After 15 months of HE and FE employers using the pandemic as a justification for attacking the jobs, pay and conditions of their staff, this year’s UCU Congress and Sector Conferences needed to orient and arm the union for a …
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 …
Congress 2021: Motion Prioritisation Recommendations
In this post we offer a suggested list of priority motions that your branch or region might like to consider when you respond to the UCU Congress and HESC 2021 prioritisation consultation.
We found the process of identifying motions that …
Further Education Committee (FEC) Report 26 February
The meeting began with a 1 minute silence for Donna Coleman, a longstanding UCU member at Burnley College. She died last month after contracting Covid. She was just 42 years old. This was a painful reminder of what is at …
The Fight for Trans Rights
Note on terminology: this article will use the term trans throughout as an umbrella term referring to a range of trans, nonbinary, genderqueer and gender non-conforming identities (as many trans-led organisations such as Gendered Intelligence do). We will use other …
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 …
Why we shouldn’t welcome the FE White Paper
The new Skills for Jobs White Paper put colleges at the centre of an underfunded, narrow, skills-based and business-led plan.

Last week, the secretary of state for education, Gavin Williamson, finally launched the government’s FE …
No return to unsafe workplaces – ballot to defend education workers, students and communities
Jo Grady’s statement in today’s papers threatening strike action against any premature return to campus and face-to-face teaching should be applauded.
UCU is saying clearly that we will not allow employers to put staff and students at risk as they …
Further Education Sector Conference 2020 Report
Collectivise the resistance: Covid Safety, Pay and Working Conditions
This year’s rescheduled UCU Further Education Sector Conference (FESC) met on Saturday the 12th of December online via Zoom under the extraordinary conditions of a second wave of Coronavirus.
In addition …
At last advice from the UK Government on the re-opening of FE
— Joint statement from Marian Mayer, UCU Left candidate for Vice President, and Peter Evans, UCU Left candidate for the LGBT+ casual vacancy on the NEC.
Most Further Education (FE) colleges in England started physical on-site opening on 17 …