After years of unparalleled academic and political work at Goldsmiths, our colleague, friend, teacher, caseworker, union branch co-Secretary #Roberto_Mozzachiodi has been put through an unfair employment process, and as a result no longer holds a substantive teaching position at the College. Roberto’s case reflects the working conditions of hundreds of staff at Goldsmiths, and thousands of staff employed on precarious, fixed-term, temporary contracts across British Higher Education. It also reflects the risks that come with openly committing to collective, ground-up solidarity that challenges the principles of how university work is organised, and reimagines union work accordingly.
Roberto has been a leading figure in the fight against casualisation at Goldsmiths, and has been at the heart of campaigns that have radically transformed our place of work and study. He was core in the Goldsmiths #Justice_for_Cleaners and Goldsmiths #Justice_for_Workers movements that brought cleaning and security staff in-house, and core in the fight to extend basic rights to casualised workers at Goldsmiths at the height of the pandemic. He has supported countless staff and students through the grinding labour of union casework, and has worked tirelessly on strengthening and transforming the Goldsmiths branch of UCU through a radical commitment to anti-casualisation, anti-racism, and anti-factionalism, often fighting and organising for the rights of others in far more secure positions.
Roberto’s specific case mirrors that of thousands across the country employed on temporary, fixed-term, and casualised contracts. Roberto was denied his redundancy-related employment rights when his contract came to an end. This involved, amongst other things, not being consulted on suitable alternative employment, including a permanent position very similar to the role he had been performing on a fixed-term basis over three terms. This amounts to a denial of casualised workers’ employment rights, and is something that is commonplace at Goldsmiths, and across the sector.
As signatories of this letter, we call on Goldsmiths to act on the unjust treatment of Roberto. We also urge all at Goldsmiths and beyond to actively resist and challenge the endemic nature of precarious work in university life - at all times and at all scales, as Roberto has always done.
Signed,
Alice Elliot, Lecturer, Goldsmiths University of London
Victoria Chwa, President, Goldsmiths Students’ Union
Alicia Suriel Melchor, Operations Assistant, Forensic Architecture / Goldsmiths.
Vicky Blake, UCU NEC, former president & Uni of Leeds UCU officer, former Chair of UCU Anti-Casualisation Committee
Cecilia Wee, Associate Lecturer, Royal College of Art & co-Chair/co-Equalities RCA UCU branch
Joe Newman, Lecturer, Goldsmiths, University of London
James Eastwood, Co-Chair, Queen Mary UCU
S Joss, HW UCU Branch President
Rehana Zaman, Lecturer Art Department, Goldsmiths University of London
Marina Baldissera Pacchetti, anti-cas officer, Leeds UCU
Sam Morecroft, USIC UCU Branch President and UCU Anti Casualisation Committee
Kyran Joughin, Anti-Casualisation Officer, UCU London Region Executive Committee, UCU NEC Member, former Branch Secretary, UCU-UAL
Rhian Elinor Keyse, Postdoctoral Research Fellow; Birkbeck UCU Branch Secretary; UCU Anti-Casualisation Committee; UCU NEC
Joanne Tatham, Reader, Royal College of Art and RCA UCU branch committee member, London
Bianca Griffani, PhD candidate, Goldsmiths University of London, London
Paola Debellis, PhD student, Goldsmiths, University of London.
Ashok Kumar, Senior Lecturer, Birkbeck, University of London
Chrys Papaioannou, Birkbeck UCU
Fergal Hanna, PhD Student, University of Cambridge, UCU Anti-Casualisation Committee and Cambridge UCU Executive Committee member
Robert Deakin, Research Assistant, Goldsmiths, University of London
Grace Tillyard, ESRC postdoctoral fellow, MCCS Goldsmiths
Yari Lanci, Associate Lecturer, Goldsmiths University of London.
Caleb Day, Postgraduate researcher, Foundation tutor and UCU Anti-Casualisation Officer, Durham University
Rachel Wilson, PhD Candidate, Goldsmiths University of London
Sean Wallis, Branch President, UCL UCU, and NEC member
Yaiza Hernández Velázquez, Lecturer, Visual Cultures, Goldsmiths.
Akanksha Mehta, Lecturer, Goldsmiths, University of London
Cathy Nugent, PhD Candidate, Goldsmiths, University of London
Janna Graham, Lecturer Visual Cultures, Goldsmiths
Isobel Harbison, Art Department, Goldsmiths
Susan Kelly, Art Department, Goldsmiths
Jessa Mockridge, Library, Goldsmiths
Vincent Møystad, Associate Lecturer, MCCS, Goldsmiths
Dhanveer Singh Brar, Lecturer, School of History, University of Leeds
James Burton, Senior Lecturer, MCCS, Goldsmiths
Louis Moreno, Lecturer, Goldsmiths
Jennifer Warren, Visiting Lecturer, Goldsmiths MCCS
Anthony Faramelli, Lecturer, Visual Cultures, Goldsmiths, University of London
Billy Godfrey, Doctoral Researcher, Loughborough University; GTA, University of Manchester
Fabiana Palladino, Associate Lecturer, Goldsmiths, University of London
Morgan Rhys Powell, Doctoral Researcher and GTA; University of Manchester
Tom Cowin, Anti-Casualisation Officer, Sussex UCU
Conrad Moriarty-Cole, Lecturer, University of Brighton, and former PhD student at Goldsmiths College
Marina Vishmidt, MCCS Lecturer, Goldsmiths University of London
George Briley, Universities of London Branch Secretary, IWGB
Callum Cant, Postdoctoral Researcher, Oxford Internet Institute
Daniel C. Blight, Lecturer, University of Brighton
Marion Lieutaud, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, LSE UCU anti-casualisation co-officer, London School of Economics
Lukas Slothuus, LSE Fellow, LSE UCU anti-casualisation co-officer, London School of Economics
Matthew Lee, UCL Unison Steward & IWGB Universities of London Representative
Jamie Woodcock, University of Essex
Dylan Carver, Anti-Casualisation Officer, University of Oxford
Annie Goh, Lecturer, LCC UAL
George Mather, PGR Anti-Casualisation Officer, University of Oxford
Zara Dinnen, Branch co-chair QMUCU
Henry Chango Lopez - IWGB Union, General Secretary
Rhiannon Lockley - Branch Chair Birmingham City University UCU; UCU NEC
Sol Gamsu, Branch President, Durham University UCU
Ben Ralph, Branch President, University of Bath UCU
Myka Tucker-Abramson, University of Warwick UCU
Lisa Tilley, SOAS UCU
James Brackley, Lecturer in Accounting, University of Sheffield
Alex Fairfax-Cholmeley, Communications Officer, Uni of Exeter UCU
Ioana Cerasella Chis, University of Birmingham (incoming branch officer)
Muireann Crowley, University of Edinburgh, UCU Edinburgh
Jonny Jones, associate lecturer, UCL
Danai Avgeri, University of Cambridge, postdoctoral fellow
Stefano Cremonesi, Durham University UCU
Jordan Osserman, Lecturer, Essex UCU Member Secretary
Danny Millum, Librarian, Sussex UCU Exec Member
Sanaz Raji, ISRF Fellow, Northumbria University, Founder & Caseworker, Unis Resist Border Controls (URBC)
Alex Brent, GMB South London Universities Branch Secretary
Gareth Spencer, PCS Culture Group President
Floyd Codlin, Environmental & Ethics Officer, Birkbeck
Clare Qualmann, Associate Professor, University of East London and UCU branch treasurer, UEL
Kevin Biderman, Brighton UCU anti-casualisation officer
David Morris, CSM / University of the Arts London UCU
Ryan Burns, Brighton UCU Secretary
Julie canavan Brighton UCU
Charlotte Terrell, Postdoc, Oxford UCU
Clara Paillard, Unite the Union, former President of PCS Union Culture Group
Jasmine Lota, PCS British Museum United Branch Secretary
Joe Hayns, RHUL.
Adam Barr, Birkbeck Unison
Dario Carugo, Associate Professor, University of Oxford
Jacob Gracie, KCL Fair Pay for GTAs
Rahul Patel, UCU London Region Executive and Joint Sec University of the Arts London UCU
Billy Woods, Essex UCU
Lucy Mercer, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Exeter
Goldsmiths Anti-Racist Action (GARA)
Saumya Ranjan Nath, University of Sussex
Islam al Khatib, 22/23 Welfare and Liberation Officer, Goldsmiths SU
Mijke van der Drift, Tutor, Royal College of Art
Marini Thorne, PHD student and teaching assistant, Columbia University and member of Student Workers of Columbia
Genevieve Smart, PhD student, Birkbeck
Francesco Pontarelli, Postdoctoral fellow, University of Johannesburg
Gloria Lawton, Outreach Homeless Worker, HARP and undergraduate Birkbeck University.
Grant Buttars, UCU Scotland Vice President
Goldsmiths Community Solidarity
Nicola Pratt, Professor, University of Warwick
Robert Stearn, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Birkbeck, University of London
Jake Arnfield, UVW Union
Jarrah O’Neill, Cambridge UCU
Owen Miller, Lecturer, SOAS
Marissa Begonia, Director, The Voice of Domestic Workers
Neda Genova, Research Fellow, University of Warwick
Joey Whitfield, Cardiff University UCU
Leila Mimmack, Equity Young Members Councillor
Ross Gibson, University of Strathclyde
Phill Wilson-Perkin, co-chair Bectu Art Technicians, London
Isabelle Tarran, Campaigns and Activities Officer, Goldsmiths Students Union
Leila Prasad, lecturer, Goldsmiths
Malcolm James, University of Sussex
Natalia Cecire, University of Sussex
Daniel Molto, University of Sussex
Emma Harrison, University of Sussex
Margherita Huntley, University of the Arts London (Camberwell UCU)
Gavin Schwartz-Leeper, Warwick University UCU Co-Chair
Mary Wrenn, University of the West of England
Aska Welford (United Voices of the World)
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