Tony, Manchester SF
A demonstration was held at the MMU on Wednesday 10th February with around 150 people turning up. The majority of workers there were UNISON with some students turning up.
The demo does at least seem to have boosted the morale of the Unison activists. Management had banned the demo from occupying any of their property, even areas around buildings. The demo as a small act of defiance did move onto an area that the MMU had denied them access. There were security in attendance but they did not intervene.
As expected the MMU had banned Unison meeting on MMU property after Unison went to stage two of the disputes procedure. Unison has organised mass meetings at alternative venues which have been well attended with the workforce unanimously backing the dispute. Unison will ballot members about whether or not they want a ballot on strike action - a ballot about ballots approach.
The Unison region has done little to support the dispute other than warn the MMU Unison branch about supposed breaches of the rule book. For example they pointed out that a full branch executive had to meet before general members meeting were called. The MMU Branch is ignoring the region to a large extent. Overall the spirits of the activist remains pretty high and they feel that the dispute will get pretty bitter. A further demo has been called for the day the ballot result will be announced.