UCU Commons newsletter #12, 11 March  2026

Dear subscriber

Welcome to the UCU Commons newsletter, a curated set of links and information about what's happening in UCU Commons, our union, and our sectors more generally. As always, we welcome any feedback you may have on this or any other matter.

In today's issue:

What UCU Commons have been doing

We are absolutely delighted that UCU Commons candidates, as well as those we endorsed, enjoyed a clean sweep across HE in the recent NEC elections. Mark Pendleton was elected as UCU’s next Vice President (HE), and you can read more in his post-election statement. Commoners Alex Prichard, Matt Barnard and Gillian Jack will serve as UK-elected representatives for the next two years. We are also delighted to see three excellent representatives (re)elected to serve the London and East region: Michael Abberton, Bianca de Haan, and Anastasia Christou. Terry Murphy was elected to represent members in the North East, and Poppy Gerrard-Abbott will serve as Representative of Women Members. 

In FE, we are delighted to see Suzi Toole elected as Vice President, becoming President Elect after Congress. Maxine Looby, currently our Immediate Past President will become Women’s Rep. Maria Vasquez-Aguilar will serve as UK-elected rep, and Andrew Oldham was elected to a casual vacancy in the North West region, taking up his role with immediate effect. All other candidates will take up their seats after Congress in May.

Congratulations to everyone who was elected, and commiserations to those who missed out this time.

Michael Bartlett and Lisa Rüll attended the Academic Related Professional Services (ARPS) conference on Thursday 26th February, at which Michael was co-opted to the committee for a period of one year. Michael says, “We discussed the deskilling and de-professionalisation of ARPS work, including the threats from management who are moving and recategorise roles and contract types to take ARPS staff out of UCU or JNCHES bargaining units, and the need for meaningful career pathways and progression for all staff. We are also calling for UCU to develop a national toolkit to support reps through restructuring and redundancy processes, informed by the experiences of reps who have already been through them. We then heard from Howard Stevenson, co-author of the excellent book Lessons in Organising, about UCU's Build to Win project, which has been supporting 19 branches across FE and HE to pilot new tactics for union renewal that focus on supporting reps to build rank-and-file power within workplaces”.

Ben Pope, Jo Edge and Tilly Fitzmaurice attended the annual meeting of casually employed members on Saturday 28th February, which heard from a member of the Royal Society of Geography’s States of Precarity research project and about casualisation and pensions and the 2025 Employment Rights Act. The conference further discussed organising and campaigning through workshops on a potential teaching-staff manifesto (chaired by Ben), casualisation and equalities, and the arts and culture sector. Jo and Tilly were co-opted to the Anti Casualisation Committee for a period of one year, joining Ben who sits on the committee ex officio as Representative of Casualised Members (HE) on our NEC.

Laura Chuhan Campbell and Madeleine Moore, as members of UCU’s Women Members’ Standing Committee, were part of our delegation to the Women’s TUC in Bournemouth, 4–6 March. Sadly, delegation leader, commoner Lisa Rüll, was unable to attend due to illness (and was much missed!), but Pat Roche was able to step in. It was as ever a productive and supportive space for women to work together across sectors, regions, and intersections of identity. Every motion passed unopposed. The motions broadly covered the areas of women’s access to healthcare, rights for carers and self-employed workers, and protections from violence and workplace assaults. Some of the more prominent themes that emerged this year included the impact of AI and digital misogyny on women’s working conditions, and tackling the far right’s weaponisation of women’s safety. UCU proposed two motions, on global women’s rights and reproductive justice.

News from UCU

Along with the General Secretaries of over a dozen other unions, Jo Grady signed an open letter condemning the illegal war on Iran. Trade unionists can co-sign the letter at the link. Matt Barnard says, “It is right to oppose this illegal war. This invasion offers no plan to improve the lives or liberty of the people of Iran, and it has already begun to affect civilians in neighbouring states. Like many, I am relieved that the UK Government has chosen not to take part in these attacks. However, we must remember that this alone will not prevent the harm being done, nor the consequences that will unfold in the years ahead. Please consider co-signing this letter to strengthen its message”.

UCU’s Equality Research Conference takes place on Friday 15th May in Manchester, in hybrid format. Are you an activist or researcher on the topic of equality? If so, do consider submitting to the call for papers, which has a deadline of 4pm, Monday 16th March. Register to attend at the link.

In our sectors

Just as the University of Sussex is appealing the £585,000 fine imposed by the OfS on spurious ‘free speech’ grounds, Nigel Biggar has launched a defamatory attack on Alan Lester and anthropologists at Sussex, claiming that they intimidate students who disagree with them on ‘gender ideology’ and imperialism. We are not going to link to Biggar’s piece in the Spectator, but Lester’s response concludes that, “based on a single student’s expression of discomfort at exposure to new ideas in a different department, Biggar has used his platform to make an entirely false and disgraceful accusation against me, colleagues and the University of Sussex, all the while complaining that the odds in public discourse are stacked against ‘victims’ like him and his anonymous informants”. An all-too-familiar story. 

Vice Chancellor of Birmingham University Adam Tickell, who many will remember for his stance during the 2018 USS strikes, is at it again. Talking about the unworkable and unfair student loan system at a conference in London, Tickell laid the blame at the feet of the most disenfranchised – students without A levels who nevertheless go to university via other means. Vivek Thuppil says: “According to this vice-chancellor, the problem is not that student loan interest is fixed at the usurious value of RPI + 3% (a level which he would never ever pay his staff), nor that the UK Government is using fiscal drag to punish working-class borrowers. No, apparently the problem is that we are not gatekeeping student finance in a marketised sector to keep working class students out. With overpaid and underimaginative vice-chancellors like these, is it any wonder that the sector is in crisis?”.

We hope you have enjoyed this round up. Want to get involved? Join UCU Commons and work with us towards a more effective union for post-16 education here. 

We are big fans of the Wayback Machine.