November 21, 2019 4.20 pm
This story is over 31 months old
BGU staff to strike over pay and conditions after failed talks
Staff at Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) in Lincoln will take part in eight days of strike action over pay and conditions next week after the University of College Union’s talks with universities failed to find a solution. As previously reported, sixty UK universities will be affected by the strikes over pensions, pay and working conditions…
Staff at Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) in Lincoln will take part in eight days of strike action over pay and conditions next week after the University of College Union’s talks with universities failed to find a solution.
As previously reported, sixty UK universities will be affected by the strikes over pensions, pay and working conditions running from Monday, November 25 until Wednesday, December 4.
43 of the universities are affected by strike action on both dispiutes. BGU is one of 14 affected by the pay and conditions dispute only, but it said it is working closely with both its academic colleagues and students to minimise the impact on the students.
The disputes centre on changes to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) and universities’ failure to make improvements to pay, equality, casualisation and workloads. Members of the University and College Union (UCU) previously backed the strike action in two separate legal disputes.
The UCU has now accused universities of being “all spin and no substance” in their response to the disputes. The Union also accused universities of playing games after saying representatives refused to even discuss pay.
The Union also claimed things were no better after talks on Wednesday over changes to the Universities Superannuation Scheme, where their representatives “failed to make a serious offer”.
It fears universities had learnt nothing from last year’s dispute and said, if they failed to make improved offers, further waves of strike action could follow in the new year.
In addition to the eight strike days, UCU members will begin “action short of a strike”, which involves things such as working strictly to contract, not covering for absent colleagues and refusing to reschedule lectures lost to strike action.
Jo Grady, UCU general secretary, said: “It is quite staggering that the employers have allowed things to get to this stage and done so little to avoid the upcoming disruption. Instead of engaging seriously with us over the various elements of the disputes, they have been all spin and no substance.
“Universities appear to have learnt nothing from last year’s USS dispute, and are once again showing a dangerous level of complacency that completely underestimates the scale of anger amongst staff.
“Instead of wasting time playing games, they would do well to listen to people like Anthony Forster (Vice Chancellor at the University of Essex) who have acknowledged that universities can afford to pay more to address these issues. It is time for university leaders to show some actual leadership.
“Students should be asking serious questions of their vice-chancellors and putting pressure on them to get their representatives back to the negotiating table with serious offers that address all the issues at stake. If universities don’t change their tune, then next week’s action could just be the start with further waves of strikes involving more staff in the new year.”
Jon Batty, Director of Marketing, Recruitment and Admissions at Bishop Grosseteste University, said: “BGU is aware that some members of our academic community may be taking part in national level strike action following disagreements between the University and College Union (UCU) and Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA).
“We are working closely with both our academic colleagues and our students to minimise the impact on our students.”
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A 38-year-old man from a North Lincolnshire village charged with murder will face an eight-day trial later this year.
Emergency services were called at 4.23am on Saturday, July 2 to reports that a man was seriously injured on South Parade in central Doncaster.
The 28-year-old victim was taken to hospital but was sadly pronounced dead a short time later.
A post-mortem examination found that he died of injuries to his head, chest and abdomen.
Formal identification of the victim is yet to take place, South Yorkshire Police said earlier this week.
Steven Ling, 38, of Park Drain, Westwoodside in North Lincolnshire, has been charged with murder and was remanded in custody to appear at Doncaster Magistrates Court on Monday, July 4.
Ling later appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday, July 5 for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
No pleas were entered during the hearing, but an eight-day trial was set for November 28, 2022. Ling has now been remanded into custody until the next hearing.
The Lincolnite went on a ride-along with a Lincolnshire Police officer from the force’s Roads Policing Unit (RPU), which aims to disrupt criminals’ use of the roads and reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents.
The team will support the county response including local policing, neighbourhood policing and criminal investigation too.
Operations first began in Grantham in January this year and started in Louth earlier this week with a sergeant and nine PCs based in both locations.
The Lincolnite went out on a ride-along with PC Rich Precious from Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
PC Rich Precious has been a police officer for 22 years after joining the force in 2000 and he recently rejoined the Roads Policing Unit, working out of Louth.
PC Precious, who also previously worked as a family liaison officer for road deaths for 16 years, took The Lincolnite out in his police car to the A1 up to Colsteworth and then back to Grantham. He described that particular area as “one of the main arterial routes that goes through Lincolnshire”.
PC Rich Precious driving down the A1 up to Colsterworth. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Speaking about the new Roads Policing Unit, he said: “It’s intelligence led policing, it’s targeted policing in areas that have been underrepresented in terms of police presence, on the roads certainly, over a number of years.
“We’re hoping that the development of this unit will help address that balance, and look towards using the ANPR system to prevent criminals’ use of the road, and to identify key areas or routes where there’s a high percentage of people killed or seriously injured on the road, what we commonly refer to as KSI.
PC Precious is helping to keep the roads safer in Lincolnshire. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
When asked if he thinks the new team will help reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents in the county, he added: “That’s what the the unit designed for. Sadly, in Lincolnshire our road network does seem to incur a number of those KSI accidents year on year, and we need to reduce that.
“I’ve worked additionally in my roles as a family liaison officer on road death for 16 years, so I’ve seen first hand the impact that road death has on families and victims families.
“I know it’s important that we try and reduce those because, it’s very sad to see how a fatal road traffic collision can affect a family and the victims of that family.”
Marc Gee, Inspector for Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Marc Gee, Inspector for the Roads Policing Unit, told The Lincolnite: “Every day there will be officers on duty from both teams and they’ll cover the whole county or the county’s roads.
“Eventually, we’ll have nine police cars and we’ve got six motorbikes. We’ll be utilising them with as many officers as we can every day basically to make our roads safer and enforce against the criminals who feel like it’s okay to come into the county and use our road for criminal purposes.”
Lincolnshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones at the launch of the force’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
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