The Friday email: 22 July 2022

Respect FE: industrial ballot results

Staff at 29 colleges in England voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action. The ballot result came after further education employers refused to improve a pay offer of just 2.5%. You can read UCU general secretary Jo Grady's announcement here and watch Jo's video message.

89.9% of UCU members voted 'Yes' to strike action, on an overall turnout of 57.9%. This is the biggest mandate for industrial action across English further education colleges since the 50% turnout threshold was brought into force under Trade Union Act 2016.

The 29 colleges will also be joined by four others in the North West and six across London that were balloted separately, bringing the total number of colleges set to be hit by industrial action to 39.

Higher education disputes: please check and update your details

Plans are underway for UCU to hold the biggest ever aggregated ballots of the entire higher education sector to defend pensions, pay, and working conditions. The industrial action ballot will run during the autumn and we will be communicating with HE members regularly over the summer. We will be in a position to share campaign details and timelines in the very near future. In the meantime, please take a moment to check your contact and employment details on MyUCU.

Fighting university redundancies and defending members

UCU is determined to resist the current wave of job cuts and attacks on working conditions taking place in higher education and these campaigns are asking for your support:

• Members at Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL) have had the threat of 100% pay deductions for participation in action short of a strike (ASOS) hanging over them since 31 January. This week, QMUL management refused to suspend deductions while negotiations were ongoing and instead issued pay slips confirming that 100% deductions would be made; some staff lost 21 days' pay this month. London Region is providing assistance to affected members and QMUL has resolved to take further strike action during welcome week under its current mandate. You can view general secretary Jo Grady's video message here and you can support QMUL UCU members by donating to their strike fund
• Royal College of Art UCU are campaigning against redundancies and you can sign RCA UCU's petition here
• De Montfort University have announced that 58 members of staff face the prospect of compulsory redundancy. For the latest developments, you can read De Montfort UCU's bulletin here and sign DMU UCU's petition
• UCU continues to be in dispute with University of Wolverhampton as management pushes ahead with plans to suspend student recruitment onto 146 courses
• follow University of Roehampton UCU's Twitter account and check how you can help their fight against course cuts and redundancies
• an industrial action ballot opened at Falmouth University on Monday 11 July and will run until Friday 19 August. The ballot aims to stop management creating a two-tier workforce using a wholly owned subsidiary company, with worse terms and conditions. Send messages of support to the branch via Twitter @UCUFalmouth
• sign Goldsmiths UCU's open letter calling for Goldsmiths management to reinstate Des Freedman and Gholam Khiabany.

Click here to read a round-up of the disputes and recent wins, and please consider making a donation to UCU's fighting fund to help our members in HE and FE.

Cradle to Grave conference, 10 September: register now

Registration is open for UCU's Cradle to Grave conference to be held on Saturday 10 September. Our keynote speaker is John McDonnell MP and there will be a panel discussion on visions for post-pandemic education as well as workshops on access to learning, organising at work, prison education, and protecting the arts and humanities.

Friday email will return

Please note this will be the last Friday email for a while; it will resume at the start of September. Rest assured that we will continue to send out important updates. We hope you have a good break and stay safe over the summer.