RANK + FILE #2: WHAT DOES SOLIDARITY MEAN?
Date and time
Location
Online event
A series organised by rank and file members for rank and file members, aiming to increase awareness of trade union activities.
About this event
In March 2022, following two years of branch building alongside balloting and strike action, members of Birkbeck UCU branch joined a rank and file initiative set up to support branches working to reach the voting threshold. Members collated a series of resources and templates to begin working towards a best practice model that could be rolled out nationwide.
In response to local concerns and with an aim of increasing union awareness (both locally and nationally), members proposed setting up monthly events, open to all - trade union members, interested publics; anyone but the bosses.
The RANK + FILE series is just one output of branch organising efforts, and is organised by rank and file members for rank and file members.
RANK + FILE #2: WHAT DOES SOLIDARITY MEAN?
Speakers: Rhian Keyse (Co-chair, UCU National Anti-Casualisation Committee); TBC (Independent Workers’ union of Great Britain); Sanaz Raji (Founder and caseworker, Unis Resist Border Controls), more speakers TBC
Chair: Tanya Serisier (President, Birkbeck UCU)
Our second RANK + FILE event has been framed in response to a question raised in the first: when organising within strictly hierarchical workplace systems, what does solidarity mean?
We know that women, black and minority ethnic, and disabled people are more likely to be in casualised positions within the workplace, and we know that these groups are more likely to be adversely affected by strike action. But how does knowing those things translate into creating effective organising models, and how do we avoid replicating the same damaging structures within the union?
SPEAKER BIOS:
Dr Rhian Elinor Keyse is a postdoctoral research fellow at Birkbeck College, University of London and a UCU activist. She is Branch Secretary of Birkbeck UCU, co-chair of the UCU National Anti-Casualisation Committee, and will take up her seat on UCU's National Executive Committee in June 2022. She is also an organiser with the grassroots #CoronaContract campaign which fights for fair contracts for precarious workers during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond, and an activist with Free Our Unions, a cross-union campaign aiming to repeal all UK anti-trade union laws.
IWGB speaker TBC
Sanaz Raji is the founder and primary caseworker at Unis Resist Border Controls, a national campaign launched in March 2016 that works to end the hostile environment and border controls in UK higher education. Currently, Sanaz is a Independent Social Research Foundation fellow at Northumbria University, exploring the nexus between immigration and marketised higher education in the UK. Her work has been featured in The Guardian and Red Pepper Magazine in addition to academic journals and edited books.
ABOUT THE UNIONS:
The UCU Anti-casualisation committee represents all casually employed staff and fighting the exploitation of casual contracts throughout FE, HE, ACE and prisons.
Independent Workers’ union of Great Britain is a grassroots member-led union fighting for justice for workers. From outsourced facilities staff to gig economy workers, IWGB members are key workers on the frontline of the fight against poverty pay and insecure work. The IWGB organises couriers, cycling instructors, charity workers, yoga teachers, cleaners, security officers, video game workers, nannies, university workers, foster carers, private hire drivers and more.
Unis Resist Border Controls (URBC) is a national campaign made up of British, EU, non-EU, migrant students, lecturers, & university workers opposed to Home Office surveillance, the Hostile Environment, and border controls on UK campuses.
DONATIONS:
Tickets for this event are free, to allow accessibility for all. If you would like to make a donation to the Birkbeck UCU branch fighting fund please contact digitalpicket@gmail.com.
CONTACT:
We welcome support and input, so please contact digitalpicket@gmail.com if you have ideas or suggestions for future events, or want to get involved in the organisation of RANK + FILE.