UCU’s survey of working conditions under Covid-19 is now live. To fill the survey in, please click here. The deadline for responses is 5pm on Friday 22 May.

The survey covers a lot of questions that are crucial for shaping our response to Covid-19, but it should take you no more than 10-15 minutes. It is very important that you complete it. Your answers will be hugely valuable to us in our efforts to protect you and your colleagues in your workplaces and challenge any detrimental changes employers are imposing on you as a result of the pandemic.

We have added questions that give you a chance to respond to the government’s recent announcements about the lifting of lockdown restrictions. Your answers will help us make sure that any lifting of lockdown in tertiary education is managed in a way that puts staff and students first.

This survey covers all the sectors and institutions we represent, but I would particularly urge you to use the free-text answer boxes to give as much information as you can about what’s happening on the ground in your institution.

UCU head office will make the responses by members in your branch available (in anonymised form) to your branch committee. This will help your branch decide what approach to take when it consults or negotiates with your employer over things like health and safety, working from home arrangements, or adjustments and protections for vulnerable groups of staff.

Your answers will also help us in our campaigning across the UK. The first survey we conducted on Covid-19, for members in prison education, had a 50% response rate within a week of launching. This helped us pressure employers and the government to shut down face to face activities in that sector as a matter of urgency.

The more information you give your union, the greater our ability to represent you and act in your interests. Please fill in the survey before it closes at 5pm on Friday 22 May.

Jo Grady
UCU general secretary