UCU conferences cancelled as union staff strike over ‘racism’

The second day of the University and College Union’s (UCU) congress, its flagship democratic event, has been thrown into chaos after staff announced strike action in a long-running battle over alleged “workplace racism” and other issues.

Sector conferences for both higher and further education will not take place on 30 May as a result of the dispute, leaving a hole in union policymaking at a crucial time for industrial relations.

Unite, which represents UCU staff, said the one-day strike had been called because of “workplace racism”, breaches of collective agreements and what it called “broken industrial relations”.

The branch has long been in dispute with the management of the union and talks aimed at averting the strike held on 24 May and again as the congress started in Bournemouth on 29 May have failed to find a resolution.  

Opening the event, General secretary Jo Grady alluded to some “some challenges and the ongoing dispute with the staff union”, which she described as “very regrettable”.

She called for an end to “fighting amongst ourselves over tactics” in order to focus on holding a potential incoming Labour government’s “feet to the fire” over the need to reform higher education funding.

But Unite’s strike has immediately dragged the union’s internal issues back into the fore, with several members expressing concern online over how the dispute has been handled.

Delegates had been due to debate a wide range of motions at the UCU conferences, including one aimed at rebuilding the union after it failed to secure a renewed mandate to take further strike action last year.

Another motion sought to build a campaign to defend post-92 universities, which are being hit hardest by a wave of cost-cutting in the UK sector.

Unite said its members would hold a protest outside the Bournemouth International Centre, where the congress has been taking place, and a strike rally later in the day.

“This strike action is a message to our employer that we want real change within UCU,” a spokesperson said.

“Unite members are deeply disappointed in our employer’s response so far, and are angry that our concerns still aren’t being heard. So today we say enough is enough.

“We are resolute in our demands for an anti-racist workplace, for UCU as an employer to honour its collective agreements with us, and for an independent investigation into how the organisation is run. We are determined to bring about the change that UCU staff and UCU members so desperately deserve.”

A UCU spokesperson said that the union’s management had put forward a number of proposals during its meetings with Unite but “unfortunately no agreement was reached”.

“We are ready and willing to continue talks, including further talks at Acas, to find an agreed way forward on the issues at the heart of this dispute”, the spokesperson added.

“We remain fully committed to finding solutions and working to create the best possible working environment for our staff.”

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com