As you read earlier this month in the email from Jo Grady, UCU did not get over the 50% turnout threshold for strike action. Though of the 39% who did vote, around 70% were in favour of action. We were pleased that this email recognised weakness in the strategic direction provided, which reflects the comments we heard from members locally.
Feedback from our members consultation meeting was shared with national representatives at the recent Branch Delegates meeting, and echoed the concerns of many other branches. The need for a more comprehensive and well-communicated strategy was the key message, alongside the more immediate threats to jobs. We are hopeful that this will influence future direction.
It’s clear that the current situation, with below-inflation pay deals since 2012, cannot be allowed to continue. The majority of our members should be receiving between twenty and thirty thousand pounds a year more in their pay, and the tax thresholds should be un-frozen to allow more of this to be taken home. But locally and nationally UCU also recognise that the financial environment in the sector is already fragile, and many colleagues across the country have already taken weeks of strike action this year to defend jobs. Sector finances are intolerable and so is the impact on staff – exacerbated in many cases by local decision-making and wasteful spending.
As a branch we are pushing for a more long-term strategy on how to improve our conditions. We have made a productive step in this direction already, passing a motion in support of much-needed tax reform in support of campaigns by the likes of Gary Stevenson and Zack Polanski who are getting this on the political agenda. This motion authorises us to take a motion to our next national congress where we hope to make this core UCU policy. We hope that by influencing these macroeconomic factors, we can help create the conditions in which public sector finances can be restored and education properly funded, removing the excuses for our insulting pay deals.
Since 2008 the narrative “there’s no more money” has become burned into the culture. Yet during that time the economy has grown and the wealth of those at the top has grown enormously. Unless the government take steps to redistribute wealth and improve the lives of ordinary people it looks very likely they will hand the country to the far right. We must all unite to stop that future from happening.
An action we can all do to increase our successes, locally and nationally, is to speak to people around us about these problems and the importance of strong unions in enabling us to take collective action. Why not invite a colleague to join us today? We also encourage members to show solidarity and support to branches in dispute to save jobs, whether through donations, attending pickets and rallies, or sending messages of support.
