Branch reps in mandated UCU branches were astonished to read yet another email on Monday from HQ asking them whether or not members were ready to launch a marking and assessment boycott. They were asked to respond in 24 hours.…
How do we build the Marking Boycott?
UCU members urgently need to discuss how to implement the marking and assessment boycott called by the union. The General Secretary wrote to reps in Four Fights branches with a mandate saying that the action would be called, and …
Democracy Now! How can members control our disputes?
The issue of union democracy has again become important in the context of UCU’s higher education disputes.
Many members are wondering how the Higher Education Committee (HEC) could blatantly ignore the views expressed at the previous Branch Delegate Meeting (BDM) …
Branches criticise the General Secretary’s strategy for the HE disputes
UCU Left report on the Branch Delegate Meetings, 12 November
The two Branch Delegates’ Meetings (BDMs) took place on Friday. These had been called after the ballot results on USS and the Four Fights campaigns had been released and over …
Meeting – COP26: How can unions respond to the climate emergency?

Join our next online participatory UCU Left meeting, co-hosted with Campaign Against Climate Change
Monday 18th October, 6.15pm
Register: https://bit.ly/UCUL-CACC
The COP26 summit will not bring about the radical change necessary to address the climate emergency. It is going to …
SHESC Voting Advice from Two USS Negotiators
Vote against motion 1 and amendment 3A1
Vote for motions 2 and amendment 2 A1, 3, 4, 5
Vote for remission of motion 6 (or against if not remitted)
Reasons to oppose B4: exploring conditional indexation
- A conditional indexation scheme
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 …
FE sector conference 21: We need a UK-wide fight over pay and conditions
This 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 …
HEC REPORT 30TH April 2021
HEC discussion focused on negotiations on pay campaigns and pensions. Whilst confidentiality prevents much discussion, it is possible to say the following.
Pay
On pay the 0% non-offer in 2020-21 has been repeatedly rejected by UCU members in electronic ballots …
How do we build a fighting union that can win?
UCU’s interim Congress took place in the context of a public health crisis where our employers and government are playing fast and loose with our health and using the pandemic to cut costs through sacking staff, including UCU members. But …