enquiries@wcml.org.
uk. www.wcml.org.uk

Press Contact

Bernadette Hyland : 01457-838885.
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07:38:00

Tuesday 10 November 2009

Welfare Reform Bill - URGENT - please take action by Wednesday

> From: Global Women's Strike <http://uk.mc250.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=womenstrike8m@server101.com>
> Date: 10 November 2009 22:28:40 GMT>
To: http://uk.mc250.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=romaynephoenix@mac.com> Subject: Welfare Reform Bill - URGENT - please take action by Wednesday>

Reply-To: http://uk.mc250.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=womenstrike8m@server101.com> >

Dear friends,> > URGENT -- please take action by the end of Wednesday>

> Welfare Reform Bill -- protection for children under five overturned by MPs> >

MPs supporting the government tonight brutally overturned the amendment won in the Lords, which protected single parents of children under five from losing benefit for not doing “work-related activity”. Single parent families could have their benefit cut by 40%. This is an outrageous attack on single mothers who are looking after children full-time. 236 MPs voted against the government, and some made clear that mothers’ caring work is a vital contribution to society. It should be recognised not penalised.> > Please write to the Lords who backed the amendment to urge them to keep this important protection for children, and let them know the strength of feeling in the community on this issue. Personal statements from mothers, fathers and carers are most convincing.> >

Lord Freud, the Conservative Lord who led on this amendment, will raise it again when the Bill goes back to the Lords on Thursday at 11.30am. We have another chance of defeating the government on their uncaring policy.> > Fax number for the Lords: 020 7219 5979 (mark for the attention of the Peer you are writing to.)> >

(As time is short, please send your letters direct, don’t rely on us to forward them, but do send us a copy at http://uk.mc250.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=womenstrike8m@server101.com Fax 020 7209 4761)> >

Please write to:> > Conservatives> > · Chris Scott http://uk.mc250.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=scottcg@parliament.uk >
Conservative Office, House of Lords – has undertaken to pass on emails received by end of Wednesday.> > ·
Lord Freud> http://uk.mc250.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=freudd@parliament.uk> Fax: 020 7219 5979 – mark attention Lord Freud> Tel: 020 7219 4907> > ·
Lord Taylor of Holbeach CBE> Tel: 020 7219 4051> http://uk.mc250.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=taylorjl@parliament.uk> > ·
Baroness Morris of Bolton OBE> Tel: 020 7219 5353> http://uk.mc250.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=whitbycollins@parliament.uk> > >
Liberal Democrats> > · Baroness Celia Thomas> Tel: 020 7219 3586 > http://uk.mc250.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=thomascm@parliament.uk> > ·

Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope> Fax: 020 7219 5979 – mark Attention Lord Kirkwood> (no email)> >
Crossbench> > · Lord Northbourne> Tel: 020 7219 3884 > Fax: 020 7219 5933> http://uk.mc250.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=northbournec@parliament.uk> > >

> Sent: 09 November 2009 12:59> Subject: Welfare Reform Bill: Urgent - today: contact your MP and Minister Yvette Cooper> > Welfare Reform Bill:> Mothers, carers, people with disabilities,> victims of domestic violence …> win important changes in the Lords.> But some may be overturned on Tuesday> when the Bill returns to the Commons.> Join us to press MPs to keep them.> > Many important concessions have been won. Testimonies from those affected, among a wealth of letters and evidence from organisations, including ours which campaigned for months and lobbied in person and in writing, were taken up by Peers and journalists, forcing the government to shift. The government has publicly agreed to some of the changes, but some remain under threat. > > The Bill is coming back to the Commons on Tuesday 10 November. > ACTION YOU CAN TAKE:> Phone and/or email your MP and Yvette Cooper, the Minister for Work and Pensions, to urge them to keep the changes below> and to condemn the worst measures in the Bill.> House of Commons tel: 020 7219 3000

Find your MP> Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP> Secretary of State for Work and Pensions> House of Commons London SW1A 0AA> http://uk.mc250.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=coopery@parliament.uk> Please copy your email to us at http://uk.mc250.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=womenstrike8m@server101.com> > > Most under threat:> > · Single parents of children under five are entitled to care for our children full-time without losing benefit for not doing “work-related activity”. We need to press MPs not to overturn this. No mother should be forced to go out to work if she feels her pre-school age children need her.> > > Changes likely to be approved:> > · Single mothers/parents of children aged three to six. Single parents on Income Support will be able to keep £50 earnings, up from £20. No “work-related activity” will be compulsory outside school hours, childcare or term-time. Mothers won’t have their benefit cut for missing “job seekers” appointments due to family responsibilities. The government reaffirmed that under current rules, parents with school-age children claiming Job Seekers Allowance can reject jobs that do not fit within school hours, they do not have to work full-time. > > · Parents. Jobcentre advisers and “back to work” staff must have regard for the welfare of the child in what they tell parents to do. > > · Carers. Single parents will be exempt from job seeking if their disabled child under 16 receives any rate of Disability Living Allowance for care. Previously, the government said the parent must work if a child is on the low rate for care.> > · Women fleeing domestic violence. A three-month exemption from job seeking. Though not enough for recovery and settling distressed children, it is an improvement over the previous discretionary decision by Jobcentre staff.> > · It is illegal for anyone to be pressured into medical treatment. Jobcentre or “back to work” staff will not be able to tell disabled people claiming Employment and Support Allowance (including people with mental health problems) that they have to take their prescription or undergo surgery. The government previously claimed that some people are “wilfully keeping themselves unfit for work”. People with drug and alcohol problems can be required to attend assessments and “motivation” sessions, but cannot lose benefit for refusing rehabilitation or treatment. > > Despite these changes, the Bill takes away many of our rights: > > It abolishes Income Support. This is the main benefit which acknowledges unwaged caring work by single mothers and other carers. > > It wipes out entitlement based on need and brings in US-style workfare. Couples with young children must both seek work. Almost all claimants of working age must look for a job or engage in a “work-related activity”. Those who cannot find a job will have to “work for their benefits”, i.e. for £1.60 an hour. Forcing more people to chase scarce jobs, while allowing employers to bypass the minimum wage, lowers everyone’s wages. Councils looking to cut costs are already preparing for workfare staff. Those of us who do not or cannot comply are threatened with destitution. Asylum seekers were the first to be made destitute, and this inhuman standard is being extended to others. > > It introduces compulsory joint birth registration even where the father is violent. If the mother has no official proof of his violence (a common situation) she will be forced to give his name. Mothers of newborns should not have to worry about going to court to stop the father abusing his parental rights to persecute her and the child.> > It expands charging for disability services. Some disability groups welcome “the right to control” budgets for services, in the Welfare Reform Bill. However, the new percentage charging system is discriminatory. People with more severe disabilities have greater needs and so are allocated a bigger budget. For them, the fixed percentage is a larger amount of money. Local authorities are allowed to set their own (higher) percentage. They will deduct charges at source before funds are paid out, leaving people to make up the missing cash. This is instead of charging separately, which allows older and disabled people not to pay charges they can’t afford, or to query when their income or disability expenses are wrongly calculated. > > We are determined to defend our entitlement to benefits and free high-quality services. Many people have signed up to a letter condemning the abolition of Income Support. Add your name. LINK> >
Contact us for more info:> > Single Mothers’ Self-Defence http://uk.mc250.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=centre@crossroadswomen.net> WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities) http://uk.mc250.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=winvisible@allwomencount.net> Global Women’s Strike http://uk.mc250.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=womenstrike8m@server101.com> Legal Action for Women http://uk.mc250.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=law@allwomencount.net> > Tel: 020 7482 2496 www.allwomencount.net www.globalwomenstrike.net

Wednesday 4 November 2009

BWTUC Public meeting - Support the Postal Workers 09/11/2009 7.30pm

Battersea & Wandsworth WTUC Public meeting - Support the Postal Workers
09/11/2009 7.30pm

Postal workers have been bearing the brunt of the public';s anger since beginning to take strike action. They are being blamed for the late delivery of mail and being portrayed in the press as the ones in the wrong.

But, what you have to remember here is that postal workers are not greedy, well paid workers trying to squeeze money out of an unprofitable company. They are over worked and underpaid workers who aren';t just fighting to protect their terms and conditions they are fighting to protect our Royal Mail.

What the public don';t see is that behind the scenes the government are trying to run Royal Mail like a business &- not the public service that it is. The government does deals with large, private companies to deliver their mail. The government then hand this over to the Royal Mail to deliver at 13p per letter as opposed to 35p. The only person that really benefits in all this is the private companies making a profit.

How can this be justified when the government took a pensions holiday for 13 years from postal workers pensions? The government are shamelessly allowing private companies to profit at the expense of ordinary workers.

Your posties job will have changed dramatically over the past few years &- with no consultation from management. They now work longer hours and under more pressure. They work in an environment where they face constant bullying and intimidation from a management who make their bonuses by enforcing cuts on the workforce.

709/11/2009 7.30 PCS hq
106 Falcon Rd Clapham Junction SW11
Contact Nadine Nadine@bwtuc.org.uk
Tel 07946172461