UCU leader gets big pay rise as workers lose jobs 

UCU union general secretary Jo Grady gave herself an above inflation pay rise (Picture: Twitter/ Jo Grady)

The threat of strikes has forced bosses at the University of Aberdeen to scrap their plan to make more than 30 workers redundant. Members of the UCU union threatened to take six days of strikes to hit back at the plans. 

Aberdeen UCU member David Clough tweeted, “We made the case that compulsory redundancies were unjust and unnecessary. Solidarity won.” The threat of strikes and a strong campaign can force the bosses to concede over redundancies. This is a lesson that workers in universities must learn. 

At Sheffield Hallam university 120 workers were sent a “risk of redundancy letter” and told to apply for voluntary redundancy or reapply for a limited number of roles. The ongoing cuts at Hallam add to redundancy threats at Goldsmiths and Soas universities in London and at Northumbria university. 

The only response to these redundancies is to step up the action and push for strikes. But general secretary Jo Grady will not look to do this. She has consistently pushed to stop action. 

It’s not just her record of suppressing workers’ anger and bypassing union democracy that UCU members should be angry about. Following the recent elections Grady gave herself an above-inflation 16.3 percent pay rise. The £18,000 annual rise will bring Grady’s pay to £154,558. 

Yorkshire colleges in a pay fightback 

Workers at five colleges across Yorkshire and County Durham are set to strike next week. Members of the UCU union who work at various education institutions and are part of the Education Training Collective (ETC), are tired of poor pay. 

Workers taking part are from Bede Sixth Form College, NETA Training Group, Stockton Riverside College, The Skills Academy and Redcar and Cleveland College. They rejected a recent pay offer of just 3 percent for 2022-23 and only 1 percent from May 2023. 

Workers are planning to strike on Wednesday and Thursday of next week. They have also reballoted so they can continue to take further action if the bosses don’t meet their demands.