UCU Left calls on members to vote for candidates who are committed to building the fights against the attacks faced by workers in Further, Higher and Prison Education. UCU Left candidates stand for strengthening democracy in our union, and for using the power of trade unions to fight for a more equal, sustainable and peaceful world.
Please encourage your colleagues to use their vote. Democracy depends on participation and low votes give comfort to the employers.
Election candidates
| Post | Candidate | |
|---|---|---|
| Vice President | 1 | Rhiannon Lockley |
| Honorary Treasurer | 1 | Deepa Driver |
| Trustee | 1 2 | John Parrington Mike Barton |
| President UCU Scotland | 1 | Grant Buttars |
| Honorary Secretary UCU Scotland | 1 | Carlo Morelli |
| UK Elected FE | 1 2 | Sean Vernell Saleem Rashid |
| UK Elected HE | 1 2 3 | Richard Wild Rob Macmaster Michael Carley |
| North West FE | 1 | Nina Doran |
| North West HE | 1 2 | Peta Bulmer Bee Hughes |
| South FE | 1 | John Fones |
| South HE | 1 2 3 4 5 | Aris Katzourakis Ryan Burns Ellen Owens David Chivall Michael Carley |
| Midlands FE | 1 | Dharminder Chuhan |
| Disabled HE | 1 | Roddy Slorach |
| LGBT+ Members | 1 | Bee Hughes |
| Migrant Members | 1 | Patricia Prieto Blanco |
| Black Members | 1 | Nitin Rajyaguru |
| Casually Employed | 1 | Cecily Blyther |
If you have unused preferences after voting for UCU Left candidates, we recommended using them for the following other candidates:
HE South – Aris Katzourakis
President UCU Scotland – Sarah Joss
Representative of Casually Employed Members – Sam Morecroft
Leaflets
Download single page A4 UCU Left election leaflets for printing: Black and White or Colour
Posts
- France & Spain – Students and workers fight back.
Stop the repression – spread the resistance! In France and Spain, thousands of workers & students have taken to the streets against the underfunding of schools and the lack of affordable housing. In France, the movement was sparked by school students, with over 400 schools being shut down. The police have viciously attacked them and arrested …Continue reading “France & Spain – Students and workers fight back. “
- Organise now for the nationally aggregated ballot FEC Report Back – 25th September In May, branch delegates at FESC voted to launch a nationally aggregated ballot over pay, workload and national binding bargaining. This report focuses on how the campaign is progressing with the ballot being launched this term, and the key next steps we need to take now. Pay, workload and national binding …
Continue reading “Organise now for the nationally aggregated ballot “
- No shortcuts without industrial action
Dundee and Edinburgh UCU branches strike for five weeks of co-ordinated strike action By Carlo Morelli, UCU Dundee rep Dundee UCU in their second of five weeks of strike action have now been joined by Edinburgh UCU, in their own five weeks of strikes. Both union branches are striking against threatened compulsory redundancies, as Scottish Higher Education … - UCU’s Equality Conference – here’s why you should goYou will have received an email invitation to UCU’s Equality Conference in Newcastle, Thursday 26th to Saturday 28th November. We strongly encourage members to attend in order to shape the discussions and learn from others. Women’s rights, disability rights, trans rights, migrant rights and minority ethnic people are all under attack within the our institutions, society and …
Continue reading “UCU’s Equality Conference – here’s why you should go”
- UCU NEC by-election – Summer 2026UCU’s NEC elections decide the lay leadership of our union. NEC decisions affect how we deal with employers; which member issues we prioritise allocation of union resources to; how, if and when members are provided legal support; and what fighting fund support members who participate in strikes and marking boycotts receive. It’s vital that members have …
- Vote reject the offer, yes to industrial action!This week you should have received your electronic ballot over pay (email sent on 21st July) More than ever, we need a coordinated fight to save the HE sector. Some members have asked why we should focus on the UK-wide pay ballot when branches are facing compulsory redundancies and job losses? The two issues are connected, the …
Continue reading “Vote reject the offer, yes to industrial action!”
- Report of Higher Education Committee – 26 June 2026The newly constituted Higher Education Committee met at the end of last month, based on the last round of NEC elections. We are all too keenly aware of the crisis facing HE with increasing numbers of universities facing threats of hundreds of compulsory redundancies and pension loss and slashing, cuts and closures, as well as the …
Continue reading “Report of Higher Education Committee – 26 June 2026”
- FEC defending member’s democratic decisionsThe 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 …
Continue reading “FEC defending member’s democratic decisions”
- 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 … - UCU Left Congress caucus
UCU Congress 2026 Congress is next week – it is a key point in the year when members get together and decide on what the national union should be doing. Congress must rise to the multiple challenges we face and vote for national strategies and action that can defend and protect post-16 education. With the recent …