Just one week after issuing letters to parents putting 15 of 24 council-run Little Owls nurseries under threat, with 3 due to close as soon as May, the council issued a new letter to parents. They have now delayed the three proposed closures until August and have now setup an ‘engagement’ process with parents. Instead…
Parents were shocked to receive letters as they dropped their children off at council-run Little Owls nurseries across Leeds, letting them know whether they could face imminent closure. Without any prior consultation, the council are proposing closing three of the 24 nurseries as soon as May. And the future of a further 12 nurseries remain…
The GMB organised a lobby of Leeds City Council on 20th March. The lobby was led by GMB Special Educational Needs reps and supported by parents and Leeds Trades Council. SEND stands for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities but the reps have used the acronym for their demands for Safe staffing levels Evaluate for fair pay…
Simone Buitendijk has resigned as vice-chancellor of the University of Leeds, following motions of ‘no confidence’ from all three unions on campus, Unison, Unite, and University and College Union (UCU). Since taking the role in 2020, she has overseen the largest concerted strike action at the university in memory. As part of the national strike…
Days 40 to 42 of strike action by Unison members at University of Leeds, as part of the national pay dispute, targeted the inputting of marks at the university in the run up to the release of students results on Thursday 13th June. Iain Dalton, Leeds Socialist Party Combined with the ongoing marking and assessment…
Leeds Socialist Party members joined around 120 NEU strikers and supporters in Leeds on their sixth strike day. There was a good feeling and lots of good energy from the crowd, including the music at the end. There was hope that the NEU would win their reballot and teachers were preparing to be out on…
The following is the text of the lead article of issue 2 of Leeds Socialist Party’s strike bulletin at the University of Leeds. Action works! Despite requesting the Vice-Chancellor of University of Leeds, Simone Buitendijk meet them when putting in the two week notice for beginning their all out strike on 15th June, it took…
Historic action began at University of Leeds on Thursday 15th June with UCU escalating their action to an indefinite strike action following the implementation of 100% pay deductions from university management for staff taking part in the marking and assesment boycott, whilst Unison won a second reballot for the first time and began a programme…
Over 50 pickets outside Leeds City College marked the latest group of workers to join the strike wave as UCU members at the college took strike action for the first time in many years. Iain Dalton, Leeds Socialist Party The strikes on Monday 5th and Wednesday 7th June were co-ordinated with strikes at three other…
“Is it really that terrible?” were the words of Leeds University Vice Chancellor Simone Buitendijk to students occupying her office a month ago in response to questions about the pay and conditions of university workers. Iain Dalton, Leeds Socialist Party It was also the headline on the leaflet Unison members were handing out explaining why…
