UCU union members rallied in central London last week after they stopped the union leaders calling off strikes (Picture: Socialist Worker)
University bosses have made threats and laid down ultimatums to workers fighting over key issues. The arrogant insistence that unions bend the knee and call off any potential strikes has to be met with determined action.
The UCU union and others are fighting against a pay offer that means a 15 percent cut in real incomes for 2022-24. On pensions the bosses make only vague promises, and on equality issues and contracts only warm words and a “framework” for further talks.
That’s led to strikes. At the end of last week the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (Ucea) issued a statement. It blustered “it should be absolutely clear that Ucea has no ability to improve upon the 2023-24 pay award”.
It added that on other matters, bosses are “ready to begin talks on the understanding that no further industrial action is called during these talks.” This is “including action short of a strike”.
Managers want a guarantee there will be no walkouts or a marking and assessment boycott (Mab) for up to 12 months while talks grind on. And in return they will cut pay and trot out fuzzy phrases about eliminating precarious contracts and the gender, race and disability pay gaps.
A joint statement from the UCU, Unison, Unite, GMB and EIS unions last Thursday said the “unions will not give up their right to run ballots for a period of 12 months. And believe it is unreasonable of Ucea to expect them to do so.” It added, “Whether or not any action goes ahead at any particular time will be subject to a democratic decision at that time.”
It’s right to reject the bosses’ pressure. But the UCU leaders are now manoeuvring to surrender to the bosses.
Rank and file members earlier this month beat back an attempt by UCU general secretary Jo Grady to call off a set of strikes. She tries to do it on the basis of what had been “achieved” so far and the prospect of more discussion.
Now Grady’s coterie has launched another e-consultation—with misleading questions—that asks UCU members if they want to be consulted over what bosses have offered so far. Disgracefully, they are doing this during a crucial re-ballot to clear the way for future strikes and other action.
What the e-consultation obscures is that the proposed deals do not amount to substantive agreements. They are simply a series of promises of goodwill. And, as the Ucea statement makes clear, signing up to the bosses’ terms of reference for further negotiations means a year-long no strike agreement. The disputes would all be over and austerity baked into university workers’ lives.
That’s why many left activists are calling for voting no in the e-consultation. They’re organising for the Branch Delegate Meeting (BDM) on Wednesday and the Higher Education Committee (HEC) on Thursday to reject the union leaders’ sabotage. And to set out a programme of real action to win.
A statement from the UCU Left organisation said, “We are at a critical point in our disputes. But instead of building members’ confidence and standing by their mandate, UCU officials are attempting to persuade the union’s elected HEC, branches and union reps to call off the action.
“It seems clear that both the employers and the officials are worried about the Marking and Assessment Boycott. The employers are worried that we can carry it out. The officials are worried because they won’t be able to control a national marking boycott—it is a type of industrial action that must be conducted by branches getting organised, like the 20 branches who did it last year. And that thought fills them with dread.”
That message needs to be taken up in every branch, with meetings to give the space for discussion and votes to mandate delegates to the BDM. Reclaiming genuine democracy inside the dispute is integral to winning it.
Instead of retreats, UCU members must demand no fake and fixed consultation and yes to a marking boycott and strikes.
Unions have called a general strike
Interview with a member of French revolutionary socialist group Autonomie de Classe
