The news you didn’t see this week…

1. Birkbeck becomes first university to outlaw fossil fuel industry recruitment

Birkbeck, University of London has become the first university in the UK to end fossil fuel industry recruitment on campus. The Birkbeck careers service, Birkbeck Futures, which serves all 14,000 students at the London university, has adopted an Ethical Careers Policy stating that it “will not hold relationships of any kind with oil, gas or mining companies as part of our commitment to increased sustainability and addressing the climate crisis.”

The move comes after campaigning by Birkbeck Climate Network – a group pushing for stronger environmental action at the university. Birkbeck’s decision is the first victory for the nation-wide ‘Fossil Free Careers’ campaign, coordinated by student activist network People & Planet.

J Clarke, Co-Director: Climate Campaigns at People & Planet, said, “Birkbeck deserves full recognition for being the first university to take the bold step to break ties with oil, gas and mining recruiters. With over 60% of the UK higher education sector having already removed fossil fuel companies from their investment portfolios, we expect many institutions to follow Birkbeck’s lead. This win will be the first domino for UK universities ending the recruitment pipeline from education into the companies most responsible for the climate crisis and global environmental injustice. It’s time for Fossil Free Careers.”

2. Security staff to go on strike at UCL

Outsourced security staff at University College London (UCL) have voted unanimously to take strike action over pay and union recognition. The workers are represented by the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB). The security staff are set to go on strike in order to secure a pay rise to £15 per hour and are seeking a series of other improvements to conditions.

Henry Chango Lopez, General Secretary (IWGB), said, “UCL is currently overseeing a real-terms pay cut to its hard working security staff during a cost of living crisis, on account of spiralling inflation. By itself, this is unacceptable, but it is all the more outrageous given that the university paid this workforce £15/hour before outsourcing was introduced decades ago. In 2019, these majority-BAME and migrant workers were forced to campaign and strike, just to be treated equally with directly employed staff at the University. Once again, they are being forced to strike in order to end the ongoing exploitation that results from the university’s two-tier system of employment. The workers are united, having voted unanimously to take strike action, and they are determined to win. UCL can end this dispute whenever it wants, by recognising the IWGB, paying its key workers the wages they have always deserved, and bringing them in-house.”

3. Yorkshire ambulance workers balloting for industrial action

Ambulance workers in Yorkshire are set to be balloted for strike action. 1,500 workers – represented by GMB – will be formally balloted in the autumn after a consultative survey found 90 per cent of them backed strike action.

The ballot is in response to a 4 per cent pay offer, which is well below the rate of inflation.

Deanne Ferguson, an organiser at GMB Organiser, said, “Ambulance staff should not be worrying about how they’ll heat their homes this winter or feed their families, whilst carrying out a crucial service across our communities.  The service is crumbling, and it is having an impact on everyone – it is only surviving because of the amazing workers holding it together, through good will.  

“GMB members have had enough, they are angry – and that’s why they want to move to a formal ballot for strike action.  “They’ve made history with their turnout and vote. GMB Union will stand shoulder to shoulder with our members as we fight for an above inflation pay rise for our NHS heroes.”

4. Campaigners welcome Labour’s promise to launch ‘Great British Energy’

One of the headline announcements from Labour’s conference in Liverpool this week was the promise to create a publicly owned energy generation company. Dubbed ‘Great British Energy’, the company would be tasked with delivering green energy generation.

The announcement has been welcomed by anti-privatisation campaigners. Cat Hobbs, director of public ownership campaign group We Own It said, “We’re absolutely delighted about this fantastic announcement from Keir Starmer. Great British Energy, in public ownership, will invest in renewable energy, tackle climate crisis and bring down bills. We have incredible potential for wind and water power around our coastline that can be harnessed for everyone’s benefit. The public will celebrate this amazing news. Our polling shows that 66% of us, including 62% of Conservative voters, want energy in public ownership.”

5. Welsh Lib Dems back RCN calls for expansion of safe nursing care levels to cover mental health and community nursing

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have supported a petition by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) to expand the safe and effective nursing care levels in Wales to cover mental health inpatient wards and community nursing. The petition was debated in the Senedd on September 28, and received almost 11,000 signatures Wales.

Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS said, “Maintaining nurse staffing levels is critical in ensuring patient safety. Having been introduced by the Welsh Liberal Democrats in the Senedd, I am fully committed to securing the extension of the Nurse Staffing Levels Act (2016).

“The Welsh Liberal Democrats want to see the Act extended to cover mental health inpatient, children’s wards, and community ward settings. “This would go some way into relieving the pressure on nurses and ensuring a safer NHS for patients and staff alike.

“However we also want to see the Welsh Government needs to go further on nurses pay so that we can better recruit and retain nurses here in Wales, especially and in light of the cost of living crisis.”

6. Scottish Greens condemn anti-choice campaigners for protests outside abortion clinics

The Scottish Greens have hit out at anti-choice campaign groups that are protesting outside medical facilities that provide abortion services. 40 days of protests are being planned, coordinated by 40 Days For Life, a Texas-based organisation. The protests are set to run until November 6.

The Scottish Greens’ health spokesperson – Gillian Mackay MSP – is proposing new legislation to create 150 metre ‘buffer zones’ outside medical facilities, preventing such protests outside centres which provide abortion services. The proposed Bill has the backing of the Scottish Government.

Mackay said, “These protests are an appalling attempt to scare people out of accessing the healthcare they are entitled to. It will be 40 days of intimidation, and it has no place in a modern and progressive Scotland. The Bill that I am introducing will stop these protests for good.”

She continued, “Some of the campaigners we have seen have used graphic banners and loudspeakers. The service users and staff I have spoken to have told me about the terrible impact that these protests have had on them and others. There is still vital work that must be done in Scotland and around the world to ensure that people can access safe abortions. 

“When it comes to human rights, we can’t stand still. As the appalling decision to rollback reproductive rights in the US shows, our progress can be fragile. That is why we must do everything we can to protect and advance it.”

7. Unite calls off North London bus strike following new pay offer

Bus strikes in North London have been called off following a new pay offer. 2,000 bus drivers at Arriva, who are members of Unite and are based at eight depots in North London were due to begin continuous strike action on Tuesday 4 October.

Following fresh negotiations, the strikes have now been suspended. Unite regional officer Steve Stockwell said: “Following intensive negotiations a new offer has been tabled and as an act of goodwill the planned strike action has been suspended.”

8. PCS to ballot 150,000 civil servants for strike action

The PCS union this week began a formal ballot of 150,000 civil servants for strike action. Civil servants across 214 government departments are in dispute over pay, pensions, jobs and redundancy terms.

PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka said, “The government has ignored our demands for a fair pay rise, so we have no choice other than to launch what is the most significant ballot for strike action in our history. In 41 years of working in and around the civil service, I have never seen such a shocking situation. This is the worst it has ever been – a crisis of monumental proportions, the biggest cut in living standards civil servants have ever known.”

Serwotka continued, “Hard-working civil servants are being told to accept a 10% real-terms pay cut at the same time as bankers are being told they can help themselves to even greater riches – is it any wonder they’re angry? Our members are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis, with many of them having to claim the benefits they administer themselves, some skipping meals because they can’t afford to buy food, and others having to use foodbanks.”

The ballot will close on 7 November. The result is expected to be announced at a meeting of the union’s national executive committee on 10 November. 

9. People’s Assembly confirms national demonstration at Conservative Party Conference

Anti-austerity campaigners The People’s Assembly are set to stage a mass protest at the Conservative Party Conference on Sunday, October 2 in Birmingham. The protest is part of the group’s “autumn offensive” against the cost-of-living crisis.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch is set to address the demonstration. Lynch said, “The Tory government need to recognise that we will not meekly accept a cost-of-living crisis that was not of our making. The rich have never been richer and now their friends in the Conservative Party are rewarding them further with tax cuts and increased access to our public services.

“We are building a strong working-class voice on the streets of Britain that is united and determined to fight for jobs and decent pay. And if the government does clamp down on our human right to take strike action and curtail other civil liberties, we will launch a massive wave of civil disobedience to show we will not be intimidated.”

The demonstrations demands include calls to take energy, water, mail and rail into public ownership, to curb corporate profits and tackle low pay in the UK.

People’s Assembly National Secretary Laura Pidcock said, “The last few months have seen momentous changes in our political landscape. Coming out of the Covid pandemic, we’ve seen attacks on workers’ pay and conditions, political meltdown, an unprecedented cost of living crisis and the emergence of a huge fightback from unionised workers, including a wave of strikes engulfing the country over the summer.

“The sham of privatisation has been exposed by rocketing energy prices and sewerage being poured into our seas and rivers. Our public services are creaking, and the safety net of social security is being torn apart, bit by bit.”

She continued, “I urge supporters to come to the National Demonstration at the Tory Party conference in Birmingham, to let them know they will be held to account, that our united, grassroots opposition is growing and that organised workers will join with community campaigners all over the country, to beat back these attacks and create a better system for all.”

10. NUS sets out proposals for tackling student cost of living crisis

The National Union of Students (NUS) has called for student maintenance support to be inflation-proofed and rent controls to be implemented in order to support students with the cost of living crisis. The demands come as NUS has published its ‘Student Cost of Living Report’ following research which found that a third of UK students have £50 or less to live on per month after paying rent and bills.  

Despite inflation reaching double digits, the value of maintenance loans for students in England has only increased by just over 2%. In addition, students have been left out of most existing cost of living support schemes, with students facing a postcode lottery accessing council tax rebates and full-time students being ineligible for Universal Credit. 

NUS Vice President Higher Education, Chloe Field, said, “We urgently need the government to inflation-proof student loans and maintenance loans, bring in legislation to control student rent to avoid a homelessness crisis, and provide additional funding to education providers to bolster hardship funds. In addition to specific support, the government must ensure that students are no longer excluded from general interventions intended to alleviate the cost-of-living crisis such as energy grants and one-off payments to households.” 

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