Category: FE

Further education stories

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FEC defending member’s democratic decisions

The Further Education Committee (FEC) met on Friday for its first meeting since the new committee was elected. Members could reasonably have expected the meeting to focus on implementing the decisions taken at the Further Education Sector Conference (FESC) in May.

Instead, the committee was presented with proposals that abandoned those democratically agreed decisions and attempted to implement motions that had actually been defeated, thus delaying any national action over pay, national binding and workload agreements until October 2027!

This was an extraordinary and deeply troubling position for the Secretariat (the national official) to bring to the FEC, who made clear to the FEC that these proposals were going against what was agreed at the May conference. Nevertheless, FEC members were able to prevent this attempt to overturn conference policy.

What did FESC decide?

Delegates representing around 100 branches voted to escalate the New Deal for FE campaign through an England-wide aggregated ballot in 2026/27. Motions FE4 to FE7, together with their amendments, set out a strategy for winning that ballot by producing branch resources and building a strong industrial and political campaign.

The decisions of FESC could not have been clearer. FESC is the sovereign democratic decision-making body for UCU FE where members elected by their branches, debate and vote on political and industrial strategy.  It is then the responsibility of both the union’s officials and the FEC to implement those decisions as effectively as possible. Those decisions cannot simply be set aside because some people disagree with the outcome.

However, at Friday’s meeting, the Head of FE, supported by those who brought motions unsuccessfully to May’s conference to delay taking any action, attempted to do exactly that. The paper presented proposed abandoning the planned 2026/27 aggregated ballot altogether. Instead, an entire year would have been spent preparing for a ballot in Autumn 2027. If this had been agreed, it would have fundamentally overturned the democratic decisions taken by conference only weeks earlier.

Moreover, the paper would have effectively implemented one of the few motions that was actually defeated at FESC: Motion 2 from Bolton College, presented by UCU’s new Vice President. That motion proposed delaying the campaign, holding branch briefings in the autumn, and convening a Special FE Sector Conference in early 2027 to merely decide the national grounds of dispute and ballot arrangements.

Conference delegates clearly rejected that approach. In the debate, many argued that delaying the campaign would effectively abandon this year’s pay claim and that members could not afford another year without national action.

What was particularly alarming was that, when presenting the paper, the Head of FE openly acknowledged that he knew it conflicted with FESC policy.  That should concern every UCU member, whether individuals agreed with the decisions taken at FESC or not. Once officials or committees begin deciding which conference decisions they will implement and which they will ignore, member democracy is placed in jeopardy.

Why we can’t delay

In the attempt to overturn FESC decisions, the Head of FE argued that the union was not yet prepared. He stated that while around 100 branches were represented at FESC, another 60 to 80 branches were not sufficiently engaged. He also said he wanted to build greater consensus before proceeding and pointed to the NEU’s campaign, arguing that they had spent a year preparing before moving to a ballot. However, these arguments miss the bigger picture.

The NEU is a much larger union, with around half a million members, making it the largest education union in Europe. Whilst UCU FE only has around 27,000 members and so the amount of time needed to organise is clearly different.

More importantly, it’s simply not true to say that preparations haven’t already occurred.

Back in 2023, an England-wide e-ballot over pay, workload and binding national bargaining produced an 87% YES vote on a 51% turnout. However, moving to a statutory industrial action ballot was defeated by just one vote at a Special FESC April that year. The New Deal for FE campaign was launched in spring 2024 around the same core demands. And at FESC 2025, delegates voted to move towards an England-wide aggregated industrial ballot to begin September 2025 to escalate the campaign.

But in implementing those decisions, the union delayed with the ballot closing mid-November, and industrial action pushed back until January. Those delays led branches being bullied into accepting local pay deals and weakened confidence in the national campaign. At the national strikers’ rally in January, many members expressed frustration that they had voted as part of a coordinated national campaign, yet only 17 colleges actually took action.

We cannot afford to repeat that experience. When members vote for a strategy and the national union fails to deliver it, members will of course disengage. It will breed cynicism about the value of the national union, encouraging members to focus solely on local disputes.

Yet local action alone has not, and cannot, secure the improvements our members need. FE pay remains around 20% lower in real terms than in 2010. The teaching workforce is around 25% smaller, while student numbers have increased substantially, driving workloads ever higher. Inequality across the sector has also continued to grow, with pay and conditions varying dramatically between colleges.

Many members recognise that reversing this trend requires coordinated national industrial action. This will give members and branches a stronger collective voice, increasing pressure on the AoC and the government, and recognises that the crisis in FE is fundamentally about national funding rather than simply the decisions of individual college managements.

The political opportunities

The Head of FE and the FEC majority also failed to recognise the importance of the current political moment. It is very likely we will have a new Prime Minister within weeks. Expectations have been raised amongst our members by the resignation of Starmer and an expectation that the government will move in a new direction that favours working people. We need to act fast to apply pressure on a Burnham led government if these expectations are to be realised.

At the recent National Joint Forum between the unions and the AoC, the employers’ position on binding national bargaining had shifted significantly. Three years ago, they described themselves as “agnostic” towards binding national bargaining, which in practice meant opposition. They are now no longer ideologically opposed and are instead identifying practical barriers that can be overcome.

The AoC has also written to the government arguing that FE funding is inadequate, expressing disappointment at the lack of support for the sector and calling for a national binding agreement for the sector.

There is now an opportunity for employers and unions to jointly press the Labour government to deliver on its commitment to provide funding the sector so desperately needs. 

So what did FEC decide?

Three motions were ultimately passed that rejected the approach set out in the Secretariat’s paper. They committed UCU FE to:

  • begin preparations immediately for an aggregated ballot, starting no later than the beginning of October;
  • produce a clear campaign timeline designed to win that ballot;
  • support branches by using national communications, producing campaign materials with clear demands, organising local and regional meetings, and making GTVO resources available; and
  • organise a parliamentary lobby and a national demonstration during the autumn term calling for increased FE funding.

The immediate threat of abandoning conference policy has been defeated, but members cannot be complacent.

Branches and regions must now hold the FEC and the union’s officials to account. A democratic, member-led union depends on conference decisions being respected. If members vote for a strategy, they have every right to expect the union to implement it. Our task now is to ensure those decisions are carried out in full.

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UCU Congress: delegates vote for national action – now fight to implement Congress decisions

Congress is the annual supreme decision-making body of UCU. For two days delegates from across UCU’s sectors debate together, and then there is one day where FE and HE divide into separate sector conferences. Congress is crucial to the union’s democracy as members, voted by their branches from across the country come together to debate and vote on motions from branches. The results of all votes can be found here: https://www.ucu.org.uk/Congress26

This year, delegates in both sector conferences voted to ballot members for strike action. In Further Education, an aggregated ballot will ask members if they are prepared to strike in pursuit of pay, national binding bargaining, and workload agreements. Whilst in HE members voted to ballot members for a UK-wide fight over jobs and to progress a Secretary of State dispute.

These decisions are essential; it is clear that a juggernaut of cuts is heading our way. In HE, well over 30,000 jobs have gone in the last three years, 15,000 of them in the last year alone. This looks set to worsen dramatically after the Parliamentary Education Select Committee warned that 24 universities could go insolvent in the next 12 months, potentially shutting up shop overnight.

In FE, decades of underinvestment have seen more than 25,000 jobs disappear, wages cut by 30% in real terms, and workloads spiral out of control.

Both sectors face extremely tough times ahead. Both sectors need a real injection of government funding.

Delegates at FESC and HESC made it absolutely clear that fighting college by college or university by university will not stem the tide of these attacks. They voted for the union to organise nationally aggregated ballots in the autumn term to resist them.

Unfortunately, the leadership of the union, both full-time officials and the majority of lay members on the NEC, do not support delegates’ decisions. They argued that UCU could not win a national ballot at this time and that more (and more) time was needed to prepare.

In FE, the newly elected Vice-President attempted to win support for a motion that would have put off making any decisions – not just on action, but even on what issues to fight on – until a Further Education Special Sector Conference sometime in early 2027! This would effectively have meant abandoning this year’s national pay claim, despite it already having been submitted to the employers.

The IBL/CUD supporters became increasingly frustrated as they lost every motion that attempted to delay action or narrow the dispute, and as delegates repeatedly voted for national industrial action. They attacked and patronised delegates from the rostrum, claiming delegates didn’t understand what they were voting for and even going so far as to describe delegates as “cruel” for supporting nationally coordinated action.

In HE, reps from branches fighting redundancies expressed anger and distress that the union’s “strategy” amounted to waiting for branches to come under attack and then responding afterwards. This frustration was made even more acute by the announcement from the Education Select Committee warning of mass closures and redundancies.

Therefore, members voted for a national strategy and to ballot for industrial action over redundancies. It was explained that, to do this, the union would need to put a demand to every employer requiring them to affirm there would be no redundancies for a period of 12 months, or they would face a ballot and potential industrial action.

Alongside this, delegates voted for UCU to organise a political campaign to defend HE involving every branch in the UK.

It was also agreed to take forward a dispute with the Secretary of State for Education in England.

However, it is clear that the majority on the NEC, with the support of the nationally elected officers, will do all they can to ignore sector conference decisions. They will do so not simply because they are pessimistic about members’ willingness to fight back, but because many in the leadership are opposed to strike action itself.

There is a political current embedded within UCU that resists strike action and always has. Currently, its representatives argue that the “time is not right”, while insisting that they “really do support national action – just not right now”. This is simply the latest excuse. They have opposed motions calling for strike action on every occasion over the past 20 years.

Unfortunately, this group forms the majority on the NEC (IBL/CUD and Commons members). Some may genuinely believe that striking is not something education unions should be doing, that it is somehow not “professional”. They fear that national strike action would take the union beyond their control.

They also argue that we need “greater density” before action can be taken. However, our biggest periods of growth as a union have consistently come when we are preparing for and taking strike action. We are seeing growing membership in Goldsmiths, Edinburgh and other branches in dispute. Even branches not directly involved in disputes saw membership increase during the last national ballot period.

Of course, strikes are not the only campaigning tool we should use. Mass lobbies and demonstrations play an important role in any campaign. However, without industrial action, we will not be able to prevent government and employers from destroying our sectors.

War, austerity and the rise of the far right

The debates at Congress were framed by the ongoing drive towards war, rising military and arms spending, and the growth of the far right. Delegate after delegate explained the importance of organising resistance to cuts in jobs and pay, in order to deny the far right a hearing, both within education and in wider society.

Delegates supported motions defending migrant rights and protecting ESOL and adult education from cuts by Reform UK. A motion from Liverpool John Moores University to build on the success of the Together Alliance and deepen this work was also passed. Congress voted to defend the right to protest through campaigning and by working with organisations such as Amnesty and Defend Our Juries.

Several amendments and motions developed UCU’s anti-war agenda by opposing war with Iran and the attacks on Lebanon and Palestine. Delegates passed an amendment to Motion 1, Education Policy: Valuing Post-16 Education, calling on UCU to submit a motion to TUC Congress opposing conscription. This is essential as states across the world ratchet up military spending and introduce new forms of conscription. In Germany, there were even attempts to introduce what amounted to a travel ban on 16–44-year-olds wishing to leave the country for more than three months.

This motion against conscription will build on the successful UCU motion carried at last year’s TUC Congress, which overturned TUC policy supporting increased arms spending. UCU has the ability to make a real difference within the wider trade union movement, and subsequently wider society. 

Unfortunately, many motions fell off the agenda, including Motion 46, Demilitarising Higher Education – Welfare over Warfare, from the University of Warwick. Further work will be needed to challenge the militarisation of post-16 education.

The strength of feeling on these issues was also reflected in the fringe meetings. The liveliest and best-attended fringes at Congress were the Stand Up to Racism and Wages Not Weapons meetings. This demonstrated delegates’ willingness to take political positions that address the wider circumstances facing our members and communities.

The General Secretary’s opening remarks at Congress reaffirmed her commitment to campaigning against war and the far right. She spoke at both fringe meetings and has played an important role in supporting these campaigns.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the NEC majority, many of whom declined to attend these events and are not prominent in these campaigns either locally or nationally. The threat of war and the rise of the far right are real. The union must unite around these issues, whatever disagreements we may have on other questions.

A dysfunctional union

For many delegates, this year’s Congress was a frustrating experience. Very few motions were debated. This was partly due to challenges to the ordering of the CBC report, with delegates contesting decisions to rule motions and amendments off the agenda. However, it was also due to repeated failures of the voting equipment, lengthy delays in obtaining results, and filibustering from the right.

The staff dispute involving members of UNITE continues. It was a disgrace that members of staff in GMB threatened to shut down Congress, if a motion from Goldsmiths University supporting the UNITE staff dispute was discussed. We cannot allow representatives of staff unions to dictate what elected delegates are permitted to debate.

Surely it cannot be beyond the capacity of a professional trade union, staffed at leadership level by experienced trade union officials, to resolve a dignity-at-work dispute that has now continued for two years.

The chaos that dominated much of Congress will only deepen cynicism within the union. Members work hard to write motions, debate them in branches, submit them to Congress and prepare supporting speeches. Yet when they arrive at Congress, they find themselves unable to debate them. Many will inevitably question the level of democracy within our union, and this is a question that we will need to address. 

Attendance at this year’s Congress, particularly in HE, was markedly lower than last year. Members are already asking what the point is in participating in the union’s democratic structures if this is how they are going to be treated.

UCU’s dysfunction reflects the wider passivity of the union in the face of the crisis engulfing post-16 education. To break this impasse, we must campaign to ensure that the motions passed by Congress are implemented and push the union outwards rather than allowing it to remain dominated by internal infighting and pessimism. 

Many delegates commented that the chairing of Congress was significantly better than the hostile atmosphere they had experienced at previous Congresses. Maria Chondrogianni, now Immediate Past President, is a class fighter who understands first-hand the scale and urgency of the challenges we face in our workplaces and society. That makes a real difference.

We need more rank-and-file activists like Maria in these positions. Throughout her presidency, she consistently backed members in union committees, on picket lines and in negotiations. There is little doubt she will continue to do so as Immediate Past President and as a branch rep.

Next steps

Over the past couple of years, branches that have fought back have often won important victories. What is clear is that if we do not attempt to fight back, we will certainly lose.

Despite the difficulties of Congress, the overall mood was one of regrouping, rebuilding national industrial action, and combining it with a strong political campaign. There was a real sense of hope and determination that we should, and can, resist these attacks.

More delegates joined UCU Left this year than at the previous two Congresses. This reflects a growing mood among members to get organised, challenge the pessimism within the bureaucracy, and push for national industrial action.

We need to maintain that hope and determination, build a stronger UCU Left, and ensure that UCU takes the action necessary to defend post-16 education.

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UCU Congress 2025 – UCU Left Report 

UCU Congress 2025 took place at a critical time as our sectors face a deepening crisis. In HE 10,000 jobs are set to go, and another 10,000 at risk next year. In Adult Education pay rises have lagged behind FE and face funding cuts of up to 6%. In FE chronic underfunding and pay that continually falls behind school teachers means many are leaving. Prison Educators continue to face risk and underfunding in privately run prison providers’ classrooms. Across the sectors, unacceptable high levels of casualisation leave members with lower pay, less security and at greater risk of bullying. 

But these sector-specific struggles are part of a broader, multifaceted crisis. We are witnessing attacks on welfare, migrants, and trans rights; a growing clampdown on solidarity with Palestine; and the worsening climate emergency. Congress debated and voted on all these issues, and there was a strong sense of unity on the path forward.

Defending post-16 education: a mandate for UK-wide action

Delegates from both the Higher Education Sector Conference (HESC) and the Further Education Sector Conference (FESC) were clear: the fight for fair pay and against redundancies must be escalated. Congress passed motions calling for a UK-wide industrial ballot in HE and an England-wide ballot in FE, both to be held in the Autumn term.

Congress decisively rejected the argument—promoted by the right wing of the union and some at UCU HQ—that we must focus solely on local capacity building (the density argument) before acting as a whole union. This pessimistic view assumes we cannot win – and that industrial action cannot win – but the votes showed that Congress believes otherwise: we cannot defeat these challenges university by university, or college by college. Coordinated, UK-wide action is now essential. Congress also agreed that we should aim to get the whole post-16 education sector out together – further, higher and adult education.

However, now that we have democratically decided on strategy we need to make sure this happens. We must build within our branches and regions to ensure that we get the vote out.  

FESC delegates recognised that we’ve been building towards England wide industrial action for nearly two years. Grassroots branches and reps have pushed for collective action, and it’s encouraging their voices are now being heard. While one motion discussed branches ‘opting out’, this was amended to encourage all branches to unite. The overwhelming majority of motions from branches supported a collective approach. 

HESC also voted for a motion to explore opening an industrial dispute with the Secretary for State for Education. Every tactic should be explored, but given the scale of the crisis facing post-16 education we cannot afford to prioritise this over moving to industrial action against the employers now. Time is of the essence to save jobs and secure the future of our sectors and education. 

Congress recognised that achieving sector-wide change of increased funding and reversing cuts, also means political pressure. Therefore, along with votes for action, Congress supported UCU calling a lobby of Parliament on budget day in October to build that pressure. And to call on UCU to submit an amendment to the TUC demanding a national demo to coordinate action against Austerity 2.0.

Starmer’s government is feeling the greatest pressure from Reform and other racist, regressive forces. We can see them increasingly parroting these lines and moving further to the right. We need to change this and make sure that the progressive forces in society are the ones applying the pressure on Labour.

Unfortunately, Congress didn’t reach the motion that called for a message of solidarity and a donation to the Birmingham bin workers – who have been on strike since January, and indefinite strike action since March. However, an absolute highlight was Steeven, one of the strikers who gave an inspiring speech to Congress and received a standing ovation.

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Welfare not Warfare

Congress and sector conferences passed motions strongly condemning continued attacks on the welfare state. After years of Tory government’s austerity and disregard for the welfare state, Labour should have come in and radically increased funding. Instead, they maintained the two-child benefit cap, cut the winter fuel allowance and cut disability payments. This will only play into the hands of Reform.

At the same time, Starmer’s government committed to increasing arms spending by 2.5% – despite the UK already spending £54 billion annually on arms. Cutting welfare to fund warfare will not make the world safer. But a well-funded welfare state would make a safer, better society. Unfortunately, there are some in the trade union movement who welcomed the increase in defence spending, with UNITE’s General Secretary saying it was “backing Britain”. This is not true, it will lead to greater division and it is workers who get sent to war. Congress supported sending a motion to the TUC Congress demanding a reversal in arms spending and to spend this on welfare.

Palestine

Once again, UCU Congress overwhelmingly reaffirmed its solidarity with Palestine. Delegates condemned the intensifying crackdowns on university campuses, including police repression and legal injunctions targeting student and staff activism. Congress voted in favour of donating to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and strengthening partnerships with the European Legal Support Centre, Liberty, and other organisations to build a national campaign resisting these crackdowns. This includes providing political support and training for branches affected by such measures.

Delegates also supported funding a third Campus Voices for Palestine tour and committed to continued collaboration with BRICUP and University and College Workers for Palestine in delivering this initiative.

Trans, Non-binary, Intersex and Gender Diverse People

Trans rights featured prominently at Congress, rightly so after the recent attacks on trans rights from the Cass Review, to Trump to the Supreme Court ruling. All motions were overwhelmingly passed. It was incredibly important to show solidarity with our trans siblings and to pass motions opposing the Cass Review, Wes Streeting and the SC ruling. But importantly practical actions were taken to call on employers to develop trans-inclusive policies, for UCU to create a joint working group to help develop policy and to support demonstrations that oppose transphobia.

Climate change

UCU committed to backing the TUC’s call for a Year of Action on Climate Change, beginning in September 2025. The COP summit in Brazil will serve as a key focal point for mobilisation.

As part of this commitment, UCU will co-organise a Climate and Ecological Education Conference alongside other trade unions and climate justice campaigns. Congress also called on UCU to work with other unions and climate campaigns to build workplace events during the TU year of action.

Pensions in HE

HESC resolved to defend the Teachers Pension Fund in HE and lobby USS for more ethical investment plans. The SWG report was accepted, which recommended UCU continues to explore and take a sceptical view of CI. Unfortunately as a consequential, a key motion on  improving USS members benefits which also called for UCU to take a policy position of opposing Conditional Indexation (CI) fell. In the absence of a policy to oppose CI, there is not only a risk of employers potentially imposing CI; but also a missed opportunity of not focussing action to improve benefits in light of the significant USS surplus.

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This was the first hybrid Congress, with the vast majority of delegates in person. There was a great range of issues discussed and for many delegates, both first timers and more seasoned delegates, it was inspiring to hear from different branches.

Congress concluded with a strong sense of unity and purpose. Now, we must build on that strength to deliver real gains—on pay, workload, climate change, trans rights, anti-racism, solidarity with Palestine, and the defence of the welfare state.

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Casualisation – a blight on post-16 education

Christina Paine (London Met UCU, NEC) and Cecily Blyther (Petroc UCU), both members of the Anti-Casualisation Committee

Across the UK, the post-16 education model is broken as workers struggle under the weight of precarious contracts, redundancies, casualised job losses and impossible workloads. As working conditions continue to race to the bottom we must secure the casualised to stop the casualisation of the secure.

Behind every ‘hourly paid’ or ‘fixed-term contract’ model are stories of poverty wages, homelessness, insecurity, burnout and exploitation. We know casualisation worsens structural inequalities, overwhelmingly impacting women, migrants, racialised and disabled colleagues.

The structural inequality of casualisation needs to be a key focus in our equality work (SFC33). We see the most vulnerable are targeted and are often left feeling “discarded” as contracts vanish with no consultation or redundancy.

Across post-16 education, casualised workers deliver the core teaching, support student learning and keep institutions afloat yet are discarded without consultation, redundancy process and with no safety net.

Casualised staff precarious

As HE institutions parade deficits and launch brutal redundancy and restructuring programmes it’s casualised staff who disappear first with few redundancy rights or recognition.

The pattern repeats in FE. Staff hours are cut, contracts aren’t renewed and layers of redundancy are obscured while management shifts workload to permanent staff already struggling under impossible demands.

The lack of data and monitoring of these job losses is unacceptable. Institutionalised insecurity is the business model for marketised post-16 education. We must support Congress motions calling for UCU to survey branches to document the scale of the job losses.

Key Motions

• HE11 calls for all campaigns against redundancy to protect and defend casualised staff.
• HE22, HE23 and HE24 demand transparency in casualised redundancies and for UCU to survey branches on the scale of job losses among casualised staff.
• FE15 calls for solidarity across casualised and non-casualised staff and protecting casualised staff in campaigns against redundancy.
• FE16 addresses recruitment and retention of casualised workers in FE, calling for a representative working group to develop union work in this area.

Pensions often feel unattainable to casualised workers, yet pension inequality is a huge issue with inconsistent work and huge amounts of unpaid labour leaving them out of pocket in work and in retirement. This is compounded by the introduction of two-tier pensions in some institutions with casualised workers pushed onto inferior schemes. We must fight for all workers to have a decent and secure retirement.

• ROC2 defends universal pension and welfare rights and SFC36 calls for stronger pension action for casualised workers.
• SFC33 calls for UCU to develop a stronger, unified strategy to defend equality and fight casualisation.
• SFC21 targets action on the pitiful Employment Rights Bill and calls for the full repeal of the anti-trade union laws. This is vital for strengthening work to stamp out casualised work in our sectors.

We must fight together against every job loss:
• SFC15 calls for a post-16 strategy to defend education. It is time for action across the union to call for full security for all workers and full government funding for post-16 education.

Starmer’s Labour is Anti-Worker

The Labour government’s so-called Employment Rights Bill fails to offer meaningful protection or a way forward for workers. They’ve climbed down on reversal of the Trade Union Act 2016 and banning zero-hours contracts. The Bill does not guarantee work after regular service and there are no penalties for misuse of casual contracts. It’s a betrayal dressed up in progressive language while leaving thousands of workers out to dry.

Zero-hours contracts remain as legalised precarity. They lock staff into cycles of poverty pay, instability and mental harm. They disproportionately trap women, racialised and disabled workers in second-class employment, excluded from rights and robbed of security.

UK-wide joint action now – enough is enough.

Casualisation is the ground on which every other injustice grows – leading to unpaid work overload, inequality, stress, mental health collapse, bullying and silencing. We must build on recent networks created in our regions and join with sibling unions to build on new strong networks in our regions to give voice to casualised workers.

Our working conditions are the foundations of students’ education in every part of post-16 education and casualisation undermines both. Casualised staff are not disposable. They are central to the sector. We cannot wait any longer – we must all work together to fight for decent jobs and pension justice for all workers.

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Welfare not Warfare: Defend Disability Benefits – Defend Our Rights

Roddy Slorach (Imperial College UCU) and Christina Paine (London Met UCU and NEC)

Keir Starmer’s government is in big trouble. Its strategy is already in tatters and its support is rapidly disappearing. Many voters are turning in desperation to the racists of Farage’s Reform UK. Labour’s answer is more scapegoating – of migrants, muslims and now of trans people. For many people, the most shocking betrayal is the savage assault on disability
benefits. Cuts to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and incapacity benefit threaten to push at least 250,000 disabled people into poverty.

In her Spring Statement in March, chancellor Rachel Reeves said Labour is “clear whose side we are on.” Her policies have indeed made this clear. The pledge to restrict public spending was rapidly forgotten when Donald Trump demanded European countries ramp up arms spending. Starmer says there is a “moral case” for the cuts to disability benefits – with the savings spent on more deadly weapons like those being used to carry out genocide in Gaza.

Disabled workers across post-16 education are raising the alarm – and UCU is demanding action. Staff are still being denied the most basic reasonable adjustments to do their jobs safely, whilst simultaneously facing a government hell-bent on slashing the support they rely on to live and flourish.

War on the poorest

Disabled people are already poorer than a decade ago. A report to the UN by disability organisations in August 2023 showed the real terms value of UK benefit payments had fallen by over ten percent since 2010. Research by disability charity Scope shows that the average UK disabled household faces extra costs of £1122 per month – making disabled people “almost three times as likely to live in material deprivation than the rest of the population.” With one in ten people of working-age receiving health-related benefits, UCU
members are among those threatened by the cuts.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting tried to divert attention by claiming that the problem is an “overdiagnosis” of mental distress and conditions such as autism and ADHD. The real problem is that more and more of us are struggling to cope in an increasingly barbaric and hostile world.

Fifteen years ago, another Labour government introduced the Equality Act in 2010. It is a deeply flawed law that nevertheless for the first time put disability discrimination on an equal legal footing to racism, sexism and other forms of oppression. Many people believed that the new law would improve life for disabled people – but our employers constantly refuse to meet its most basic requirements.

Toxic narrative

The government’s toxic narrative – that disabled people are work-shy or exaggerate their difficulties – ignores the reality of our communities and workplaces. Across post-16 education, staff report long delays for essential support like screen readers, ergonomic equipment, hybrid work arrangements, or flexible hours. Often, reasonable adjustments never arrive and disabled workers increasingly face job insecurity and loss of hours.

The government’s unacceptable cuts to PIP and other disability benefits have been widely condemned by trade unions, disabled-led organisations and carers’ groups. In a chilling continuation of austerity politics, ministers are tightening assessments and proposing to stop many thousands of people from accessing the support they need to live, whether they are in work or not. All of this is being done under the guise of “fiscal responsibility.”

Among the most vulnerable are the growing number of disabled workers on casualised contracts. Meanwhile, digitalisation and AI-driven teaching models create new barriers and exclusions. Flexible tech could open doors, but instead it’s being used to strip out jobs and further marginalise disabled educators. We need a national campaign for accessible, inclusive and secure workplaces, a zero-tolerance approach to non-compliance on reasonable adjustments and above all a union that is prepared to fight for every job and
every member.

These cuts can be beaten and the fightback starts here. Starmer suspended Labour MPs who refused to support the cuts to winter fuel payments, but this time the threats aren’t working. Disabled People Against Cuts and other organisations have called a series of protests against the cuts under the banner of ‘Welfare not Warfare’. Every Palestinian supporter, every anti-war campaigner and every serious trade unionist needs to get behind this growing rebellion in defence of disability benefits.

Key Motions

The following motions will strengthen and support UCU’s work to fight discrimination against disabled members:
• Universal welfare and equal pensions provision (ROC2 EQ18).
• Ending cuts to PIP and disability benefits, working with wider campaigns for welfare and against military spending (SFC24 SFC25).
• Better support for disabled members to engage with UCU (EQ12) and linking anti-casualisation with equality issues (SFC33).
• Support and guidance for developing robust and inclusive policies (EQ15).
• More robust data to enable effective campaigning (FE32).

These motions will help us in the fight for restoring and securing PIP and disability benefits, a zero-tolerance approach to non-compliance on reasonable adjustments and stronger legal protections for precariously employed disabled members. We need a UK-wide campaign for accessible, inclusive and secure workplaces and greater accountability for institutions that rely on insecure labour while evading their equality duties.

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Organising for Palestine on campus: from repression to resistance

Anne Alexander, comms officer for Cambridge UCU and a member of
University and College Workers for Palestine and BRICUP

The past year has seen a significant escalation in repressive tactics by universities against protest for Palestine on UK campuses, mainly targeting students. Many UCU branches and activists have played an important role in building solidarity campaigns to protect student activists and the ability to collectively protest, but more needs to be done at a national level to organise a fightback.

Back in August 2024, University and College Workers for Palestine documented a wide set of repressive tactics deployed by university managements working in collaboration with security companies and sometimes the police. Although at a much lower level than the repression of pro-Palestine protests in other countries, such as the US and Germany, these
attempts to discipline and criminalise student protesters is deeply worrying.

Examples include violent arrests of students in Newcastle, Oxford and SOAS; victimisation of student activists at Birmingham, Essex, SOAS and LSE through long-running disciplinary cases, where some were banned from campus and threatened with expulsion. Even though legal charges have often been dropped later, or no disciplinary action taken after the
investigation – the impact on individuals targeted has been immense.

In two recent cases, University of London and Cambridge University used High Court injunctions in an attempt to pre-emptively ban protests on or near university-owned land. Breaching a court order puts students, staff and members of the public at risk of fines or even imprisonment.

The increasing legal threats to protest rights for students and staff on campus should concern every trade unionist and activist. The injunction obtained by the University of Cambridge targets all types of protest, not only solidarity action for Palestine. It affects a location in the centre of the city which has been used for decades as a rallying point by trade unions and local campaigns.

It comes alongside other attacks on the right to protest and speak about Palestine, such as the prosecution of leading figures in the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Stop the War Coalition after police restrictions and mass arrests on the 18 January demonstration, the arrest of Youth Demand activists in a Quaker Meeting House and the use of counter-terrorism laws to try and silence people speaking out against genocide, such as Cardiff activist Kwabena Devonish who faces trial in August. None of this can be separated from examples of authoritarian policing, such as the intervention to stop picketing by striking bin workers in Birmingham and the harsh sentencing of climate activists on charges of “conspiracy” for taking part in a zoom call.

Yet repression is only half the picture – many of these cases galvanised greater solidarity and organising by staff and students to push back. When the University of Leicester brought police to arrest students occupying a university building in November, the UCU branch put out a strong statement pointing out that student occupations played a key role in the campaigns against the Vietnam War and South African Apartheid.

University of London took three student activists to the High Court to obtain an injunction against them organising BDS protests on part of its land. UCU, Unison and IWGB branches from across the UoL’s Bloomsbury colleges helped to co-organise a major rally condemning the injunction on the workplace day of action for Palestine, 28 November.

In Cambridge, the University’s rush to obtain a High Court injunction targeting pro-Palestinian protests in February spurred staff and students to work together on a public and legal campaign contesting this repressive move online, in the streets and in court. The University was forced to retreat on several aspects of its original request to the court, including targeting the student-led campaign, Cambridge for Palestine, by name. National
and international pressure played an important role through open letters condemning the University from Gina Romero, UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Assembly and UCU General Secretary Jo Grady.

Battles over the right to protest shouldn’t obscure the scale of the audience for Palestine solidarity organising – and how this audience continues to grow and develop. University and College Workers for Palestine and BRICUP worked with UCU nationally to organise a highly successful tour, implementing a resolution at UCU congress in 2024.

Between October 28 and November 6, the Campus Voices for Palestine tour visited 8 cities across the UK with a message of solidarity against scholasticide and amplifying the calls by staff and students from Palestinian universities for BDS. Sundos Hammad from the ‘Right to Education’ campaign from Birzeit University and Ahmed Shaban of the Emergency
Committee for the Universities of Gaza were able to connect with activists across the UK which also boosted local organising.

Workplace days of action have continued to bring staff and students together to highlight institutional complicity in genocide and war crimes. Initiatives like these are taking on a significance beyond the question of Palestine, with the current tilt towards militarism from governments worldwide. Labour’s appalling decision to steal money from disabled people in Britain in order to boost the profits of arms companies creating weapons to kill and maim
people in Palestine and around the world has rightly enraged activists across the country.

In the coming year, we should be looking to build as many links as possible between the Palestine movement and wider campaigns challenging the drive to war.
• Donate to the legal campaign over the University of London and Cambridge injunctions here .
• Resources from the Campus Voices for Palestine tour here
• Download BRICUP’s pamphlet on BDS, sign the Academic Commitment for Palestine and find other resources here.

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Stop and reverse the cuts to Adult Skills Funds

Safia Flissi, ESOL Lecturer at South and City College Birmingham and NEC

The government’s recent announcement of a 6% cut in Adult Skills Funding (ASF) is yet another slap in the face for FE, ACE and our learners. Without resistance it will undoubtedly lead to mass course closures; making education inaccessible for many adults particularly those with few or no qualifications, unemployed, ESOL learners, adults with learning difficulties or disabilities and working adults on low incomes. In short the ASF cuts will hit the most disadvantaged and marginalised adults in our society.

Adult Education has a long history of creating educational opportunities, breaking down barriers and empowering adults. But since 2010, funding to adult education has reduced considerably. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, public funding for adult skills has declined by a third compared to its inflation adjusted peak in the early 2000s. That alone is terrible, however, it’s even worse when examining expenditure on classroom-based learning. This has fallen by two-thirds – from £5.1 billion to £1.7 billion by 2023/24, leading to a 47% reduction in adult learners. These cuts disproportionately affected lower-level
courses, making them unaffordable to deliver and thus limiting access for those seeking to upskill or retrain.

The Department for Education (DfE) has justified these cuts as necessary fiscal measures. However, this perspective overlooks the long-term economic benefits of adult education. Investing in adult skills contributes to a more adaptable workforce, reduces unemployment, and fosters innovation. The current funding reductions are counterproductive, undermining efforts to build a resilient economy. The DfE’s approach fails to consider the social value of FE colleges and Adult Education. But education is always more than simply “economic metrics”. Adult learning promotes personal development, mental health, economic growth, community development and social cohesion. FE colleges and Adult Education often serve as a lifeline for marginalised groups, providing pathways to employment and social inclusion. Reducing access to these programmes exacerbates inequality and hampers community development.

Colleges across the country are grappling with the consequences of reduced funding. For instance, NCG’s colleges report that demand for adult education is so high that they are delivering beyond their allocated budgets, making it impossible to support current student numbers. Lewisham College Principal Jamie Stevenson refers to the cuts as “unjust cuts” and reminds us that “Those figures aren’t just numbers or a funding amount. They are real people who need these opportunities.” In the West Midlands a vast number of FE colleges have large adult provisions and the impact of the cuts to ASF could have disastrous
consequences not only for FE colleges but also for the wider community.

South and City College Birmingham (SCCB), where I teach, is sadly a perfect example of where the cuts to ASF could jeopardise its future. SCCB has a large adult provision, it is a pivotal institution in the West Midlands, offering a wide range of adult education programmes aimed at upskilling the local workforce and supporting community development. Given Birmingham City Council’s financial challenges, including a declaration of effective bankruptcy, the college’s reliance on ASF becomes even more critical. Any reductions in this funding could lead to:

• Course reductions and the potential elimination of programmes essential for adult learners seeking to improve their qualifications.
• Job losses & hiring freezes, affecting the college’s capacity to deliver quality education.
• Limiting communities by reducing educational opportunities for adults in Birmingham, hindering efforts to address unemployment and social mobility.

The reduction in ASF poses a significant risk to institutions like NCG’s colleges, SCCB and others across the UK that provide vital adult education services. The cuts are a short-sighted approach undermining both individual potential and collective prosperity. In the face of escalating welfare cuts and sustained attacks on students and staff across post-16 education, it is more vital than ever to defend a broad, inclusive curriculum—one that meets the needs our most vulnerable learners including SEND learners, one that recognises gender diversity, and actively addresses issues of race, class, and inequality. By restoring investment in this vital sector, we can empower individuals, strengthen communities, and build a more equitable and resilient society.

As the UK looks to strengthen its workforce for future challenges, restoring and increasing ASF should be seen as an investment in people, not a cost. Political will is essential to reversing these funding cuts. Advocacy by education leaders, unions, and think tanks has brought the issue into the spotlight, but real change requires sustained pressure on policymakers by the trade union movement.

UCU must act now. UCU’s campaign to reverse the cuts should include lobbies and demonstrations at Parliament to push the issue into the political spotlight, issue media alerts and build public awareness of what’s at risk. UCU must seek to work with the WEA, TUC, ESOL campaigners and others to build a broad, cross union coalition to protect adult provisions.

Let’s not accept these cuts. Let’s expose them, fight them, and reverse them. The future of our communities, our colleges, and our learners depends on it.

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FE needs unity in action to improve funding

Richard McEwan (New City College) and Regi Pilling (Westminster Kingsway
College), both NEC and national FE pay negotiators

The Starmer government has signalled its intent to continue austerity, cutting adult education budgets and slashing welfare and disability payments relied on by many students and staff. The DofE is recommending a 2.8% pay award, but it’s unfunded meaning more realterms pay cuts. As we are all too keenly aware, colleges were left out of the last pay award entirely. The promised £300m will not go far after years of cuts, rising student numbers and rising costs like national insurance, which the government is no longer covering. The situation is unlikely to improve with the Comprehensive Spending Review later this year – further education funding will still be woeful and unable to meet the ambitions of the New Deal claim. In this context, the decisions of this year’s FE sector conference will really matter.

Events have moved significantly since the special sector conference last spring. Employers, through the National Joint Forum (NJF), have committed to exploring how binding national bargaining can be implemented in England FE. Two special meetings have scoped this out, tied to a desire for pay parity with schools. England FE remains the only part of UK education without proper national bargaining, making it the poorest sector and unable
to put coherent demands to government.

Although it is still early days, there is a convergence of interests as employers seek to address the recruitment crisis. It is clear that a new bargaining system is coming, but whether it favours us or the employers will depend on our industrial strength. Achieving a binding framework will require additional government funding and cannot be won through local strikes alone. Therefore, UCU needs to launch an England-wide campaign of protests, demonstrations, and strikes. Securing a national framework could transform pay and conditions — we must seize this opportunity with a decisive strategy.

Moreover, the FEC and the secretariat now agree that the time is right to escalate the New Deal claim to national action – this is also reflected in the motions to conference. However, whether this turns into action remains to be seen, especially with the IBL / CUD (the right in UCU) holding a majority on the FEC. They have historically opposed action, including
recently opposing a motion for UCU to hold an indicative ballot to find out if members would strike to gain the equivalent 5.5% school teachers’ pay award. Therefore, the critical question is how and when we escalate our current campaign.

We could be in a much stronger position. In March 2023, a majority of England FE members voted for national action — an achievement that took the NEU years to reach – however little action was taken by UCU. This academic year, action by 30 sixth form colleges on FE pay over the 5.5% award caught the attention of employers and government- most 6th form colleges have now gained that pay award.

Yet UCU took two years to issue a briefing explaining our campaign for national bargaining, and no local FE strikes occurred this year — a first. Last year, despite strong indicative ballots, over 75 branches opted out of action. This demobilisation and lack of national leadership led to low settlements and made life harder for those branches that fought. The local action strategy has run its course. If we are to win, we cannot repeat these mistakes.

At this year’s FESC all the motions call for nationally coordinated action. However, timing is key. In FE, the best time to act is near the start of the academic year, when local and national negotiations occur and before the October census date, which is critical for student funding. Management are very worried about strikes at this point as students still have the ability to move to other institutions. Striking after enrolment but before the census date gives us maximum leverage.

We also need mass, coordinated action. Members understand that local strikes alone cannot address sector-wide issues. A campaign mobilising colleges together will be far more powerful and will raise confidence amongst members.

We support all motions. FE2 should be amended to encourage strong branch participation. What we are trying to do as a union requires branches to act in the overall interest of the union’s claim. FE3 and FE9 call for a national ballot, which we also support. Whether aggregated or disaggregated, the important thing is a united, England-wide ballot. It has been clarified to FEC that all previous national ballots were technically disaggregated. This should be explained clearly to the conference. If passed, the FEC can implement the
motions as we have for previous national ballots.

We hope you have a good conference and that we come out with a clear plan to fight for our claim and win it. If we get this right in addition to fighting for our own pay and conditions, we will have a strong voice to stop more attacks on our communities’ access to education.

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Post-16 Education at the cross roads: national action now!

Sean Vernell – City and Islington College, NEC and FE National Pay Negotiator

This year’s Congress takes place in one of the most serious political situations faced by those working and learning in the Post-16 education sector for many years.

In HE over 10,000 jobs are at risk this year alone, with another 10,000 staff threatened next year. This crisis is set to get worse. The wiping out of arts, humanities and social sciences in all but the most elitist universities is on the cards.

The government announced a cut of 3 – 6% to the Adult Skills Fund which covers adult education in England FE and local authorities. Subsequently more student places will disappear, on top of the one million already lost in the last decade. In FE the refusal to act on UCU demands of a national binding agreement and pay parity with teachers has led to the worst recruitment crisis in the sector’s history. A crisis that is set to get worse with
the predicted 60,000 increase in student numbers in the next two years.

With workloads spiralling out of control across the sectors, physical and mental health issues are rising significantly as staff and students’ conditions worsen.

Post-16 Education is in crisis. And there is worse to come.

It is clear that the strategy pursued by the GS and her team of fighting college by college, university by university, to stem the tide of attacks on the basis of ‘building capacity’ has, at best, simply led to a stagnant membership as we lose more members through redundancy. This strategy has not prepared our branches to be ready to resist the avalanche of attacks that are set to come.

Trump leading the way and Starmer happy to follow.

Trump’s tariff wars are a part of a wider offensive his administration has launched on everything that is progressive.

On the one hand he is attempting to break with the free trade model of running the world, replacing it with a protectionist model that Trump believes will boost the growth of goods made in the US and with it jobs and prosperity. Neither economic models benefit working class people and neither model was designed to do so. Trump’s tariff wars will lead to layoffs in America and elsewhere, it will lead to a general worsening of workers’ living standards just as the free trade agreements did across the world.

On the other hand, Trump is using his ‘war on woke’ to divide workers and make it easier to push through the cuts to make America profitable again. Being tough on ‘illegal’ immigrants is a key component to this offensive.

The attacks on the transgender community are at the forefront of his agenda. A classic tactic used by all far right leaders – target a numerically very small section of society and hold them responsible for working class immiseration.

His attempts to prevent teachers teaching anything the right regard as ‘woke’ is chilling. If a teacher is found ‘guilty’ of teaching equality rights, it can lead to dismissal. The showdown with Harvard and Columbia universities shows how far Trump’s administration will go to enforce his anti-equality agenda.

Starmer is only too happy to follow Trump’s lead out of fear of upsetting the ‘special relationship’. Starmer and Reeves’ economic agenda is to attempt to make Britain profitable again through more cuts in the welfare state. As usual it starts with those receiving benefits and attempts to demonise those who survive on ‘state handouts’.

Whilst Trump cuts US spending on Nato to force European powers to increase their spending on arms, Starmer and Reeves are happy to comply. Starmer has ratcheted up the pre-war rhetoric to justify cuts to welfare – the extra £6bn a year to be spent on arms is apparently “necessary” to deter the apparent ‘real threat’ of a Russian invasion.

This appeasement of the right can be seen in Starmer’s continued support for the genocide in Palestine and his tough action on ‘illegal’ immigrants – keeping in line with Tump and an ineffectively attempting to marginalise Reform UK.

The jettisoning of Labour’s manifesto commitment to spend £28 billion to tackle the climate crisis is another example of how far Starmer will go to appease the far right. Farage, like Trump, blames the woke ‘net zero agenda’ for the loss of the steel manufacturing in Scunthorpe rather than the vagaries of the free market. Starmer, alongside the leadership of the steel workers union, refuses to challenge this lie.

We only have to look to the Birmingham bin workers strike, where a Labour Council is prepared to break the strike with troops, to see how the Labour Government will fiercely try to squash any resistance to its cuts agenda.

However, Starmer’s ‘warfare not welfare’ approach, predictably ‘has given confidence to Farage and Reform UK feeding off working people’s despair. Reform UK, now the largest far right party in Britain ever, is leading Labour in many of the so-called ‘Red wall’ constituencies.

National action to turn the tide on despair.

The only way to stop the far right cashing in on the despair of millions of workers is by providing hope. Resistance provides that hope. At this Congress delegates have the opportunity to vote for motions that can lead to resistance.

This congress and its sector conferences must be councils of war. The first decision we must take is to support motions calling on UCU to organise national action within the sectors and across. Congress and the sector conferences must signal a clear break from the college by college, university by university strategy adopted by the GS and her team.
It is irrelevant how we get there – aggregated or disaggregated – as long as we do.

Our colleagues in Newcastle, Dundee and Brunel universities have shown how we can fight. They have been an inspiration to the whole union. We cannot allow them to fight alone.

We have time to rise to the challenge and resist the attacks that are coming and implement the decisions made by HEC and HESC to launch an industrial action ballot on pay. And in FE, to implement the FEC decision for an indicative ballot on pay, workload and a national binding agreement before FESC. Failure to do so gives the employers and government a green light to speed up their attacks on post-16 education.

Lessons are being learnt by the government and the employers – that if they are to win, they must hit us on multiple fronts at once. We no longer live in a world where we can fight one front at a time. If we are to be able to unite in the battles over pay and jobs, we will also need to take up the attacks on benefits, the trans community, migrants and refugees and also take up tackling the climate crisis.

We must argue that the funding of our colleges and universities must be a priority and not an increase in arms spending – we must demand welfare not warfare.

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Report from FEC 26th September 2024

The FEC met for the first time this academic year. The FEC considered how to advance the New Deal for FE as part of our England pay claim.

This follows the election of a Labour government in the General Election and the decision not to extend the 5.5% pay award for teachers to FE workers.

Staff unions will meet the AoC later this month at the National Joint Forum (NJF) where they are expected to make a formal recommendation on pay. As well as a special working group meeting to explore introducing binding national negotiations.

The UCU will roll out a series of briefing this month in light of those and outline the nature of our campaign.

We encourage reps and activists to join us at the Defend Post-16 Education under Labours Starmer conference on the 19th of October.

Register here and for updates.

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One step forward

It is a step forward that in the committee secretary’s report to the FEC that the emphasis is on a national campaign and securing binding national bargaining. FE England is now the poorest relation of the UK education sector and the only part not covered by binding national sector bargaining. This was actually the rationale given by the government to decline to extend the pay award to FE workers.

It is right that the unions focus is now on securing binding national negotiations (BNN) not just local bargaining. But unfortunately that has not been the case up to now. At the Special Further Education Conference in April the conference was persuaded that now was not the time to prioritise winning national binding agreements. Some on the FEC leadership likened this to chasing unicorns!

Arguments against securing national binding agreements included:

  1. That the AoC has no power to implement a binding framework due to incorporation.
  2. The employers were not interested
  3. Even if those barriers were not there, we can’t take national action because it’s illegal.

Since then, the AoC have agreed to set up a working group to look at the feasibility of implementing a binding national bargaining framework. They are due to present an initial rough costing to staff unions at a meeting this October as a basis to make the case to Government to set up a funded sector bargaining framework. This could be a first step toward a broader aim of establishing national terms and conditions – the employers’ words.

We could have been positioned far better than we are and need to run to catch up to the possibilities of levelling up in England.

Whilst it is early days and not all employers share the same views there is clearly more scope for BNN among employers than some had argued. What is important is it is now recognised now that we need national binding not just going for local deals as the main lever to improve pay and conditions.

It is hoped there can be more traction with the DofE due to the change of government and that can help the union communicate our aims and objectives (a motion was carried to emphasise the need for this work to develop further).

None of this means we will necessarily achieve BNN. It is likely that some form of new bargaining arrangement could be introduced. But will it be favourable to us or the employers? It will be far easier to shape a new binding framework with action now, than try to unpick an unfavourable version later.

A series of campaign briefing this October will roll out the New Deal for FE campaign and report back from meeting with the AoC.

Anger

There is a great deal of anger that FE staff were not included in the 5.5% pay award to teachers.

A motion (below) was brought to the FEC calling for an indicative national ballot to take action if we were not offered the same pay award as teachers.

It was argued that this would take resources away from campaigns, that an indicative ballot must be a prelude to a national statutory ballot and this was not within policy set by the SFEC.

These arguments opposing an indicative ballot seem to miss the point that FE members want their voice heard. This would be complimentary to the New Deal for FE campaign and give us more leverage in talks. Members expect us to act on this outrageous decision.

It is therefore disappointing that the motion tied 9 in favour and 9 against. In such a case the status quo ante prevails and therefore the motion fell. An amendment linked to the motion emphasising our claim as part of an indicative ballot also fell.

As the Committee Secretary point made clear. It is not for us to simply describe the situation; we have to act if we want to change it. Unfortunately, half of the FEC members failed to rise to this challenge again.

Parliament lobby

A rescheduled lobby and MP briefing will take place on Wednesday 23 October 5-7pm. More details with be circulated.

The case for binding national negotiations and petition. For circulation to all members.

Campaign resources.

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Adult Community Education (ACE)

A change in government policy for adult community education funding means that the Adult Education Budget (AEB) is now called Adult Skills Fund, published by the education and skills funding agency (ESFA). The focus will be a further shift on skills for jobs and a narrowing of funding for non – qualification learning.  UCU needs to defend a broad-based curriculum offer in ACE and in FE that meets the needs of everyone in our communities, not just those who are seeking and are ready for employment, but also for our pensioners and those with SEND needs. But also for the joy of learning for its own sake! The arts and humanities in ACE and FE as in higher education is under attack – we urgently need to defend arts education.

Conditions and pay for ACE staff since incorporation mean that ACE pay and conditions for ACE staff is chaotic with no nationally agreed binding arrangements. Some staff in local government are on the Green Book and some on the Pink book, some branches have no negotiations at all and no pay award.

For the last few years, we have put in motions to FEC and NEC arguing that this has to change.

We want consultation and a national set of demands such as starting pay to be the same as FE and transferring all staff in ACE on zero hours to decent contracts. As part of this campaign, we are drafting a template letter to all Regional UCU officers to send to the mayors of the devolved local authorities calling for the setting up of local mechanisms to make sure UCU ACE has a voice at the table when terms and conditions are set and a commitment to no zero hours contracts and good work standards

We are calling for all in ACE to attend the ACE meeting on the 6 November 4.00pm online to 5.15pm. Look out for email for a registration link and voice your views on pay and terms and conditions.

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Motion 1: Indicative ballot on pay (Fell)

FEC notes:

  • The government is implementing the School Teachers’ Review Body of a fully funded 5.5% pay award for 2024/25, but have stated this will not be extended to FE teachers.
  • This will further widen the pay gap between schoolteachers and FE teachers.

FEC believes:

  • UCU must apply pressure on the government to increase funding for FE pay – this requires national action

FEC resolves:

  • To launch an indicative national ballot of England FE members, asking whether they are willing to take industrial action over pay, if the government refuses to implement the same pay award as offered to the teachers.

Amendment to Motion 1 (Fell)

From FEC resolves. Remove “if the government refuses to implement the same pay award as offered to the teachers” and insert “in pursuit of our pay claim as laid out in the new deal for FE.”

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Motion 3: Towards a pay settlement for FE England (Carried)

FEC recognises:

  • UK/devolved governments settled the long-standing, pay-claims of workers who were loud and active in pursuing national campaigns and national action, notably train drivers, school teachers and FE in the rest of the UK
  • The government ignored FE claims in England
  • The AoC has taken no initiative in negotiations other than hiding behind the STRB and the lack of special funding from the government
  • The GS and her team have made strenuous efforts to engage with the SoS Education and have been rebuffed

FEC resolves:

  • UCU should enter an open dialogue with DfE, pressing and planning for new legislation to amend the relationship of Colleges with the DfE, promoting a National FE Service and a National FE Pay scale which Colleges implement as a result of BNN.
  • UCU will report to FEC on these talks with the DfE 

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A majority of the FEC united to oppose the far right. Calling on all members to take to the streets on October 26th and to encourage UCU branches to organise themed learning weeks to celebrate multiculturalism. 

Motion 2: Stop far right multiculturalism and themed learning week (Carried)
 

FEC notes:

  • The terrifying rise of racists and fascists on our streets with Tommy Robinson mobilising marches of thousands.
  • The racist riots over the summer and attempts to set hotels housing refugees on fire.
  • Anti-racists and anti-fascists successfully mobilised against them.
  • FE colleges teach many students who are refugees and migrants, with a large proportion of staff and students from ethnic minorities.

FEC believes:

  • Our colleges must be places that celebrate multiculturalism.
  • As educators within our community, we have an important role to play in stopping the growth of racism and fascism.

FEC resolves to:

  • Call on FE branches to organise a Themed Learning Week this term and to be sent this out in Friday emails.
  • UCU to facilitate the sharing of ideas and resources between FE branches.
  • Call on members to support the SuTR TUC backed counter demonstration on October 26th in Central London.

https://standuptoracism.org.uk

Stop the far right ‘Unite the Kingdom’ protests on Saturday 28th September London – stop the far right – no fascists in London
Stop the far right ‘Unite the Kingdom’ protests on Saturday 28th September London – stop the far right – no fascists in London

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Education and policy

The FEC heard from UCU policy unit on a range of policies. Labour have not made good on their earlier commitments to pause and review around the BTEC reforms. This is an area that urgently needs addressing with limited pause and review not sufficient to stop this disastrous policy.

The issue of GCSE resits for English and maths should also be front and centre of the unions campaigning. 30% of young people leave school without achieving maths and English. The outcomes for college students are at an all-time low. There are many voices now highlighting the harm this policy is doing to young people and the need for a genuine alternative to compulsory GCSE resits.

See here.

Scrap resits? Yes, but we must go much further

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Notices

  • Defending Post-16 Education under Starmer’s Labour – a call for participation

Saturday October 19th.

UCU London Region initiated and supported by UCU branches at City and Islington College, Westminster Kingsway College, New City College Poplar branch, Merton College, Chichester College, Kingston College, York College, Lewisham College, Morley College, South & City Birmingham branch, Liverpool University, Liverpool John Moores University, London Metropolitan University, University College London, Imperial College London, Strathclyde University, University of Kent, York St John University, Newcastle University, Royal Holloway University of London, University of Greenwich, University of Dundee, University of Leicester, Brighton University, Royal College of Art, Y&H retired members and others tbc.

Click here for more details and to register.

  • National demonstration. One year on: stop the genocide in Gaza, hands off Lebanon October 5th

https://palestinecampaign.org/events/national-demo-for-palestine-5-october-2024/

  • Workplace day of action ceasefire now 10th October

The TUC conference voted to support a national day of action in workplaces in opposition to the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the spread of war.

Call a protest at your workplace.

See also UCU Ceasefire page: https://www.ucu.org.uk/CeasefireNow

  • Solidarity with 5 colleges in North East striking for a decent pay rise

UCU members at Bede Sixth Form College, NETA Training Group, Stockton Riverside College, The Skills Academy, and Redcar and Cleveland College will down tools on Thursday 10 October as part of a long running dispute over pay.

https://www.ucu.org.uk/article/13736/New-strike-date-at-five-North-East-colleges

  • Annual Adult Community Education (ACE) conference

November 6th more details to follow

  • UCU Equality Groups conference

Thursday 28 November – Saturday 30 November

Click here for details and to register.

Peter Evans, Hammersmith, FE LGBT+ Rep
Safia Flissi, South & City College Birmingham FE Women’s Rep
Naina Kent, Hackey Ace, FE UK elected
Richard McEwan, New City College, FE London & East
Regine Pilling, Westminster Kingsway, FE London & East
Sean Vernell, City and Islington College, FE UK elected