UCU Left - Defend Further, Adult and Higher Education - Fight for an alternative vision: Lobby Parliament on the 26th January


			The UCU Left is a national organisation of University and College Union activists. It is committed to ensuring that the new union has a democratic structure through which members can determine policy, and elected officers and professional officials can be held accountable. It seeks to defend educational equality, and to oppose the consequences of neo-liberal marketisation. It is opposed to all forms of racism, sexism, oppression and imperialism.

Defend Further, Adult and Higher Education

Tower Hamlets UCU strikers fighting to defend education

Fight for an alternative vision: Lobby Parliament on the 26th January

It is unfortunate that the ballot result went narrowly against taking industrial action over pay. Members voted by a small majority of 132 votes not to strike (49 .1% voted to take action whilst 50.9% voted against on a 27% turn out). Many of us found that branches were voting for action when members were presented with an argument that framed the fight over pay in a wider educational context and when it was explained that with £1.4 billion in college reserves, and billions spent on bailing out bankers, the money was there to pay lecturers a decent living wage.

However, the impact of cuts in funding leading to mounting job losses and the wider recession clearly on this occasion made many lecturers feel that pay was not the issue to fight on at the moment, despite the unanimous lead from the FEC and the strong vote to reject the pay offer at the special pay conference. Nonetheless, almost 50% of those who participated voted for a hard-hitting campaign of escalating industrial action despite the attempts of many college Principals’ to influence the vote.

This does not mean we can now sit back. On the contrary, we have a major fight in defence of F/A education as well as our pay. Firstly, we must ensure that all colleges implement the 1.5%. Let us know what the situation is in your college.

Build the lobby of Parliament

Our fight on pay is part of the wider fight to defend jobs and education provision in FE. It is part of the wider fight also to defend Adult and Higher education. UCU launches its broad campaign to defend Further, Adult and Higher Education on the 26th January at the lobby of Parliament. £915 million cuts in Higher education and £720 million in Adult Education will leave young and old, alike, with a much narrower chance to gain an education that allows them to protect themselves against the impact of the recession. It will be the poor and some of the most vulnerable in our society that will be further denied an equal access to education. We cannot avoid this fight. At the lobby we will also be launching our alternative vision for education, with our post-16 education manifesto. Between 2.30pm and 4.30pm on 26 January, there will be speeches from MPs, trade unionists and educators. More details to follow.

We call upon all members of UCU London region to join us at the Lobby of Parliament to tell MPs that we will not let them make lecturers and those we teach responsible for the spectacular failure of banking and the insatiable greed of the bankers.

A united campaign to defend public services

The fight to defend Education will not be won by those of us who work in the sector fighting alone. We will need to link up with all those who work in the public sector. All the major political parties have made it clear that they will be looking drastically to cut back on public sector funding after the election. We need to start now in forging a national alliance of action that is capable of defeating these attacks.

This is why the RTW conference in Manchester is such an important initiative. It will bring together all those who see it as their business to defend public services. It will bring together, trade unionists, student activists, anti war and anti racist campaigners with environmentalists, pensioners, community campaigners together to map out a strategy to defend jobs, pensions and services- see you there. For more details, see here.

The election for Vice President and NEC positions also provides an excellent opportunity for all those who want to build the campaign to defend education to vote for those who won’t be afraid to lead such a fight. Every activist will need to ensure that they get the biggest vote possible for UCU left candidates and use the election to widen the network of activists in every college.