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Last week, over 600 attendees heard Jo Grady, branch representatives and activists address a joint mass rally against planned cuts by Imperial College, Liverpool University, Roehampton University and SOAS.

A day later, Reading University announced redundancies amounting to 500 FTE, to be implemented by sacking all its staff and rehiring on inferior contracts. This is a huge attack on the trade union, allowing the employer to pick and choose which staff to keep, as well as imposing major changes in contracts. 

This is a watershed moment. There are no comparable examples in UCU or AUT’s history of such a union-busting attack. We cannot afford to let individual branches face this level of attack alone.

Representatives from over 30 branches met at the weekend and agreed to call a further demonstration and rally this Thursday 25 June, starting at 12 noon on Zoom.  (hosted by Imperial College UCU). 

General Secretary Jo Grady has been invited to speak.

If we fight, we can win.

The National Education Union’s campaign forced the government into committing a further £1bn of funding for schools. We need to learn from their experience for post-16 education. Whilst the UCU  is a good start, UCU members need to stand together in solidarity. We also need a much stronger response from our national leadership.

We can expect every university to be in financial difficulty in the Autumn. If management at Imperial, Liverpool, SOAS, Reading and Roehampton succeed in making pay and job cuts, and if there is no new financial support for the HE sector, Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø and others may follow suit.

An injury to one is an injury to all.