The Friday email: 27 February 2026

Truro and Penwith College: strike action

Truro and Penwith UCU members were on strike on Monday 23 February in a dispute over pay and excessive workloads. The union has already called three days of strike action since the start of the year (Wednesday 14 to Friday 16 January).

Despite a programme of mass redundancies last year, and a pay award of 2% (only half that recommended by the employer body Association of Colleges), college management have still not returned to the negotiating table to find solutions to prevent further industrial action.

News from universities across the UK

Heriot-Watt University: As part of a wider dispute, Heriot-Watt UCU have launched a campaign over the closure of German and Chinese undergraduate programmes in the department of Languages and Intercultural Studies (LINCS) and the threat of job losses (one-third of the staff in the department) . Please sign their petition here and find out more about the campaign here. The joint Heriot-Watt unions have also been gathering support for Scholar, a national digital learning service for Scotland, which is threatened with closure. Please add your voice here.

London Metropolitan University: The dispute at London Met continues with no movement on the management side. UCU has opened an industrial action ballot on 20 February, running until 12 March. The branch has organised a solidarity rally, which is open to all and will take place on Monday 2 March (17:30). The rally will be addressed by UCU general secretary Jo Grady, and you can join online using the link below.

Durham University: Staff at Durham University will begin working to rule from Friday 27 February. The start of the action coincides with Trades Union Congress' (TUC) 'work your proper hours day' and will highlight the unbearably high workloads management has forced onto staff after axing hundreds of their colleagues.

Edinburgh University: Edinburgh UCU has begun a new strike ballot in the dispute over £140m cuts and up to 1,800 job losses, workload, hidden redundancies and meaningful consultation with unions. This follows on from last year's dispute, which saw nine days of strike action taken by staff as a result of management refusing to rule out compulsory redundancies.

Northumbria University: Northumbria will continue their strike action in a fight to save staff pensions. The dispute is over management's decision to force staff out of the Teacher's Pension Scheme (TPS), by freezing the pay of any staff member who tries to stay in it. So far, 29 MPs have signed a motion condemning the university's actions, North East Mayor Kim McGuinness and local councillors have written to management over the pension attack, and a petition has over 1,300 signatures.

University of Essex: Essex UCU members were on strike to stop the reckless closure of Southend campus and the proposed axing of 400 FTE. You can read further details here. Please sign this petition to save Essex and consider donating to Essex UCU's hardship fund. You can also share UCU's short film (on YouTube, BlueSky or Facebook), in which Essex staff and students explain why people are coming together to defend education and their community.

As reported last week, UCU members at Stirling, Strathclyde, Aberdeen, Leicester, Durham, Heriot-Watt universities have backed strike action in their disputes. Sheffield, Nottingham and Swansea are balloting or re-balloting over their disputes. You can click here for developments at institutions across the UK, and click here to see recent wins and resolutions.

Introduction to UCU Congress briefing

If you are considering attending UCU Congress for the first time and would like to know more about UCU's supreme policy-making body, click here to register for a briefing which will take place on Monday 9 March (12:30-13:30). Registration deadline is Friday 6 March at 17:00.

Webinar on collective redundancies

On Wednesday 11 March (17:00-18:00), UCU will hold a webinar with Helena Ifeka, a barrister at Cloisters Chambers who specialises in employment law. The webinar will focus on collective redundancies, and you can register here.

Helena Ifeka will use a hypothetical example to work through both good practice and common issues, and afterwards she will take questions. Helena Ifeka has asked that UCU members send questions or pressing concerns in advance to Hamish Park. Members are asked to send questions no later than Monday 9 March at 09:00.

UCU anti-casualisation webinar: inequalities and unpaid work in academia

This webinar will take place on Wednesday 25 March (12:00). Intersectional inequalities and overwork continue to shape working conditions in higher education. Casualised education workers--who are more likely to be women and racialised minorities--frequently undertake significant amounts of unpaid labour. This work is often invisibilised, yet deeply gendered and racialised, reinforcing structural inequalities across the sector.

Cecile Menard and Lena Wånggren will present findings from their recent project, In Their Own Time. The project explores the systemic expectations of unpaid labour that sustain ableist and gendered cultures within academia. Working in collaboration with comics illustrator Maria Stoian, the project shares the experiences of eight casualised workers through illustrated narratives. Aimed at employers and funders, the initiative was supported by UCU's anti-casualisation committee (ACC).

We encourage all members to attend and you can register here.

USS pensions: webinar on financial planning

A USS pensions review webinar will take place on Wednesday 11 March (15:00). UCU, with our partners Quilter Financial Advisers (QFA), are offering a webinar for members in USS with information on basic financial planning and saving for retirement. To attend this event please click here to register. If this date is not convenient, please email QFA with your contact details and they can arrange a free initial appointment for you with a financial adviser.

TransActual Workers Survey

TransActual Workers Survey wants to hear from trans workers and allies about any changes that your employer has made to policies and practices regarding trans inclusion since the Supreme Court ruling. 

The aim of the survey is to show the impact of last year's Supreme Court judgment, the EHRC interim guidance, and the recent High Court judgment concerning the Workplace Regulations 1992. Please click here to complete the TransActual Workers survey.

UCU has a separate survey collecting any institutional actions that have taken place since the Supreme Court hearing, which you are also invited to complete.

Support the NION Women Collective Letter

The NION (Not In Our Name) Women Collective has launched an open letter demonstrating the breadth of support for trans women among cis women. The letter affirms solidarity with the trans community and calls for inclusion, dignity and equality for all. To date, more than 80,000 people have signed, reflecting significant and growing backing across the UK. Members who wish to read the letter or add their name can do so here. Please consider sharing within your networks to help broaden its reach.

UCU Cradle to Grave conference

The annual 'From Cradle to Grave' conference will take place on Saturday 21 March. The theme of this year's conference is 'Fighting for an education for all', and will include plenary sessions on the implications of the Post-16 education and skills white paper and on defending academic freedom and professional autonomy, as well as breakout sessions on artificial intelligence, green skills and international solidarity.

The conference will run as an online. Register as soon as possible to secure your place. The deadline to register is Friday 6 March; the conference is free to attend.

UCU equality research conference

The UCU equality research conference will take place on Friday 15 May in a hybrid format (in-person at University of Manchester or Zoom). Call for papers is out with a final deadline of Monday 16 March, 16:00. If you conduct activist or academic research relating to equality please submit a proposal to present. The proposal can be for research at any stage of the process.

Defend our right to protest

On Tuesday 17 March, there will be a mass lobby of Parliament to defend our right to protest, jointly organised by civil society organisations, including many trade unions. You can find out more information about the lobby here.

March to stop the far right

The UCU is proud to be part of the Together Alliance, a group of trade unionists,  environmentalists, community activists, faith leaders, musicians, athletes and entertainers joining forces to combat the rise of the far right.

The alliance has organised a major national demonstration on Saturday 28 March in central London, assembling in Park Lane. UCU will have a bloc on the demo, with flags and banners, so we can march together.

For more details of the demo, to order publicity material and get details of transport from your area, please visit the Together Alliance website. Together we can stop the rise of the far right.