Who is in UCU Left?

UCU Left is a broad left grouping of members of the 120,000 strong University and College Union. We are committed to building a member-led, democratic UCU, one which is founded on a strategy of campaigning and collective action rather than one based solely on servicing members and individual casework.

UCU Left supporters cover a spectrum of political views and affiliations and include members of various parties such as the Labour Party, Socialist Workers Party, Green Party, Socialist Party, or no party at all.

We have refused to compromise on fighting the pension cuts, defending jobs, and defending members’ contracts and conditions. We have worked to commit the union to the rejection of the current Teachers Pension Scheme (TPS) offer and to join with other rejectionist unions in a renewed campaign of industrial action.

We refused to compromise on our vocal defence of student protesters when they were arrested, beaten, kettled and in some cases jailed for daring to protest tuition fee increases and cuts to courses, despite some in our union’s leadership joining the chorus of condemnation.

We have, since our formation six years ago, been committed to organisng the greatest possible resistance to education cuts, pay cuts and the recent austerity agenda, and attempts to promote privatisation of  post-16 education and the restriction of educational access.

UCU Left has worked with student organisations and communities to help build mass opposition to the Con-Dem government’s plans to make working people pay for a crisis not of our making, for example through the abolition of the Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA), cuts to ESOL and growing funding cuts and marketisation in further, Adult and higher education.

Our supporters are committed to the defence and promotion of members’ interests at all levels of the union, from branch reps to members of the National Executive.

This website regularly carries content, created by front line, lay members of UCU. The most recent activities of our group have been our recent conference and to view the election leaflets of candidates who we support in the current general secretary, vice-presidential, and NEC elections.

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