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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- UCU LEFT STATEMENT ON USS AND 4FIGHTSAnalysis of the employers’ offer and a strategy to win Considerable confusion has descended on the disputes since the General Secretary’s podcast and e-ballot, and the decision of the HE Committee (HEC) to reject the UCEA ‘final offer’ and to continue the disputes. This briefing paper seeks to explain the key features of the UCEA position …
- We stopped the sell-out. Fight on to victory!UCU Left members of the union’s Higher Education Committee (HEC) today voted alongside others to ensure that our #UCURising disputes continue. We are proud to have done so despite the denunciations now coming from the General Secretary and her supporters. We voted in line with the vast majority of branch delegates who opposed calling off next …
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- No sellout. Keep up the action. Strike to winJo Grady has today upped the stakes in her attempt to call off action and capitulate in our UCURising disputes. While many of us were marching alongside striking teachers, civil servants and junior doctors, and while Jo Grady was herself delivering a rousing speech at the rally in Trafalgar Square, UCU HQ was emailing members to …
Continue reading “No sellout. Keep up the action. Strike to win“
- No more ‘pauses’ – no suspension of action! Strike to win!Tuesday’s #UCURising reps briefing has caused a huge amount of confusion ahead of our six days of strike action. No new information about progress in the talks materialised. All we learned was that there ‘may’ be some progress on USS, and that ‘some agreement’ is close on how the issues of casualisation, pay gaps and workloads …
Continue reading “No more ‘pauses’ – no suspension of action! Strike to win!”
- UCU left candidate wins Vice President electionUCU left candidate, Maria Chondrogianni won the VP election. It was a vote for taking our fight to the employers and against pausing that fight. This is the most important lay position in the union, with the Vice President becoming President of the union in their third of four years on the presidential team. We thank all …
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- Time to re-boot our disputesAfter the imposed ‘pause’ in our strike action, UCU members are back on the picket lines from Wednesday next week. We start our action alongside hundreds of thousands of NEU teachers, PCS civil servants, BMA Junior doctors and ASLEF and RMT railworkers on London Underground. UCU members will participate in the massive demonstration in central London …
- Pay, workload and national bargaining: levelling up to win in FEUCU has just launched a consultative ballot in Further Education via email. Every member in every college will be asked, ‘Are you prepared to take strike action over pay, workload and a national binding negotiating framework?’ The Further Education Committee is recommending to vote YES in the e-consultation. The FEC also supports the aim to launch a national strike over these …
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- HE disputes in jeopardy – How do we regain the initiative?Report from Friday’s Higher Education Committee UCU’s Higher Education Committee (HEC) met on Friday. After a lengthy debate, HEC voted to confirm the 15 March as a strike day, so that members can join NEU, PCS and other trade unions on strike on Budget Day. This will start six days of action including the 5 days …
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- Getting the HE disputes back on trackDelegates from dozens of branches gathered at a Branch Delegate Meeting yesterday to discuss where we are in the HE disputes. The meeting was called by London Region UCU in the absence of a BDM organised by UCU HQ. It is clear that the ‘pause’ in action called by our General Secretary has caused enormous anger …
- Retrospective democracy?UCU members in Higher Education are now being asked what they think of the General Secretary’s unilateral decision to call off strike action late on Friday, breaking union policy on the conduct of disputes. A more cynical ploy is difficult to imagine. With the decision already taken and with the anti-union laws prohibiting its reversal, the …