Exploited lecturers and other university teaching staff are staging a two-day strike on 25-26th May, in protest against miserable pay conditions, rejecting an ‘insulting’ pay deal by university and college bosses. Joe Attard of Kings College London UCU branch (personal capacity) discusses the battle ahead for higher education staff and all those fighting against Tory cuts.
Following successful ballots, members of the UCU union are taking strike action in colleges across the country against cuts that will result in “the death of further education”. We publish here reports from Socialist Appeal supporters in Sheffield and Hackney, London, who have been on the picket lines with UCU members.
Staff at London Metropolitan University were out on strike today in protest against plans by management to cut courses, with an associated loss of 165 jobs. The demands of the union members taking action today were clear: not one course to be closed; not one job to be cut – an injury to one is an injury to all!
Yesterday, around 100 teachers and students attended a demonstration at Hackney Community College, organised by UCU members to mark the opening day of their ballot for strike action at FE colleges across the whole of London. Staff and students are fighting back against Tory attacks on education and jobs.
Tutors and support staff were on strike last week, on 29th January, over a dispute regarding redundancies at the Sheffield College. Staff took to the picket lines despite arctic weather conditions, which had no effect on spirits, with staff stopping all traffic into the college, as well as students, in order to win their support. Natasha Sorrell of the Sheffield Marxists reports.
Late on October 13th the University and Colleges Union (UCU) had to send out urgent information to UCU members in Further Education (FE) that the planned strike for the following day had been called of as a result of a High Court injunction. How could the Union have got into this position? And what is the next step for UCU members fighting against attacks on pay and conditions?
The ongoing dispute at Lambeth College in London is emblematic of the entire austerity and privatisation programme. The militancy of the struggle against attacks on terms and conditions at Lambeth College and the closure of the Brixton site could in turn be an important point of reference in the struggle against austerity in general.
After a year long campaign of industrial action for higher pay, members of the University and College Union (UCU) in Higher Education (HE) have accepted an improved 2% pay offer. With a clear perspective, political programme, and fighting strategy from the UCU leadership, however, a greatly improved offer could have been achieved. Darrall Cozens of the UCU West Midlands looks at the lessons from the HE pay dispute.
After a united struggle of action for the past academic year, university staff in the UCU, Unite, and Unison are now having to decide whether to end the dispute and accept a mildly improved offer of a 2% pay increase. The alternative for UCU members is to continue with a boycott of examination marking. The HE dispute therefore hangs in the balance, and workers now find themselves between a rock and a hard place due to the lack of a fighting leadership in the unions.
Since the start of the New Year the industrial action within the Higher Education (HE) pay dispute has increased in tempo, with UCU – the union to which lecturers and teaching staff are largely affiliated – organising a number of strike days throughout January and February. Central to these has been the use of two-hour strikes. Jo Pickard of the Sussex Marxists looks at the question of two-hour strikes and whether they can provide a way forward for the unions.
The first of three two-hour short, sharp strikes took place today, Thursday 23rd January, from 11am to 1pm. The picketing in Coventry was the most successful since this current dispute began back in the autumn term 2013. Darrall Cozens of the West Midlands UCU reports from the picket lines and looks ahead to future rounds of planned actions.
Tuesday 3rd December saw not only workers in Higher Education out on strike, but also members of the unions in Further Education, who have equally seen attacks on pay and conditions over the past period. Darrall Cozens, UCU retired member, reports on the HE and FE strikes in Coventry.