Author: Mike Barton

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Reform UK feed off despair in local elections – we must offer hope

In Thursday’s elections, the racist Reform UK party made a historic breakthrough whilst Labour’s vote collapsed. Reform UK took the most votes, most seats and overall control of most councils. In Wales, Plaid Cymru have formed a minority government, with Reform coming second. Labour lost control of the Senedd for the first time and have a tiny fraction of the seats. 

There is a lot of hand wringing, soul searching and recriminations inside the Labour Party, as a leadership challenge to PM Keir Starmer hots up. But it is not difficult to understand why Starmer is despised on the doorstep and why Labour is in meltdown.

The Labour Party has been losing its working class base for some time. The exception was the brief moment when Corbyn won the leadership of the party – he put forward radical policies and it showed that working class support could be re won. But instead of this we’ve generally seen a Labour Party that has aped Tory policies; with the maintaining of the means-tested winter fuel payments as one of its first acts, followed swiftly by an attack on PIP payments. 

This process was started under Blair and has been taken even further under Starmer. He has attempted to outdo Reform UK from the right. Echoing every racist lie about immigrants, cutting benefits of the most vulnerable, enthusiastically supporting genocide in Palestine and continuously lying about his appointment of the completely corrupt Mandelson as the US ambassador. 

In this context, when the change that people expected from a Labour government has not been delivered, it is not surprising that sections of the working class look to Farage and the far right for solutions. The far right feed off despair. Working people have suffered the biggest cuts in their living standards for over a decade, and this has been hardest felt in areas that never recovered from Thatcher’s attacks in the 1980s. 

The rage that results from these attacks makes it easy for far right and racist political leaders to scapegoat immigrants for the increasing poverty they face. It is much easier to blame the refugee holed up in a hotel than it is to take on a much bigger and more powerful force like a government or an employer.

If there isn’t a lead given to collectively resist cuts in wages, job losses, closure of their local A&E, care home or library – people are left isolated. And the far-right have played on this isolation.

They have been enabled to become this significant force by mainstream political parties and media outlets, who pump out their lies about immigrants. Unlike left wing ideas that attempt to cut against the mainstream ideas in society, the far right simply take ideas of the mainstream to their logical conclusion. 

However, the Green Party success gave a glimpse of what an alternative could look like. They campaigned on left wing policies and received their best results ever. What this shows is that when a confident left wing alternative is put, which is anti-racist, blames the rich and unapologetically, condemns genocide – then working people will vote for it. 

The question is how long will the Greens’ stay red?  Their history in running local councils has been to push through government funding cuts rather than leading a fight against them. Already, there are some in leading positions who are looking to water down policies to ensure the Green Party is a ‘serious respectable’ political party. If this happens, we know where this will lead them.

The success of the Greens really shines a light on the fiasco the leadership of Your Party made in setting up their organisation. With a few notable exceptions, independent socialist candidates lost out to the Green Party, and fared badly in the elections. 

There was such excitement at the announcement of the creation of Your Party, with over 800,000 people signing up within a couple weeks. This gave a sense of the potential for a resurgent new left wing force. Unfortunately, this excitement was dashed almost on take-off, amid very public falling outs. The leadership of what is left of Your Party really must take responsibility for failing to provide a significant socialist challenge to Reform UK in these local elections.

How do we build hope?

These election results are a serious warning. Reform UK councils will give us a clear example of what a Farage-led government would look like. They’ll push through cuts, close care homes, attempt to undo equality policies, close support networks for the most vulnerable and continue their scapegoating of immigrants. 

When we speak about “offering hope” we don’t mean this in the empty way Starmer does. Hope comes when working people feel that they have the power to stop attacks on their communities. When they feel that they can take back control of their lives from the suffocating control of their employers. And when they don’t fear outsiders, but welcome them as fellow human beings that help enrich their lives.

This kind of hope can only be brought about through collective resistance to this government’s attacks. It is when working people act collectively, so they feel they have the power to change things themselves. Then the government and employers don’t seem all powerful, and can be forced to change direction.

March 28th saw a half a million people take to the streets to oppose the far right. This was the biggest anti-racist march in British history. This must be at the forefront of our minds when beginning to work out how we move forward from these local actions to marginalise the far right forces in Britain. 

On 16th May, the fascist Tommy Robinson is mobilising another ‘Unite the Kingdom’ to march through the capital. He has called the demo on this day as a challenge to the movement they most fear – the Palestine movement. All the main pro-Palestine, anti-war and anti-racist campaigns have joined forces to make this march enormous – to demonstrate once again that the majority are not falling for the racist lies.

But the Trade Union leaders must also take responsibility for allowing Farage to make inroads into our workplaces and communities. Failure to organise a UK-wide campaign to stop the cost-of-living crisis involving mass lobbies of Parliament, strikes and demonstrations has made it easy for Farage to play on fear. 

Organising strikes without challenging racism at the same time will mean divisions within the working class will remain. But without UK-wide strike action against the cost of living crisis and the mass rise of youth unemployment, the anti-racist movement will be built on sand. We need the power of the organised working class now more than ever. The impact of Trump’s wars is already being felt, and it will increase as Starmer attempts to make us pay for Trump’s wars.

If we are to marginalise far right political forces in Britain, then we need a mass anti-racist organisation built in every workplace, alongside an insurgent organised labour movement challenging the cost-of-living crisis. Keir Starmer, or whoever is leading the Labour Party, must feel the pressure from the collective power of the working class. 

The NEU have announced that they will be organising a national ballot of their members in the early Autumn over funding and pay. We all must get behind this call and join them on the picket lines, not fighting while divided, college-by-college or university-by-university but united, all together across the UK.

This is an urgent task. We need to campaign in every union for our leaders to take up this fight.

– Sean Vernell

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Stop Reform UK

With just three weeks until the local elections, more than 5,000 council seats will be contested across England, alongside elections for the Senedd and Scottish Parliament.

Reform UK now has 8 MPs, 983 local councillors, and representation in both the Senedd and Holyrood. In May’s elections Reform UK will be standing in 95% of the local council elections – that’s as many as Labour.

Nigel Farage has made clear that success at these elections is intended as a “stepping stone to change in national government.” We cannot let this happen. 

Reform UK is a racist party. They want to slash public services, erode workers and all the progressive rights we’ve run – whilst blaming all of society’s problems on migrants. 

The half-a-million-strong Together Alliance demonstration showed the scale of opposition to Reform UK’s nasty, divisive politics. We now need to turn that energy into sustained action by encouraging everyone who attended—or was inspired by it—to get involved with Stand Up To Racism campaign to stop Reform UK. 

Please reach out to your colleagues and ask your branch leadership to share Stand Up To Racism resources with all members. 

We need everyone involved in campaigning to stop Reform UK.

  • Order Stop Reform campaign packs here
  • Check whether there are local elections in your area, or nearby, using the list here
  • Contact your local Stand Up to Racism branch to find out about local leafleting here
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📣UCU marching Together against the far right📣

It’s now only a few days until what looks set to be one of the biggest demonstrations against the far right in many years.
Let’s make sure the UCU bloc is big and loud – bring your banners and your colleagues! 
📍We’ll meet at midday at “Start Zone C, Position 7” https://maps.app.goo.gl/Dg4jCd2QxSTELULQ7
🚌 If you’ve not got transport yet, you can find coach tickets here https://www.togetheralliance.org.uk/getting-there
🪩 At the end of the march, Trafalgar Square will be turned into one big free party with artists such as Ben UFO, Jessie Ware, Hot Chip, A Guy Called Gerald. More details here https://share.google/ZGdl358T7sHo0Qr6Q
 
Who is organising it? Saturday’s demonstration – Together Alliance – is being built by a very broad alliance of trade unions, faith groups and civil society organisations. It’s our chance to stand together in love, hope and unity. 
Why is it being organised? In September, Tommy Robinson brought over 100,000 people to London for his “Uniting the Kingdom” demonstration. Not everyone attending was racist, but the speeches were deeply racist, and the event was organised by far-right figures.
Reform UK are currently topping opinion polls. They already control 10 councils and are aiming to take more. In places like Greater Lincolnshire, Reform-led councils are cutting ESOL provision from 2027, claiming it does not support “natives”.
Society may feel increasingly divided, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Where communities have mobilised against Reform UK in local elections, they have successfully challenged their narrative and shown that they do not represent the interests of working-class people.
Why is it good to march with your trade union? 
1.        It gives us confidence and to others in UCU that we will stand up to racists & fascists, and we are right to do so. 
2.        It demonstrates to the government and politicians that we will oppose their racist narratives and divisive, damaging policies. 
3.        When the demo is covered by the media and seen by passers-by – a large, visible trade union bloc helps grow the movement by encouraging others to join us and get active.
4.        It sends a signal to our union leaders that members are ready to take on the far right in the workplaces and on the streets. 
That’s why it is important to stand together as our UCU bloc. Please bring your banners and your colleagues. 
✊🏽 Marching as our union bloc shows we’re organised. We will stand together in our workplaces and on the streets. We stand united.

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NEC elections over: Now the fight for national action begins

The results of UCU’s NEC elections were announced on Thursday. Many UCU Left candidates were successful – congratulations to all of them. And thank you to everyone who took part, whether by standing as a candidate or helping to get the vote out.

UCU Left will still be in a minority on both the FEC and HEC, as it has been in this current year. Although this is disappointing, it is not the whole picture as our vote has been maintained and increased in several seats. In FE, UCU left won just under 50% of the seats.

The VP election in HE and FE were won by the right. Despite the usual attempts to red-bait the UCU left candidate, in FE our VP candidate received a very respectable 35% of the vote. In the HE VP election, despite a three-way fight, our candidate came second with 40%.

Unfortunately, the problem of low voter turnout was repeated in this year’s election.

In both Vice President elections, the most high-profile national positions, turnout was only 8.5%. For instance, only 9,351 valid votes were cast for the Vice President from HE seat. This means that over 100,000 members didn’t vote for that position, which shows a serious level of disenfranchisement. This occurred in last year’s elections where turnout was also only 8.5%.

In 2024 the turnout was higher, at 15.1%, but the General Secretary election also took place at the same time. But in 2023, voter turnout was 10.7% which is and previous years it was 12 – 13% for the national seats. 

Low turnout is not unique to UCU, unfortunately it is common across many trade union elections. But we do need to reflect on the internal issues and political context within UCU that may be contributing to such a low participation level.

Many members feel disconnected from the union precisely at the time when they need greater clarity and leadership from it. Additionally they struggle to see how they can shape the national union, in order to gain further support and action. 

Yet we are also seeing members actively involved in social movements such as Palestine solidarity, anti-racist organising, and other campaigns. Therefore, this is not an inactive membership. Rather, it is a membership that doesn’t always see the union as relevant to these struggles. Therefore, this is a key challenge that we need to overcome. 

The national union must reconnect with the membership

Across all our sectors there is a disconnect between the union and the membership.  

Without a Left majority on the NEC, the national union has mostly ceased operating as one. Particularly in HE decisions have been prioritised according to a localised branch-by-branch defensive approach rather than seeking to bring a coordinated national response. This puts increasing pressure on Branch Officers and leaves smaller branches with fewer experienced reps to flounder. Branches that are wanting to fight are left to mobilise members, manage publicity and engage external interests – this will only further disconnect members from the national union. 

Moreover, challenging Starmer’s government in Westminster over the issues in HE has become an afterthought. And this is also true in FE and Adult Ed, although we have tried to implement a nationally coordinated approach, this has failed to materialise. 

There are some overarching themes, yet there are also slight differences within FE and HE which we discuss below. 

Further Education

Turnout in Further Education has historically been lower than in HE. Increasingly like HE, FE organising operates largely at the branch level, members are often disconnected from national structures. Many rarely see the national union acting directly to improve their conditions, so national elections can appear distant or irrelevant.

However, there is a growing understanding that we need to fight on a more collective basis. At last year’s Further Education sector conference, delegates voted overwhelmingly for national strike action – on a 2:1 basis. This was an important step forward.

FE members are dealing with high workloads and poor pay, leading to many staff leaving the sector to teach in schools or return to industry. Yet, fewer people are entering FE teaching, and the existing workforce is ageing, with fifty percent expected to retire in the next five years. These pressures are creating a serious recruitment and retention crisis, which cannot be dealt with branch by branch.

When UCU Left FEC members tried to ensure FESC motions were implemented, our minority position continually limits what we can achieve. Our proposals frequently fall by a single vote. The right has voted against our motions time and time again, leading to delays, frustration, and the weakening of the recent national campaign.

However, this has also led to FE UCU Left candidates performing strongly in this year’s NEC elections. Particularly with higher turnouts in the London & East FE seats, where UCU Left won both positions against two right-wing candidates. This success was also repeated in the national seats too.

The UCU Left led the campaign for national binding bargaining , which has gained significant traction within the union. We now need to build a wider base and strengthen our networks to ensure that the campaign this year does not fizzle out to a few branches involved in localised battles.

UCU Left did well in the adult education seats reflecting their work in initiating a campaign to defend Adult Education. The 400 strong student staff lobby of parliament has started a serious campaign to stop the cuts in the sector.

The threat to ESOL and Adult Education has become even more politicised. Greater Lincolnshire, now controlled by Reform UK, has proposed cutting ESOL provision from 2027 on the basis that it does not benefit “native” people. This is blatant racism and a direct attack on education, and it must be challenged forcefully and without hesitation.

Once again, it was our UCU Left FEC members who pushed the union to issue a press release on the issue and to support the organising of a lobby outside the council meeting when the vote took place.

UCU Left believes that members must be in control of disputes, rather than decisions being left to national and regional offices. Disputes are strongest when members themselves shape the strategy and direction of the fight.  This is why UCU Left members argue and vote for strike committees where members can have greater involvement in debating and actively driving disputes. 

Moreover, to have a greater impact, disputes need to be collectivised. When we strike together, we demonstrate our collective strength and increase the pressure on employers.

Higher Education

Higher education is currently facing a huge crisis, with the wave of redundancies showing no signs of stopping. There have been successful local campaigns pushing back against cuts, such as at Newcastle and Dundee, but the crisis is national in scale and requires a national strategy. 

The current funding model has failed, as we (among many) predicted it would. Universities are protecting senior management, their salaries and business models, while making workers pay the price. In some cases, institutions are also using a climate of cuts and restructuring as an opportunity to push through other attacks, such as attacks on pensions or weakening internal governance.

In HE, a big factor that explains the fall in votes is the defeat of 2023. The Right gained a slim and blocked taking more strike action.  Members then were stuck in a marking boycott without the leverage of further industrial action and the employers could wait out the action.

This defeat  led  members to withdraw from participation. Anger with the national union applies both to activists and ordinary members.

Some results belied the votes cast. In the election for national HE representatives, Left candidates obtained an impressive 49.5% of first preference votes after eliminations elsewhere (including the independent lefts of 16.7%). But this translated into the left taking only one out of five seats due to the way that transfers (second, third etc preferences) worked out.

The market crisis in Higher Education continues through phases. In 2023/24 we saw a period of attacks on a full third of HE branches; in 2024/25 the employers changed their tactics and focused on a smaller number of (mainly pre-92) universities, including Brunel, Dundee and Newcastle; then over the last year, we have seen the number of attacks and local strikes ramp back up from the start of term. This year we have also seen opportunistic attacks on TPS pension scheme at Southampton Solent and Northumbria.

First, employers have gained confidence from UCU’s retreat from national disputes after 2023. But despite the scale of the cuts, universities which made redundancies in 2023/24 also saw student recruitment fall faster than elsewhere. 

Second, total student numbers fell by 2.5% between 2022/23 to 2024/25 (HESA). Although this fall was slight, universities are often operating on small margins. Perhaps most damaging to university finances, the main fall was in international student numbers (12% over the same period).

Third, although pay has been cut in real terms, only around half of university budgets is now spent on staff costs. These ‘non-staff costs’, mainly capital projects, have risen faster with inflation even as pay has failed to keep up. The employers are responding to this crisis by seeking to expand in various ways, including to chase student recruitment internationally, set up London campuses, or to engage private companies to teach pre-university students in the UK.

UCU Left candidates were and are at the forefront of resisting these attacks as well as being prominent in seeking to get the union back to balloting for a national dispute. Our candidates have been high profile in branches and regions as well as national campaigns. 

Where next?

All elected UCU Left NEC members will be fighting to ensure our union is leading campaigns at home and abroad.

We will be fighting to unite the strikes in HE to stop redundancies. In FE we will be fighting to ensure that – this year – there is a real campaign over securing a national binding agreement , pay and workload.

And in both sectors we will be fighting for a national political campaign around the value of post-16 education to match the industrial campaign in response to the multiple crises we face.

We will campaign inside the union to launch a response to the rise of mass youth unemployment, which now has risen to one million – we must take on the challenges that are facing society. 

We will continue to ensure that our union is at the centre of the campaign to stop the far right and we will do all we can to build the Together Alliance national demonstration on March 28th.

We will also continue to make sure that UCU is at the forefront of ending the genocide in Palestine and to stop Trump’s war in Iran.

If you agree with what we are doing then join UCU Left and ask your colleagues to join – to build a stronger and more effective campaigning union. 

Join UCU Left
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Scottish Higher Education at a turning point: What future?

— Carlo Morelli, Dundee UCU

Scotland’s free tuition: an impediment to re-colonialisation?

Four UCU branches in Scotland have successfully balloted for industrial action; Strathclyde, Heriot Watt, Aberdeen and Stirling. This is alongside Dundee which has a current mandate and has taken 26 days of strike action since January 2025 and Edinburgh UCU which has initiated a new ballot. All are in dispute over threatened redundancies and course closures as financial crises hit the wider sector.

The current financial crisis affecting Scottish Higher Education institutions and comparatively poor performance in international rankings is widely portrayed to be as a result of the differential impact of home tuition fees relative to the rest of the UK university sector. In Scotland free tuition for home students, established in 2008, remains today compared to the £9k fee since 2008 and now linked to inflation.

In the run up to the Scottish Parliamentary elections in May 2026 co-ordinated pressure to abandon free tuition for home students has been the focus of work from the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Carnegie Trust for Universities in Scotland and University’s Scotland, the employer body for Scottish Universities.[i] Most recently the principal of Aberdeen University identified resolving the funding gap with the question of introducing student tuition fees[ii]

Universities Scotland have estimated 11 of the 18 institutions face deficits and major funding changes are required.[iii] Nick Hillman, Director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, has gone further suggesting that devolved governments and administrations variation from the English HE sector approach to fees has also impacted negatively on international student recruitment:

“[D]evolution has made it harder to convey the concept of a single UK higher education sector on the world stage” and concludes “In short, it should not be unreasonable to ask whether, in some areas at least, devolution may just have gone too far.”[iv]

The difference is certainly real. UK Higher Education has seen a major growth in income since the introduction of tuition fees. A market for higher education both facilitated a wide-spread recruitment boom in home students, particularly following the rise in fees to £9,000 in 2008, and a targeting of international students. HESA figures show total income between 2015-16 and 2023-24 rose from £35bn to £54bn, faster than the rise in inflation of 34% over the same period.[v] The figures for non-EU tuition fee income rose still faster from £5bn in 2017-18 to £11bn in 2023-24.[vi] In Scotland, income for over the same period only rose from £3.6bn to £4.9bn while non-EU tuition fee income rose from £0.6bn to £1.2bn.

However, this limitation of access to financial resources has only restricted, rather than stopped, the extent to which Scottish higher education could participate in the financial boom created by high home and international student tuition fees. 

While Scottish participation in the marketisation of higher education is understood as falling behind that of the rest of the UK, a solution focused upon increasing marketisation ignores the financial crisis created in the English, Welsh and northern Irish areas of the UK. Scotland is not immune from the financial crisis created by marketisation but the more marketised parts of the sector have seen the same, if not worse, problems. The Office for Students estimates that 45% of institutions face deficits in 2025-26.[vii]

This increase of income throughout the UK has resulted in an increasing exploitation of staff combined with a maximising of fees for home students. At the same time rather than an adoption of ‘de-colonisation’ of UK higher education the market for higher education has led to a re-colonisation focusing upon the financial stripping of wealth, in contrast to the human and physical resources of previous eras, as a modern form of colonialism. Class exploitation at home combined with colonialism abroad has become the motif of UK Higher Education.

Co-ordinated industrial action

An alternative model for higher education is to re-state the role of universities providing a public good, financed out of general taxation and free to all. The ending of marketisation, rather than its intensification is the means to a solution to the crisis in the sector. The agency to achieve this can come from the staff, students (home and international) and wider community campaigning for free education. Dundee’s 26 days of strike action forced the Scottish Government to commit a further £62m to the University. This is not to mention the ever-ready funding available for warfare by the UK Government.

There is a potential to stop the movement towards exploiting staff and students, home and international, in the race to re-colonise higher education. This comes from co-ordinated industrial action among those universities with existing live mandates and drawing in those who are following. Collectively, we can act to provide a unifying focus challenging the pro-market agenda and place the defence of free publicly funded education at the heart of the election period Scotland is moving into. This is an opportunity that should not be missed and can be an example to the wider UK sector of how to win gains and push back against the marketisation that is ruining the sector.

Scottish HE, mediocrity and 1707

Finally, it is worthwhile reflecting on Nick Hillman’s consideration that devolution has gone too far. 

Karl Marx is credited with the phrase “history repeats itself first as tragedy second as farce” to explain how “circumstances and relationships that made it possible for a grotesque mediocrity to play a hero’s part” in historical processes.[viii] This seems an apt description of what is now unfolding in Scottish Higher Education.

The question Hillman is raising for Scotland’s Higher Education is what path should it now take? Return to 1707 and its absorption into the UK model of a marketised HE sector or defend the role of Scotland’s higher education as a public good and their retention of universities as public bodies?

For readers without a knowledge of Scottish history, 1707 and the Acts of Union were the acts which merged the Scottish parliament into the English parliament. It is a union which is popularly identified with the abolition of a Scottish state, to which an independent Scotland would dissolve.

More accurately, for the purposes of this article, and following the work of Neil Davidson, it can be identified with the abandonment of a distinctive path of capitalist development and its absorption into the creation of Great Britain’s capitalist state formation and, specifically, colonial expansion.[ix] Attempts to create a distinctive Scottish colonial project for economic expansion failed disastrously with the collapse of the Darien venture in the 1690s, leading by the early eighteenth century a desire of the Scottish agricultural, trading and manufacturing interests to hitch their economic fortunes to that of the more successfully developing English state and empire.

After 1707, the Scottish ruling class developed as an integral part of the British state’s development taking leading roles in its military, economic and political institutions. Whether this was through the creation of distinctive military regiments whose oppression of indigenous peoples are celebrated in regimental histories, providing profitable opportunities for owners and managers of slave plantations, trading networks or extractive industries and manufacturing firms or finally providing the civil servants and political leaders throughout Great Britain and its Empire. Class exploitation at home combined with Empire and colonialism abroad was the model adopted by the leading capitalist economy of the time.

The solutions being promoted by Hillman and the mediocrity that currently run our Higher Education sector is a return to 1707.

Notes

[i] See Funding of tertiary education in Scotland report – Royal Society of Edinburgh : Royal Society of Edinburgh, Tuition Fees are a social contract with small print – The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland Our universities in support of Scotland in support of Scotland

[ii] Josh Pizzuto-Pomaco, 2016), ‘A moment of reckoning for the University of Aberdeen’, Herald 28th February 2026.

[iii] Universities Scotland (2026), Our Universities in Support of Scotland — Universities Scotland accessed 22nd February 2026.

[iv] Nick Hillman, (2026), “Has devolution gone too far? RSE Conference December 2024. Funding_tertiary_paper_Hillman.pdfaccessed 22nd February 2026.

[v] HESA, available at Table 1 – Consolidated statement of comprehensive income and expenditure 2015/16 to 2024/25 | HESA. Inflation index available from Inflation calculator | Bank of England accessed 22nd February 2026

[vi] HESA available at Table 6 – Tuition fees and education contracts analysed by HE provider, domicile, mode, level, source and academic year 2016/17 to 2024/25 | HESA accessed 22nd February 2026.

[vii] Office for Students, (2025), Significant challenges continue to face higher education finances – with nearly half facing deficits in 2025-26 – Office for Students accessed 22nd February 2026.

[viii] Karl Marx, (1984), The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, Lawrence & Wishart: London. p.10.

[ix] Neil Davidson, (2000), The Origins of Scottish Nationhood, Pluto Press: London. pp.90-111.

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Together Against the Far Right

The threat from racism and fascism is all too clear. Therefore, UCU nationally and UCU Left are supporting the launch of the TOGETHER alliance against the far right, which launched yesterday (https://www.togetheralliance.org.uk/) 

This new alliance includes most unions, Palestine Solidarity, Stand Up To Racism, Show Racism the Red Card plus high profile celebrities, including Lenny Henry and David Harewood.

One of its activities will be a major positive demonstration and celebration of our unity in London on March 28. 

Can you help build this across the union and beyond? 
1. Trade Union Network to Stop the Far Right 

  • Thursday 4th December (tomorrow!) at 6pm SUTR & TUC are hosting this very important meeting for all trade unionists. 
  • Speakers include Daniel Kebede (NEU GS), Steve Wright (FBU GS), Matt Wrack (NASWUT GS) and others.  
  • More details and registration here: https://standuptoracism.org.uk/join-the-sutr-trade-union-network/ 

2. Start spreading the news and building Together Alliance
To help build and show support we’re asking if you can do an…

  • Email – send an email to your branch members and reps
  • Branch and regional meeting – Put support for TOGETHER, and support for the national demonstration on March 28th on your next district agenda.
  • Social media – post about your support for TOGETHER on all social media platforms. 

Suggested text to post:
#TOGETHER we can reject division and racism.
#TOGETHER we can build hope and solidarity across communities.
#TOGETHER we can unite against the far right. 
I am standing #TOGETHER with hundreds of trade unions, community organisations, and celebrities. Join us: togetheralliance.org.uk
“We’re supporting TOGETHER. Join us in London on Saturday 28th March 2026 to bring a message of hope over fear.” 

You can download pictures to use here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kjtkcPzh4J3fzfh0ksJDxU97if-m0HwgnBwf9_Y80q0/edit?tab=t.ruov9q94yzx3

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FE: the case for escalation

A Special Further Education Committee (FEC) was held last Friday to discuss the results of the recent ballot and to plan the next steps in the campaign. It was a frustrating meeting which failed to build on the excellent ballot results. It exposed a deep pessimism among some members of the FEC and a failure to listen to the membership.

At the May FESC there was a detailed debate on the need for escalation – specifically, nationally coordinated strike action to unite FE branches to win on pay, workload and crucially take a step closer to national binding bargaining. The consensus at that conference was clear: we needed to act in the new academic year. Some of us warned then that there would be attempts to prolong the campaign and narrow the campaign to local actions against colleges to eke out pay deals. This is exactly what happened.

Despite several delays in the ballot timetable, when the ballot finally went ahead members in 32 branches beat the anti-trade union threshold. Several others came very close. If the ballot had been aggregated – the overall result would have been a 90% YES vote, on a 50.6% turnout. This is unprecedented in recent FE history, demonstrating the strength of feeling among members.

Congratulations to all reps and members for getting the vote out. This demonstrates a growing level of organisation within FE branches and shows that members are increasingly won to the need for national binding bargaining and improved deals on pay and workload. 

However, the turnout could — and should — have been even stronger. When you compare the General Secretary’s promotion of the Higher Education ballot to the effort made to drive turnout in FE, the disparity is striking.

The case for escalation

UCU Left members put a motion calling for escalating strike action – beginning in December and building through January and February. This approach would have capitalised on the momentum of the ballot and the successful lobby of Parliament, organised by UCU Left FEC members, branch reps and members. Over 300 staff and students took part in the lobby – the largest in year years. It was a powerful event with several MPs in attendance, hearing directly from students and staff on the necessity of Adult Education and the devastating impact of cuts on individuals and communities. 

The motion also called for branches that narrowly missed the threshold, to be offered a reballot so we could build further unity.

It also called for a Branch Delegates Meeting after the first 5 days of strike action, allowing those in dispute to collectively decide the next steps. We held an online Strike Committee in the 2023 dispute; this was an effective way for those branches in dispute to maintain control of the action. 

However, this motion was narrowly lost by a vote of 10 against and 9 for.

What is particularly galling is that all 10 FEC members who voted against it, came from branches that are not taking action – they either pulled out of the ballot before it started, pulled out during the ballot or did not meet the threshold.  

Those FEC members who are in branches which will be taking industrial action – all voted for the UCU Left motion of escalating action.

Arguments against escalation, and why they don’t stand up

Those who voted against the motion, claimed:

1.        How do we know that members want to act now?  Members just voted for action by 90%. We are not sure what more evidence some of our FEC members need.

2.        Going out in December is too rushed an approach, we need time to build the campaign. Again, we disagree, as already stated branches put motions to the May FESC calling for nationally coordinated action in the Autumn term.

3.        December is a bad time to strike as Christmas is approaching and people are tired.  Whilst it’s true that staff are exhausted, that’s precisely why action is needed to push back against unbearable workloads. Pay deductions would fall in January, not before Christmas. The “bad timing” argument is used repeatedly by the right. At previous FEC’s the summer term wasn’t a good time to ballot, we should ballot during enrolment. Then at the next meeting they argued, enrolment was a bad time it needed to be later. Seemingly for some there is never a “good time” to ballot, it’s always later. The truth is very few of those on the exec have ever taken strike and have always argued against it.

4.        The Adult Education lobby was very London centric. This was an attempt to undermine the argument that we could build on the momentum of the lobby. Again, we strongly disagree – Parliament is in London hence why the lobby was there. Reps and members are looking at building further actions in their localities. One of the London FE representatives took a motion to London Region to get the lobby organised, as it hadn’t been organised by Head Office. However, the organising meetings and those who attended the lobby came Bristol, Birmingham and London – it was not London-centric. And the lobby of over 400 staff and students was not made up of white Londoners!  Students and staff travelled from across England and represented communities from Somalia, Ethiopia, Caribbean, Sudan, Columbia, Venezuela, Ukraine, Portugal, Italy, Afghanistan and Iran to name but a few. FEC should applaud this event and support further actions to defend Adult Ed. 

5.    National binding bargaining isn’t a real possibility. This objection is not simply a pessimism about our ability to win a national binding agreement; it is that but also more fundamental. The right does not believe that achieving a national binding agreement is desirable. They believe that after over 25 years of incorporation it is too late for the sector to turn the clock back. The only way to achieve better deals for our members is on a regional and college/group basis.  It is this acceptance of the status quo that leads those on the FEC to oppose taking action on a national basis and put in very little effort in getting across the thresholds. 

So, what will be the next steps?

1.        Three days of strike action will take place in the second week of January. It’s vital that as many of the 32 branches as possible remain in dispute. Employers will try to bully branches into accepting local offers — each branch that drops out weakens our collective strength.

2.        UCU Head Office will organise a London rally for striking branches on Friday 16th January and will write to MPs with striking colleges in their constituency to support the strike on the picket lines and in Parliament.

3.        Instead of a delegate meeting, members in striking branches will be surveyed after the first three strike days to gauge next steps. It is disappointing that they were will only be an individualised survey, rather than an in person or online delegate meeting so we can collectively discuss.

The Fight Ahead

This is not the hard-hitting campaign we had hoped for nevertheless we need to ensure that it is still as big and as successful as it can be.

A 4% pay offer is fails to address the 18% real terms cut in pay over the past decade. Employers will bully branches to accept, claiming 4% is the best they can offer. But this is not true. Many colleges have buoyant student numbers, and more cash has flowed into FE and will continue to do so next year due to increased 16-19 funding. Many colleges can afford more. 

We must demand serious action on workload, which remains unbearable workloads with half of new FE teachers leaving in the first 3 years. 

We must demand that our employers make clear statements supporting a new binding framework. National binding bargaining is necessary to level up the sector and fight for all members pay and conditions, not just those who can surpass the 50% threshold in their branches. This can be worn with a clear staged approach.

Despite being one of the hardest hit sectors under austerity, due to mounting resistance over the last 15 years we have made FE pay and the question of binding central to debates between employers and the unions at national talks.  We must keep up the pressure and ensure action in all branches is strong. Those not taking action should arrange solidarity such as visiting pickets and doing collections. We have to let every employer know they are on notice.  

On the picket lines and throughout the next steps, the demand to restore Adult Education must be amplified. 

We will not give up on our demands. Despite the Chancellors and government rhetoric, they have not broken with austerity – the cost-of-living crisis continues whilst they lurch to a war economy and fuel racism. We will continue to demand national action from our union and encourage the wider trade union movement to rise to the challenges of our times. 

Unity is strength, we can win more when we fight together than when we fight alone.

See you on the picket lines. 

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Organising to Win in Post-16 Education and Beyond: Unity & Solidarity not Warfare & Division.  

Sunday 2nd November
11 – 12.30 public meeting, followed by UCU Left AGM 12.30 – 1pm 
Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/o-uI_I2ATJmXe8_l90KlNA

Speakers:
Maria Chondrogianni, UCU President
Serafeim Rizos, Greek trade unionists and teacher involved in the recent General Strike around Palestine
Wilf Sullivan, former TUC Race Equality Officer
Laura Miles, author of Transgender Resistance
Speakers from HE (Donna Brown) and FE (Regi Pilling)

From October, members in 200 branches in HE and FE are being balloted over pay and conditions. Meanwhile, dozens of individual UCU branches are in local fights over jobs, pay and conditions. In HE 4 of the 5 campus unions are coordinating industrial ballots for the first time – this could be game changing.

At this time of great struggle on and off our campuses we need to build a fighting UCU that stands for solidarity, equality, and hope — and for the protection and advancement of post-16 education for all.

At the same time, we face a wider social and political emergency. The rise of Reform UK and the far right, led by Tommy Robinson, are spreading hate and division, feeling emboldened on campuses and in communities. Anti-migrant rhetoric is intensifying, and communities across the UK are under attack. Labour’s inability to take equality seriously is leading to the continued threat to trans+ rights as well as the rights and safety of survivors of sexual abuse. Free speech and the right to protest are being crushed. Globally, the situation in Palestine remains devastating, and the climate crisis continues to accelerate, threatening the futures of students and workers alike. 

Post-16 education is essential for the future of our communities, for equality and social cohesion. We must build collective action to protect education as a public good in a time of crisis.

Join us to hear from those fighting for a better world today, speakers include:

  • FE and HE activists
  • Greek trade unionist involved in the strike for Palestine
  • Women Against the Far Right
  • Trans Rights Activist
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Book Launch: Why Boycott Israeli Universities?

The British Campaign for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP), to which UCU is affiliated, has called a public meeting to launch the newly-revised Second Edition of the pamphlet, Why Boycott Israeli Universities, at the NEU Headquarters, Hamilton House in Camden on the evening of 21 October.

The meeting will also discuss how to build support for the Academic Commitment for Palestine.

Please register for this event on EventBrite using the link below, and pass this email to your branch committee for onward circulation to members.

This event is supported by London Region UCU.

Register on EventBrite

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Unite against the far right

Speakers include Diane Abbott MP and Jo Grady

6.30pm tonight – https://bit.ly/UniteAgainstTheFarRight

On 13 September over 100,000 people joined fascist Tommy Robinson on the biggest Far Right protest in British history. The protest was backed by the world’s richest man, Elon Musk. 

The marched followed a summer of violent Far Right led protests at asylum seeker accommodation – and inflammatory language from Nigel Farage and Reform UK, who now top the opinion polls. 

We face a growing Far Right movement on the streets and a Reform UK breakthrough in upcoming elections. 

Refugees have become scapegoats, not just for the Far Right but for mainstream politicians from Kemi Badenoch to Keir Starmer’s with his ‘island of strangers’ speech. 

Our college and university campuses are not immune from the growing tide of divisive rhetoric and hate. 

The meeting will discuss how we can stop the Far Right growing in influence on campus and  how we can defend progressive multicultural education.

Join our General Secretary Jo Grady and a panel of campaigners to discuss how we develop a strategy to combat the Far Right and promote multicultural education across our union and in every university and college.