Lambeth College strike goes into its fourth day – report from the picket lines
Workers at Lambeth College voted last month for an indefinite strike to defend themselves against a principal who seems hell-bent on wrecking Further Education in the Borough.
SOAS Fractionals statement
This statement first appeared on the Fractionals For Fair Play (FFFP) Facebook page. FFFP STATEMENT ON ACAS TALKS AND UPCOMING NEGOTIATIONS ALL-FRACTIONALS MEETING ON 3 JUNE 5PM ROOM 116 On Friday 23 May UCU representatives and SOAS management reached an agreement at ACAS regarding the fractional staff dispute. This agreement is a first victory for […]
UK a tax haven for Big Pharma
Sophie Williams, a medical student at Imperial College London, discusses how low tax rates in the UK make buying out AstraZeneca an attractive deal for US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer US-based pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has begun a bid to buy-out the UK-registered AstraZeneca. Both companies are the in top-ten most profitable pharmaceutical industries, generating a combined […]
Militancy at Lambeth College strike despite injunction
Estelle Cooch reports from today’s strike at Lambeth College The resistance by lecturers at Lambeth College to the vicious attacks on their pay and conditions is quickly becoming a beacon to trade unionists and activists everywhere. The all-out strike that was meant to begin today has the potential to foster the support and solidarity that […]
Lambeth College all out strike to win!
Mark Winter discusses the importance of the Lambeth College UCU strike against changes to their contracts and what can be learnt from the experiences of the Tower Hamlets College strike.
The politics of depression: Mark Fisher on mental health and class confidence
Anindya Bhattacharyya spoke to Mark Fisher about the politics of mental health, magical voluntarism and the ideology of neoliberalism.
Post-16 fightback
NUT member Despina M discusses the attacks on post-16 education and fightback against them The post-16 sector has been at the sharp end of government cuts, but has also seen some of the most impressive fightbacks. Whereas – in theory – funding for five to sixteen year olds has been ‘protected’, the Tory coalition has […]
Fighting homophobia: “the best day of my teaching career”
An NUT rep in Manchester explains how he organised a day that celebrated diversity, and tackled homophobia, in his school with truly astounding results. Stonewall completed two reports in 2007 and 2012 about the level of homophobia within schools. The reports give ample evidence that homophobia is an acute problem within both primary and secondary […]
University staff should reject a 2% rise
Amy Gilligan is a researcher and UCU member at Cambridge. This article originally appeared at the Labour blog Left Futures. (pic: UCU strike at Manchester Metropolitan University.) UCU and EIS members in higher education are currently voting in a ballot whether to accept the employer’s “full and final offer” in the pay claim. I’ve voted to […]
Pedagogy and Politics
As the NUT conference starts, Robin B explains why we have to rescue children from the politicians We are a year away from the 2015 general election. After four years of Gove, it is tempting to think ‘come back Labour- all is forgiven’. Looking back at Labour and Tory visions for teaching and learning reveals […]
Panic on the streets of Birmingham?
Andrew N, Birmingham NUT executive member (personal capacity), argues that the left needs to stand against Islamophobes and reject media scapegoating Photo: Paul Clarke If you were to believe the headlines in certain Tory papers recently, you would think that schools in Birmingham were being seized by Muslim radicals on a daily basis.”Gove declares war […]
Big business and the NHS: Awkward bedfellows
Gill George discusses how drug company greed means the government has wasted millions on stockpiling medicine that doesn’t work Private companies exist to make a profit for their shareholders. The NHS exists to keep people healthy and look after us when we’re sick. When the two get entangled, the NHS tends to lose out. The […]
UCU marking boycott: Management have called our bluff – we have a choice
Management at universities across the country, including Bath Spa, UWE, Oxford Brooks, Bradford University, UEA and Westminster University, have told staff that they intend to dock 100% of their pay if they participate in the marking boycott, due to start on 28 April. Jonathan Neale, university lecturer and UCU committee member at Bath Spa University […]
Nursery workers refuse to be classed as self-employed: worker’s report
The government made tax changes on Sunday 6 April which many employers are using an an excuse to force self-employment on their workers. Phil T works at a care centre for children in west London that is trying precisely that. Here are details of the situation – and what Phil and fellow workers are trying to do about it. I work for […]
Keep Left in UNISON Higher Education
UNISON Higher Education Service Group Elections: Vote for a leadership that fights for you This week, voting opened in UNISON’s Service Group elections. These elections will decide the national executives for each of the seven industrial areas covered by the union. These committees oversee all bargaining and negotiations for their respective areas, as well as deciding […]
Left lifted by surprise win for Free Education motion at NUS conference
Amy Gilligan from Cambridge University rs21 reports from NUS conference LEFT ACTIVISTS were happy after a surprise win after a tense NUS conference vote this morning. A motion supporting free education passed, committing the union to campaigning against all methods of charging students for education. The vote went to the count, but was passed comfortably – […]
Interview: Spies, surveillance and Cambridgeshire police
Cambridgeshire police tried to recruit an activist to spy on Unite Against Fascism, UK Uncut and Cambridge Defend Education, according to video evidence which came to light in November last year.
26 March NUT strike round-up
NUT strikes have a tradition of large political demonstrations on strike days and today was no exception.
“We need to continue to fight for not just our pay and pensions, but for a different vision of education which allows all children to thrive”
“We are striking not because we do not care about our students, but because we do.”
NUT: holding the line or fighting to win?
Rob Owen, Croydon NUT young members officer, argues that, despite the reticence of other unions, if teachers want to defeat Gove’s reforms they need to keep fighting.
The year that Goldsmiths’ students supported the miners strike: an activist’s account
On the 30th anniversary of the start of the 1984-85 miners strike, Colin Revolting remembers the support and solidarity he and other students offered towards those on strike.
Staff furious at £5 million cuts in west London college
Lecturers, support staff and students at Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College are opposing senior management’s plans to make £5 million worth of staffing cost cuts on the college in the next few months.
Campaign launched against casualisation at SOAS
One hundred and thirty people attended the launch meeting of the Fractionals for Fair Play Campaign (FFFP).
Willetts met by noisy protest in Cambridge
Activists from Cambridge Defend Education ensured that a talk yesterday evening at the Cambridge Union Society by David Willetts was met by noisy protest.
Atos: We’ve won the battle but not the war
As Atos is forced to rebrand and pull out of Work Capability Assessment, Gill George discusses the misery they have inflicted and argues we need to take on the Tories as well.
Lambeth College staff vote to ballot for strike action
At a packed branch meeting on Wednesday, members of UCU and Unison voted to ballot for indefinite strike action over proposed new contracts.
200 strong angry NHS meeting in South East London
Ian Crosson reports on the campaign to Save Lewisham Hospital.
Oxford protests cuts to homeless provision
Around 250 people joined a lobby today against a proposed 38% cut in Oxford County Council’s budget for homeless provision.
Portugal: Telemedicine workers strike against layoffs
(picture from Apoio S24) Portuguese workers in a health call centre have gone on strike for the second time in a month, reports João Camargo On Friday more than half of the 400 workers of the telephone medical service Saúde 24 (Health 24) went on strike against the layoff of over 100 of their colleagues. They also […]
UCU strike: outrage, resentment and cheeky chants
UCU union members in higher education went on strike across England and Wales today for two hours.