DEMONSTRATE: march on Senate House
On December 4th, students from all over London occupied the University of London's management offices at Senate House with a list of 10 demands aimed at making the University a more democratic and less exploitative institution. On the same day, the University and the police violently evicted the occupation without an injunction - and 41 students were arrested over the following 2 days and hit with ludicrous bail conditions. Thousands have since marched in protest. We are fighting for democratic, public education - free from exploitation and police violence. In January, we will come back stronger. This demo also coincides with a planned week of action by striking workers in HE and one week after the demo, cleaners will be on strike for pensions, holiday pay and sick pay - 3 Cosas. We will not stop mobilising until our original ten demands are met: 1. That all outsourced workers at the university are awarded a pension, and have improved sick pay and holiday pay so that it is in line with that of in house staff. The University of London should recognise the IWGB as the representative union of their outsourced workers. 2. That the University of London Union (ULU) remains in student hands - democratically run by students - and has its block grant returned. 3. That the Garden Halls - Hughes Parry hall, Commonwealth hall, and Canterbury hall are not outsourced, and that there are no job losses there. UoL halls should have their prices reduced to less than the annual undergraduate maintenance loan (currently £4988/annum). 4. That the University of London, makes a public statement opposing the privatisation of student loans, and Adrian Smith - the Vice-Chancellor of the university of London - should sign up to the Council in Defence of British Universities and the Campaign for the Public University. 5. That the University of London write to the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) to ask that they concede to the demands of striking HE workers in Unite, Unison and UCU for fair pay. 6. That the pay ratio between the lowest paid and the highest paid staff in the university should be reduced to a maximum of 10:1. 7. That financial statements of the University’s academic departments and non-academic services should be published so that they can be scrutinised so that the University’s decisions can be properly held to account by the community. In addition, that the university produces a publicly available Ethical Investment and Procurement Policy which is reported on annually with plenty of opportunity of engagement with staff, students and the wider community. 8. That students and staff are allowed free access to protest on campus - and that the University drops its draconian injunction banning protest. 9. That the university refuses to admit the Police into Senate House and refuses to collaborate with any requests by the police for information regarding this action. 10: That there are no disciplinary actions undertaken by the university against any student or staff member participating in this action.
