A number of UCU members and staff attended the Save Our Schools rally which had been organised by NASUWT and the NUT to bring attention to cuts in education.

A full room to hear union general secretaries and the Shadow Secretary of State for Education speak

(more…)

UCU general secretary Sally Hunt has written to all MPs inviting them to watch our ‘day in the life’ video, which which was premiered at our annual Congress at the end of May, and t0 join the Make Education Count network.

As part of national campaigns this week, Make Education Count Northern Ireland wrote to all MLAs and MPs in Northern Ireland to remind them of the principles behind the Make Education Count campaign. They also pointed them in the direction of UCU’s members’ video which shows the work members are doing throughout the education sector.

With the new Parliament really getting into the swing of things, many new MPs have now made their maiden speeches in the House of Commons. For those who like to know who said what, click ‘more’ for a list of honourable members who have mentioned UCU issues in their speeches.

In a budget that the Chancellor branded ‘tough but fair’ a number of new financial measures were announced. Post-16 education issues were not directly addressed, having seen cuts already announced, but a number of policies were announced that will impact UCU members and wider society. The 25% cut in departmental budgets will certainly impact UCU [...]

UCU President Alan Whitaker joined a panel of speakers at an event hosted by UCU and NUT at Compass conference last weekend. Alan was joined by Kevin Courtney (NUT Deputy General Secretary), Fiona Millar (author and education campaigner), Lisa Nandy MP (Wigan) and Jon Trickett MP (Hemsworth).

UCU has produced a short response to issues raised by the 2010 Queen’s Speech: UCU response tp the 2010 Queen’s Speech, May 10 (.pdf) [51kb] UCU response tp the 2010 Queen’s Speech, May 10 (.doc) [162kb]

Time for you to have your say and Make Education Count.

We’ve received a short report from a ‘meet the candidates’ meeting held at the University of Northampton on 23 April. Ten candidates vying for the seats in Northampton North and South attended, including those representing the three major parties, the Green Party, UKIP, Save Our Public Services and two independents. The candidates were asked to [...]