Working Groups

CUCU have a number of working groups where members can get involved in campaigning on issues close to them. If we don’t have a group on an area you are interested in working on please get in touch and we can help you find other members to work with.

Check out the campaigns section for the latest on each of these groups and join our mailing lists using the links below.

 

Anti-Casualisation

The UCU anti-casualisation working group is campaigning to reverse the spread of casualisation – the conversion of stable, secure jobs into short term, part-time, temporary or hourly paid work. These terms are bad for staff and bad for universities, but are rapidly becoming the norm in higher education.

Join the mailing list.

Contact: casualisation@ucu.cam.ac.uk

 

Equality & Diversity

The CUCU Equality & Diversity working group is the branch’s team tasked with pursuing actions that increase justice and equity for groups marginalised because of their identity (to name just a few: BME, disabled, LGBTQ+, women). 

Join the mailing list.

Contact: equality@ucu.cam.ac.uk

 

Anti Racism/ BME staff

Cambridge UCU is committed to addressing all forms of institutional racism at the University. Our BME Members’ group, drawing on the expertise of UCU members of the University’s BME network, will track the University’s REC initiatives from a critical distance in order to ensure that they do not turn into box-ticking exercises. It will also provide a space for BME members to discuss everyday racism and push for culture change. We would love for as many members, whether BME or not, to join us. 

Join the mailing list.

Contact: equality@ucu.cam.ac.uk

 

Green

Following a series of motions passed at Congress, and our own branch motion, we have set up a Climate Action working group, which will call on Cambridge University to declare a climate emergency and review its policies in the light of that declaration.

Contact: green@ucu.cam.ac.uk

 

International Staff

The purpose of the group is to campaign for better support from Cambridge for international staff and graduate students, who face an increasingly ‘hostile environment’ in the UK, as outlined in this excellent piece. It is possible, as our sister UCU branch in Sheffield has shown, to push back and win major gains from university employers, including reimbursement of T1, T2 and T5 visa costs, NHS-surcharges and indefinite leave to remain fees, and substantial support for dependents. Cambridge lags far behind many comparable institutions in the support it offers. Let’s change this.

Join the mailing list.