During the most militant UCU strike action in history, where the NUS could be mobilising its 7 million members in a fight against austerity to bring this government down and genuinely campaign for free education, the NUS conference has been closed down mid-way through its second day. Why? Some delegates have stormed the stage to protest the Welfare Zone of the conference being brought to an end after a motion to extend Read more…
The challenge mounted by the student Left for the position of NUS president has failed. The attempt, had it been successful, would have taken control of the NUS out of the hands of right-wingers who are intent on ensuring the NUS remains apolitical and disconnected from students. It would have put the NUS under the control of Corbyn-supporting activists, and that could only have been a good thing. To answer the question Read more…
On the first day of the NUS conference 2018 the question of Brexit dominated the Education Zone discussions and was debated at length by delegates. As we know, the context for this discussion is the ongoing chaos caused by last year’s Brexit referendum, which gave partial expression, in a distorted way, to the fury that many people felt against the British establishment. After years of falling living standards and attacks on working Read more…
This year the NUS conference is taking place in the midst of some of the most militant industrial action for many years on university campuses, while we have a Conservative government that constantly teeters on the brink of collapse, and following a wave of developing political consciousness amongst young people. At a time like this, we would hope and expect that the NUS conference would be ready to act in solidarity with Read more…
A number of concessions won by student activists and workers at King’s College London have precipitated an important breakthrough in the on-going UCU pensions dispute. The pension scheme will be left untouched for a year, during which time it will undergo a new, independent valuation, with involvement by the UCU.
Next week the annual conference of the National Union of Students will take place in Glasgow. This conference comes off the back of the biggest struggle by the UCU on our campuses in the history of that union. This has been coupled with a wave of student solidarity with staff striking in defence of their pensions. In this context the conference should be an opportunity for students to discuss the UCU struggle, Read more…
As strike action at King’s College London enters its final week, student occupiers, together with representatives from Unison and the UCU, held an open meeting with the university bosses. An occupation has been on-going at King’s for five days, jointly in solidarity with lecturers striking over pensions and cleaners demanding to be brought in-house, and convening a public meeting was one of their demands. As 60 furious students and workers set forward Read more…
Yesterday’s amazing demonstration in central London was followed by a retreat on the part of the UCU leadership and a rejection of the rotten deal that had been negotiated. Below is a report of that demonstration by Charlotte from Goldsmiths, from which you get a sense of the determination and anger that there was on the demo. Given that, it’s not surprising that the deal was rejected. There was a really great Read more…
A terrible deal has been struck between the UCU leadership and university bosses which, if accepted, would mean a massive cut to staff pensions. UCU members all over the country are rejecting the deal. Dozens of UCU branches and student occupations have rejected the deal. For a full analysis of the deal see here. A huge rally against the deal was organised outside UCU’s HQ this morning. Pickets from all over London Read more…
In the last few hours, student activists have occupied Senate House and the Old Schools, the buildings that house the nucleus of Cambridge University’s administration, including the Vice Chancellor’s office. Among those students occupying the building are activists from the Marxist Student Federation.
Statistically, black children are more likely to be in poverty than their white counterparts. With child poverty drastically increasing as the capitalist crisis deepens, black and other ethnic minority children will be hit the hardest. In fact, the poorest black households are expected to experience a 20% drop in living standards by 2020. In 2017, the Education Policy Institute published an article which proved what we already knew to be true. To Read more…
University workers across the country are taking action against a savage attack on their pensions. Their union, the UCU, has called some of the most militant action ever taken in the sector, organising two weeks of strike days in March. In order to understand the nature of the attacks on the pensions, as well as the wider political context of the dispute, Luke Wilson spoke to two academics at UCL, who are Read more…
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