UCU Left is committed to building a democratic, accountable campaigning union which aims to mobilise and involve members in defending and improving our pay and conditions and defending progressive principles of education.
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- Primed and ready: 15 FE colleges vote for action on pay and conditions
15 Further Education colleges have been balloting their members over pay and conditions – all have successfully smashed through the government thresholds and voted overwhelmingly to take strike action in the Autumn term. The 15 colleges are: Capital City College Group (City and Islington College, Westminster Kingsway College and College of Northeast London): 96% vote for action …Continue reading “Primed and ready: 15 FE colleges vote for action on pay and conditions”
- Meeting: After HEC, how can we fight on pay and pensions?UCU’s Higher Education Committee voted last Friday to disregard the decisions of Conference 2021 and delay holding a Special HE Sector Conference (SHESC) until September 9th. See UCU Left’s report of the HEC meeting. A Conference motion called for a SHESC to take place in the first two weeks of August to set the timetable for ballots and organise …
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- HEC snubs the membership and delays the fightsReport of Higher Education Committee of Friday 2nd July Meeting for the first time since annual Congress and Sector Conferences, UCU’s Higher Education Committee decided on Friday to delay a Special HE Sector Conference (SHESC) until after the summer. This is despite an instruction from Sector Conference (Motion HE3) to hold a Special Higher Education Sector …
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- Negotiating working arrangements in post 16 education after the pandemic: equality, workloads and surveillance
Abstract The shape of the workplace after the pandemic will be a major negotiating issue for trade unions. In these negotiations the issues of equality, workloads and surveillance will be important. The traditional trade union agenda around homeworking was to support the right of homeworking for those who wished to do so. While this agenda continues, there is now … - NEC reportA largely uneventful meeting of the newly constituted NEC took place on 18th June. The key substantive issues were as follows. Following delivery of her report (see the video), the General Secretary was questioned about the rationale for the consultations on the union’s pay and pensions campaigns which have been initiated in both FE and HE …
- No more consultation – now organise the fights.HE branches have received a circular from UCU Head of Higher Education which says that following the Sector Conference, it is now necessary to consult members on the pay and USS campaigns. Branches are instructed to call Emergency General Meetings to sound out members’ views on a disparate range of questions regarding action, timing, and whether …
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- Congress 2021 – Now let’s organise the fightback
After 15 months of HE and FE employers using the pandemic as a justification for attacking the jobs, pay and conditions of their staff, this year’s UCU Congress and Sector Conferences needed to orient and arm the union for a serious campaign of resistance. It is an achievement that despite the pandemic and the attacks by …Continue reading “Congress 2021 – Now let’s organise the fightback”
- HESC 2021: Defending the principles of Higher Education and resisting attacks on working conditions
Our higher education institutions continue to be a battleground. Marketisation and competition push our employers to drive down the share of income spent on staffing and continually attack our pay, pensions and conditions. At the same time, the Tories’ political agenda aims to curtail the autonomy of universities and stifle critical intellectual inquiry in favour of … - FE sector conference 21: We need a UK-wide fight over pay and conditionsThis year’s FE sector conference is set in the context of a government lining up to impose another decade of austerity. After ‘needlessly allowing tens of thousands of people to die’, the government and the employers now want to make us pay for the public health crisis. This offensive will come in a number of forms. …
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- Resist pandemic-inspired attacks on our rights and working conditions
Congress meets at a time when UCU members (and working people generally) face major attacks on our democratic and employment rights. Our employers are using the pretext of the pandemic to further tighten their managerial grip and drive through cuts and detrimental changes to working practices. At the same time the Tory Government is attempting to bring …Continue reading “Resist pandemic-inspired attacks on our rights and working conditions”