UCU dispute: build the next stages

Submitted by AWL on 14 December, 2021 - 4:45 Author: A UCU member
UCU strikers

With terms drawing to a close in mid-December, university campuses are becoming much quieter places, and will remain so until early-mid January.

Whilst taking much-needed respite following the end of a busy term and kicking off industrial action, University and College Union (UCU) activists and supporters now have ideal opportunities to build our actions into next term. There are five clear things activists should focus on: recruiting to the union; mobilising members to take part in “action short of a strike” (ASOS) and join next term’s pickets; getting more branches out; building solidarity with non-UCU staff; and pressuring the leadership to strengthen the actions available to us.

UCU strikes hit 58 campuses on 1-3 December, and “action short of a strike” in 60+ branches is now indefinitely in place. This represents nearly 60% of our membership, which could rise as high as nine in ten of all UCU higher education members if all 42 branches currently re-balloting beat the anti-union 50%+ turnout threshold. We can use this time to support these 42 branches — contact anyone you know currently being re-balloted, offer them support with phone-rounds, email reminders.

We also need to get more members out on strike, and new people into the union. Until pickets resume (later in January) we need to reach out to colleagues who weren’t striking or on pickets and convince them of why we’re out, and why their support is essential to win.

There are six types of ASOS that the UCU included on our ballots. So far, just one is in place: working to rule. This offers an important way of reclaiming many unpaid hours university staff work, but alone won’t be enough to beat our employers.

Serious thought needs to be put on organising effective marking boycotts that are hard-hitting — in both the Winter and Summer semester exams. The union’s higher education committee also needs to issue stronger guidance on rescheduling classes, sharing or uploading online material, and covering for colleagues.

Without bulletproof guidance and support from the union and notifications sent to management, senior leadership will too-easily be able to undermine actions of union members. For escalation to start in January, we need to act now.

Building student solidarity will also be crucial next term. Student support puts further pressure on institutions and helps to cohere and boost morale for striking workers. Building national co-ordination, for such things as a national demonstration will be important. The “Red Square Movement” which came out of the lockdown rent strikes could provide that co-ordination.

But the renewed student movement now being built will need to defend the right to protest. An investigation by Express reporter Emily Braeger found 31 universities admitting to monitoring students’ social media accounts for political activity. Students at Sheffield Hallam have now launched a campaign to sack their Vice Chancellor, Chris Husbands (@SHUdivorcechris).


• A three week strike at Goldsmiths college in south London ended on Monday 13 December with a picket line celebration of student solidarity, a presentation of an “Open Letter to Frances Corner” (Goldsmiths’ top manager) signed by over 4,000 academics, researchers and others, songs, and a well-received speech by Jeremy Corbyn.

The strike at Goldsmiths has become a focal point for the wider battle in higher education against cut backs, casualisation and attacks on the workforce. With 52 jobs on the line in just the first wave of management cuts, the local branch will need the solidarity of the whole union through an academic boycott of the college. If management do not back down on redundancies Goldsmiths UCU plans more action.

The Goldsmiths Unison branch, which has many members affected in what is essentially a “fire and rehire” move by the college, is conducting an indicative industrial ballot. If this leads to a formal ballot, both unions may be taking industrial action together next term.

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