Brighton University to derecognise unions

The University of Brighton has given its UNISON and UCU branches nine months’ notice of derecognition. It has said it wants to renegotiate all the major agreements it has concerning terms and conditions. In effect the University is blackmailing the unions into accepting what it wants to do to their jobs.

The University is citing the HE funding crisis as the reason to blow up its industrial relations. HE is in trouble but institutions still have choices and this is a disastrous one.

The unions must defend effective trade unionism at University of Brighton and force the University to withdraw the derecognition threat!

Crisis

With strikes now against job cuts at several universities including Glasgow Caledonian University and Essex University, the Government must meet urgently with the Higher Education unions to discuss how they will tackle the HE funding crisis which is threatening pay levels, jobs, and now our right to effective trade unionism.

Meanwhile, the five HE unions have declared a dispute with the employers over this year’s dire 2% pay offer. It’s unclear whether UCU will agree to ballot over pay. Their Higher Education Committee is not due to meet until October.

The other unions are unlikely to ballot over pay if UCU doesn’t.

At the same time talks aimed at reforming the pay spine to deal with the problem of compression are now underway and due to end in mid-December. If successful a new pay spine could be implemented from August 2027 and would represent a small remedy to years of pay erosion.