This motion was passed at GUCU Branch meeting on 12/01/2024
Goldsmiths UCU branch notes that:
- In 2022, staff at the Royal Society of Arts had to fight for their union recognition after voluntary recognition was denied 3 times by senior management. Since then, staff members across all teams and levels of the RSA have been campaigning for a fair pay rise reflective of the current cost-of-living pressures
- The RSA union has asked for a flat rate of pay that gives the lowest paid members of staff a 10% pay increase to offset a 14% real-terms pay cut in the last 4 years, and also for a 8% pension contribution as staff pensions were slashed to 5.5% during the pandemic
- The RSA union has been offered a pay rise equivalent to just 2.3% for some of its members, and no return to higher pension contributions. The RSA union estimates their pay claim would cost the RSA about £300k, or less than 1% of the charity’s total reserves
- In the midst of negotiations, RSA management changed the charity’s reserves policy to make it much harder to use reserves to support staff
This branch believes that:
- Charity workers are overworked, underpaid and exploited, and though not-for-profits often talk of justice, it rarely extends to their own employees
- Regrettably, the RSA management’s response so far has been completely at odds with its values, its public-facing image, and many of the principles that draw support to the RSA
- As a result, union members went out on the first strike in the organisation’s 270-year history
- Union members at the RSA need solidarity. Management are refusing to negotiate and so we need to ramp up the campaign to respond to the aggressive anti-union approach of their boss. These workers on strike rely on support from the labour movement to keep their fight going
This branch resolves:
- To boycott any activities at the RSA until the union’s demands are met, as set out by the 2023 pay claim*, and the dispute is resolved
- To write to the college/university leadership and urge they boycott the RSA and write to Andy Haldane, RSA CEO to resolve the dispute with the workers
- To promote the upcoming picket dates for the RSA strike to GUCU members and to bring the branch banner to a picket
- To send a message of solidarity to the RSA pickets
- To make a donation to the RSA strike solidarity fund of £500: https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/support-the-rsa-strikers/
- To write to Andy Haldane, RSA CEO and condemn his treatment of workers
*A flat £2800 salary increase. An increase from 5.5% to 8% pension contributions. A £400 allowance for staff who don’t benefit from hybrid working