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Four million learners join UCU campaign for a better deal

31 March 2008

As UCU's FE members vote on whether to take action on pay, the union received a massive boost with the news that the National Union of Students (NUS) is supporting the 'our colleges, our communities' campaign.

Support from the organisation which represents 4 million learners means that the employers now face complete unity between staff and students in the broad campaign to defend education against current pressures such as poor pay and privatisation.

NUS and UCU have issued a joint statement, reproduced below, which calls on the employers to invest properly in staff to ensure that learners get a better deal.

The campaign also has the support of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), whose members also face a below-inflation pay award this year. If members vote in favour action will be taken in conjunction with NUT members on 24 April.


UCU and NUS joint statement:  Our colleges, our communities

Together, we represent 4 million learners and 118,000 educators in further and higher education and we assert that publicly funded, properly resourced colleges are central to the needs of learners and communities across the UK. In order for students and learners to have the best possible education, they need to have the best possible conditions and motivated and properly rewarded staff. Yet the provision of public education is under attack locally and nationally. Those working in our colleges are underpaid and their professional autonomy is eroded, while the market approach to education introduces competition and the encroachment of the private sector jeopardises the public service ethos and quality of service

This is damaging to the education of students and learners and detrimental to the conditions of employment for the staff that support them. This also causes real damage to the cohesion of our communities. NUS supports the lecturers' action for better pay and their campaign against the market. UCU and NUS will work together under the banner of 'our colleges, our communities' to promote a vision for education which argues for the right for all to learn from the cradle to the grave and for all college staff to receive the proper pay, conditions and job security necessary to achieve that vision.

Last updated: 14 December 2015

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