The Friday email: 28 February 2025

Strike action at University of Dundee over job cuts

On Monday 24 February, UCU members at the University of Dundee began fifteen days of strike action over the university's threat to cut jobs including by the use of compulsory redundancies. Staff at the university will continue to strike each weekday for the next two weeks.

The dispute started after the university principal emailed all staff in November 2024 saying that, without any warning signs, university senior management had allowed the university to run up a £30m deficit. The principal and other senior managers subsequently resigned from the university.

You can read further updates from the Dundee UCU branch and send messages of solidarity via email.

Strike action at Brunel and Newcastle universities

Brunel University of London began strike action from Friday 28 February; click here for the full strike schedule. The dispute at Brunel arose over management's original plans to make 135 academic staff redundant.

Newcastle University staff will strike for 14 days in March unless management protects jobs. The dispute is over management's threat to cut £35m, including £20m from its salary bill, equivalent to around 300 jobs. Yet the university is looking to open a campus in India while making these huge cuts at home.

Stop the Cuts: fund Higher Education NOW!

The crisis in higher education is deepening. One in two HE institutions are now cutting jobs or announcing redundancies. This is unsustainable and we need urgent government intervention. 

That is why UCU is launching the Stop the Cuts: Fund Higher Education NOW! campaign next week. We ran a briefing session on Wednesday 19 February for branch reps and UCU members to learn about the campaign, what everyone can do to take part, as well as upcoming campaigning and lobbying activities. You can view a recording of the briefing on YouTube.

We are also organising a rally and parliamentary lobby on the afternoon of Tuesday 18 March so that we can make our voices heard in public and tell MPs directly why urgent action is needed. Branch officers have received further information about this event.

New Deal for FE: share the video, sign the petition

On Friday 7 March, a UCU delegation will present our New Deal for FE petition to employers' representatives at the Association of Colleges (AoC) and will also complete our submission to the cross-party inquiry into the further education (FE) sector. Local UCU college branches will be holding local activities to coincide with the national submission on 7 March.

Over 5,600 supporters have now signed the petition calling for a New Deal with pay parity with schoolteachers, national bargaining and action on workloads. Over the next week we need to build the biggest possible number of signatures to the petition. You can help by sharing this short video about the campaign with friends and colleagues and asking them to sign the petition.

UCU elections 2025

UCU has a national executive committee (NEC), elected by the union's members. The elections take place annually, and the ballots to elect Trustees, vice-president, honorary treasurer and NEC members will close on Monday 3 March (17:00). Election results are expected to be available by the end of the day on Thursday 6 March.

Democracy in your union: UCU members' survey

UCU has commissioned the Labour Research Department (LRD) to carry out research into members' thoughts and experiences of the union's democratic structures. Members would have received an email from LRD Surveys this week; the survey is open until Monday 10 March.

Northern Ireland FE pay and conditions dispute

UCU has declared a formal trade dispute with all six college employers in Northern Ireland after they failed to honour the terms offered to members in the 2023/24 pay settlement. A commitment to achieving full pay parity with schoolteachers, as well as an agreement to address all terms and conditions and workload of academic staff, has been reneged on. The employers have failed to respond to union correspondence and requests for meetings. Notice of intention to ballot will quickly follow.

Industrial action ballots at Cardiff, Sheffield and Durham universities

Industrial action ballots opened on Monday 24 February at Cardiff University and University of Sheffield in disputes over job cuts. There are currently over 400 members of staff at risk of redundancy in Cardiff, while at Sheffield plans from management are threatening as many as 1,000 staff with redundancy.

Durham University UCU members are set to be balloted for strike action over plans by management to cut £20m from the university's staffing budget. The ballot will open from Tuesday 4 March.

Finally, please support the following branches where UCU members in higher education are also continuing to defend jobs and education, for example Bangor, Birmingham City University, Canterbury Christ Church, University of East Anglia, Edinburgh, Kent, Northampton, University of Sheffield International College and University of Sunderland.

Support UCU's petition: remove Coventry University vice-chancellor from government role

Coventry University is putting 340 people at risk of redundancy. About a third of them will be sacked and the rest have been told they can apply for jobs in a subsidiary company. However, these jobs will mean they work longer hours, with less annual leave and sick pay entitlements and no access to the Teachers' Pension Scheme (TPS).

The Government have vowed to outlaw 'fire and rehire' tactics but instead they have rewarded the Coventry vice-chancellor John Latham with an advisory role on the board of the Department of Business and Trade. We do not think this accords with the Government's stated values. UCU urge all members to sign this petition, which already has over 3,600 signatories, calling for the immediate removal of John Latham from the Department for Business and Trade board.

Who do you think should lead universities?

All UK university staff: who do you think should lead UK universities? Please provide your views on whom are best placed for vice-chancellor roles by completing this short survey.

This survey is being administered by researchers at the Centre for Higher Education Transformations (CHET) at the University of Bristol. It has received full ethical approval for distribution.

The Minister for Skills answers your questions

At the end of January, UCU general secretary Jo Grady met with the Minister of State for Skills, Baroness Smith of Malvern. This was an opportunity to put UCU members' concerns about the state of UK universities, and what the Labour government should urgently do about the sector, directly to the minister. Click here to watch the full interview.

Research staff manifesto launched

At last weekend's annual meeting for staff on casual contracts, we launched our new Research staff manifesto and accompanying branch guidance. The documents were developed with input from research staff across the United Kingdom and it is hoped that the manifesto can form the basis for local claims and be something the union can campaign around locally and nationally. You can also read the press release here.

UCU anti-casualisation committee: places still available

We are looking for members to make up our anti-casualisation committee (ACC) for the forthcoming year. If you are employed on any sort of casualised contract (fixed-term, hourly-paid, zero hours etc.) we would love to hear from you. There are places for both FE and HE members; members from adult education and prison education are particularly encouraged to apply. Full details are available here and the deadline is Friday 7 March.

Cradle to Grave 2025 conference, 29 March

Registration is open here for UCU's Cradle to Grave conference, which will take place on Saturday 29 March.

This annual conference is a chance for members to gather together to discuss some of the biggest challenges and opportunities facing the sectors where we organise. The theme of this year's conference is 'Education for liberation: building progressive post-16 education policy', and the confirmed keynote speaker is Richard Burgon, Labour MP for Leeds East.

The conference will be run as a hybrid event, with options to attend in person at the CCT Venue Smithfields, London or online via Zoom. We expect spaces for the in-person event to fill up quickly so register as soon as possible to secure your place. The deadline to register is Thursday 13 March; the conference is free to attend.

UCU Green rep survey

UCU's climate and ecological emergency committee (CEEC) would like to understand from Green Reps how best we can support you to progress a Just Transition and Climate bargaining agenda in your branches, and specifically how we can move towards a proactive 'bargaining for the future' strategy. This survey is directed to UCU members who are already Green reps or who have expressed an interest in the union's climate related work. It should take around 10 minutes to complete.

UCU Green Futures newsletter Winter 2025

Welcome to the first edition of Green Futures, which is the newsletter of the Climate and ecological emergency committee (CEEC).

In this quarterly edition:

• Meet the UCU climate committee: who we are
• CEEC annual meeting report
• GKN Florence updates
• Green reps and branch survey
• FE Just Transition framework briefing.

Click here to download the UCU Green Futures newsletter Winter 2025 edition, and you can also click here for more information about the CEEC.

International Women's Day, 8 March

Join UCU in celebrating International Women's Day (IWD) on Saturday 8 March. This year's campaign theme is Accelerate Action and we have a new wallchart depicting women's fight for equality since the first International Women's Day. This is available on our website. Hard copies are also available on request, along with new IWD lanyards, by emailing Martin Whelton or Charlotte Nielsen.

Pride and Prejudice in Education 2025

UCU is updating the Pride and Prejudice in Education report about LGBT+ experiences in FE and HE (2016). We are inviting you to complete a survey by the deadline of Friday 21 March. Please do share the survey as it is for all LGBT+ FE and HE staff and students/learners. The chief investigator is Dr Kieran Higgins based at Ulster University.

Union and leading campaigners condemn University of Cambridge attempt to quash peaceful protest

UCU joined Liberty and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in condemning an attempt by the University of Cambridge to place legal restrictions on all pro-Palestine protests for five years through an application to the High Court for an injunction, due to be heard on Thursday 27 February.

UCU said the move by Cambridge bosses was a shameful attack on basic democratic rights including freedom of speech and freedom of assembly and risked setting a repressive legal precedent which could be used to shut down peaceful protest at universities across the country.  

International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, 25 March

Tuesday 25 March marks the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and UCU will be hosting a special webinar that day (18:00-19:00).

The webinar is entitled 'Education, reparations and justice: the legacy of slavery in post-16 learning'. Our keynote speaker is Dr Leona Vaughn, academic and researcher in the field of equalities and social justice, and the webinar is hosted by UCU president Maxine Looby. Please click here to register.