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secretucu.bsky.social
Secret UCU
@secretucu.bsky.social
98 followers 1 following 59 posts
Still in despair so sharing a tiny fraction of the bullying, abuse, nepotism and mismanagement at the heart of my union. secretucu@proton.me
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secretucu.bsky.social
It’s good to see how Grady’s right hand man thinks universities should be managed. Shame he can’t apply those same principles to the trade union he manages.
Greg Barnett, who chairs the Natfhe coordinating committee at the university, said: "We believe that management by imposition is the antithesis of the true function and nature of a university where respect for rights, informed discussion, transparency and management by consent are essential if academic life is to prosper. "Management by intimidation and bullying is even more unacceptable."
July 23, 2025 at 11:53 AM
secretucu.bsky.social
After well over five years of the majority of staff proving they don’t need to attend the office while still delivering for members, this is how their employer now chooses to behave: explicit threats rather than negotiating a proper, fair, & equality proofed hybrid agreement. Stay classy @ucu.org.uk
Email from UCU SMT - We would like to ensure that you are getting the correct information when it comes to legal terms and your contract of employment. If your employment contract states that your role is office-based (for example Carlow Street or a regional/devolved nation office), then that is your place of work. That is regardless of any full working from home that has taken place, which has always been on a temporary, and lately voluntary, basis. Effective from 1 September, all staff are expected to return to working from the office as outlined above. You need to be aware that if you do not comply with this requirement, it could be considered a breach of contract and may result in disciplinary action, it is your responsibility to adhere to the terms of your contract.
July 22, 2025 at 11:06 AM
secretucu.bsky.social
UCU Congress 2024.

A general secretary, directly responsible for UCU staffing, allows the @uniteucu.bsky.social dispute to get as far as strike action before ‘personally intervening’, then obviously fails abysmally to resolve it.

If she can’t make UCU a decent place to work what hope for members?
Jo Grady declaring she’s going to ‘personally intervene’ in the dispute with her staff.
April 10, 2025 at 11:55 AM
secretucu.bsky.social
There’s a theory that mad GDPR logic isn’t the real reason UCU won’t let staff say they’re on strike - it’s because it hides the fact staff who do reply are crossing the picket line.

Seems on par with closing every office for similar reason.

At least the GS openly ditched trade union principles.
Jo Grady, UCU general secretary, openly admitting she crossed a picket line
April 8, 2025 at 7:41 AM
secretucu.bsky.social
Alarming. Damning.

It also sounds an awful lot like UCU management are now doing that thing all shitty employers do, where they try to silence those exposing their toxicity by attempting to discredit them.

uniteucu.wordpress.com/2025/03/17/u...
Excerpt from Unite UCU black members’ statement - “We note the alarming fact that every staff member who spoke up about racism at Unite UCU's strike rally at Congress has now been targeted and subject to victimisation by UCU's SMT, leading to some staff leaving.” Excerpt from Unite UCU black members’ statement - “Equally troubling are the recent attempts by UCU management to attack black staff and officers of the Unite staff union. In doing so, UCU management has further highlighted their abject failure to recognise that racism is indicative of systemic power rather than merely individual relationships.” Excerpt from Unite UCU black members’ statement - “Over the past two years, we have witnessed Black staff departing UCU for the sake of their own mental health and wellbeing, facing disciplinary action and dismissal from UCU. This 'purge' of Black staff does not inspire the remaining Black staff with the hope that UCU, as our employer, will or indeed wants to do the right thing.”
March 18, 2025 at 9:33 AM
secretucu.bsky.social
Not much else to say.
UCU management: My clear instruction to you all is to prepare a 'weekly round up' email every Friday or on the last day of the week that you work during any given week starting from today's date (12.2.25) and send this across to me. Please be advised that in the event that a weekly round up email is not received during any given week, this will be marked as 'failure to follow instruction'. Elon Musk: Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump's instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.
March 3, 2025 at 7:02 PM
secretucu.bsky.social
How times change. NEC are now blocked from looking into the @uniteucu.bsky.social dispute because discussing the way the GS is (mis)managing UCU is discussing staffing matters, which isn’t allowed. Accountability?

The recall mechanism never happened either. Odd that.

www.ucu.org.uk/article/1011...
I've made clear where I stand. I am your elected political representative. I will take responsibility for my decisions and actions, and I will never use staff as a shield to defend myself from criticism. But our staff have their own right to organise as workers that has nothing to do with me or my role. I will not interfere with that right, and the whole Union needs to respect it. In particular, I welcome the mechanism to recall the General Secretary which will be developed in time for the next Congress. I will accept any changes to my contract that will result.
January 24, 2025 at 8:02 AM
secretucu.bsky.social
I see Jo Grady & her sidekick Greg are lowering the bar once more on their trade unionist credentials. Every single time they pull union-busting shit like this they give free rein to employers to do the same.

Spotted in a @uniteucu.bsky.social motion:
uniteucu.wordpress.com/motions/indu...
Extract from a Unite UCU motion noting “the employer’s increasing use of non-unionised temporary labour”
January 15, 2025 at 8:01 AM
secretucu.bsky.social
There is something disappointingly symbolic about UCU sending blank Christmas cards to their staff. They couldn’t even write so much as a ‘Happy Christmas’?
Cartoon on three panels. Figure in panel 1 has finger raised as if having an idea. Same figure in panel 2 looks perplexed. Same figure in panel 3 is walking away saying ‘nope, got nothing’.
December 23, 2024 at 2:44 PM
secretucu.bsky.social
Gets worse, apparently.
An employment business shall not introduce or supply a work-seeker to a hirer to perform – the duties normally performed by a worker who is taking part in a strike or other industrial action (“the first worker”), or the duties normally performed by any other worker employed by the hirer and who is assigned by the hirer to perform the duties normally performed by the first worker, unless in either case the employment business does not know, and has no reasonable grounds for knowing, that the first worker is taking part in a strike or other industrial action.
December 13, 2024 at 3:08 PM
secretucu.bsky.social
Let’s not forget this fantastic show of solidarity from last time
@uniteucu.bsky.social went on strike.
Jo Grady, general secretary of a TRADE UNION, telling her staff she crossed their picket line.
November 27, 2024 at 9:31 AM
secretucu.bsky.social
Wow. There are many things that raise alarm bells here, but trade union victimisation by a trade union employer is more screwed up than I could have imagined possible.

NEC needs to pull its finger out and end this mess. If NEC won’t, branches must.
At the moment there is a real concern that people are being targeted because of their union activities and because they have spoken out about the toxic culture at UCU. Members need to have confidence that any restructure will resolve the concerns they have expressed in their dispute, and our proposal would be a good way to build those foundations.
November 20, 2024 at 6:19 PM
secretucu.bsky.social
Compare what NEC was told and what Unite members were told.

More spin than a washing machine. Which is one of the core problems by the looks of it.
Both Unite and UCU commit to progress the work of the Race Review and ensure that any recommendations arising from the Review are acted on quickly. Progress since September: stalled The panel has now confirmed that they are not willing to progress the Review while the dispute is unresolved. The Unite negotiators are clear that this was fundamentally related to red lines the employer drew in relation to the terms of reference the panel had been asked to finalise. The employer’s insistence over the inclusion of GMB being a core participant in the review, and their refusal to accept that any public comms about the review should be agreed by either the review panel or the core participants, is clearly a factor. But so also was the employer’s refusal to answer the panel’s question as to who owned the review. This question speaks directly to how the review came about which was predicated on a culmination of events at the heart of this aspect of our dispute: the delayed report from the listening circles project and the disproportionate use of dismissal-related procedures used against Black staff. Although Unite made strong representations to the panel on these three areas of disagreement with regards the terms of reference, negotiators were prepared to accept the panel’s final decision, specifically because we want the Review to proceed. That the panel decided to pause their involvement entirely following the employer’s communications over their red lines is obviously both deeply disappointing and distressing, not least for our Black colleagues. On 7 November, the GS offered to meet with Unite negotiators to again discuss the terms of reference for the review to see if agreement could be reached internally. Unite negotiators have agreed to this suggestion, but also believe that if UCU wants this review to happen it is now clear they must act urgently to resolve the other aspects of our dispute.
November 16, 2024 at 7:39 AM
secretucu.bsky.social
Just seen the latest uniteucu.bsky.social report to its members. Fuck me. No resolution to their ongoing toxic workplace dispute & SMT chooses to respond with a whole catalogue of further dysfunction.

#UCU NEC meets tomorrow, where doubtless any attempts at accountability will be shut down. Again.
In the meantime: worsening industrial relations & further breaches We wish we could report that our employer has otherwise made a concerted effort to improve industrial relations or adjust their behaviour to be more in keeping with our Recognition Agreement in the two months since the Acas joint statement. Unfortunately they appear to be committed to the opposite direction of travel. In the last couple of months the employer has: Further breached our Recognition and Procedure Agreement, not least by cancelling all industrial relations meetings and all JNC meetings required by our agreement. Refused to talk to us about pay, necessitating declaration of a further dispute. Imposed a childcare policy, and has not responded to members’ feedback and a request for talks. Breached the Organisational Stress Risk Assessment which was agreed with the HSE. Failed to undertake a number of statutory H&S duties precipitating a further complaint to the HSE. Breached our Recruitment and Selection Procedure with respect to recruitment of staff, promotion of staff and job evaluation processes. This includes filling vacancies via agency rather than either internal or open recruitment. Breached the Fixed-term Working Policy by using fixed-term contracts to replace permanent posts. Breached the Probationary Policy and Procedure. Refused to talk to us about the change in provider for the Employee Assistance Programme. Expressed no concern about the harrowing testimony and experiences of Unite members subject to intolerable work-related stress. Breached the Procedure for Organisational Change on numerous occasions, including (but not limited to) deletion from the structure of an administrative role rather than recruiting to the vacant position and the ‘co-option’ without a transparent process to an SMT position. Breached UCU’s Respect at Work policy with respect to bullying, harassing and threatening members of staff. Refused to remind managers of their legal obligations with respect to our members taking lawful industrial action. Not engaged with Unite’s collective concerns regarding the data breach.
November 14, 2024 at 10:43 AM
secretucu.bsky.social
If you’re going to lie to your members maybe don’t make it easy to expose - case in point, when you can see what #UCU members were told last week about their data breach vs what staff were told back in August.

UCU management: clueless, incompetent and dishonest.
Email from Jo Grady to UCU members on 5th November denying she knew data had been stolen Copy of email to staff on 30th August telling them data had been stolen and posted to the dark web.
November 9, 2024 at 9:13 AM