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UCU Commons newsletter #4, 19 November 2025

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

Report from NEC, Friday 7th November 2025

Key Takeaways * Congress 2026 will be hybrid * NEC have moved to support the restoration of Trade Union Education * NEC have voted for a campaign in support of Laura Murphy and Academic Freedom Full Report Pension Discussion The committee meeting opened with a report of concerns discussed at the Retired Members

UCU Commons newsletter #3, 5 November 2025

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

Report from HEC, Friday 10th October 2025

Key takeaways –  Two excellent discussion papers addressing sectoral concerns presented rare opportunities for HEC to engage with what to do about the HE crisis beyond industrial action. These covered union victories in Australian higher education and joining up lobbying efforts in the UK. –  The committee voted to remit discussion of

Report from UCU/EI Academic Freedom Conference

By Tilly Fitzmaurice On 15th October 2025, UCU co-hosted its first-ever conference on academic freedom at the National Education Union’s Hamilton House in London. UCU’s co-host was Education International, a global membership organisation for education unions that represents more than 33 million education professionals around the world. The

Cutting Corners: a message to the next Vice Chancellor at Goldsmiths

By Dr. Jo Edge On 1 October 2025, a short announcement was put on Goldsmiths’ website to say that Vice Chancellor Frances Corner was stepping down with immediate effect. This came off the back of an announcement a fortnight earlier, which stated that Corner’s tenure as VC would not

Setting The Agenda for Change in Higher Education: Lessons from Australia

A discussion paper by Mark Pendleton (UK-elected HE) Preface UCU Commons has long argued for more deliberation and discussion in our union, rather than simple polarised debate. In that spirit, this year we’ll be increasing our submission to UCU’s structures of papers that seek to open up discussion,

Asking questions and claiming “Democracy” in UCU

By Mark Pendleton On 1 September, our Higher Education Committee (HEC) met to decide how to respond to the latest offer from our employers on a UK-wide uplift on pay and negotiations on pay-related conditions (what we used to call the Four Fights). While there was a pretty clear result

NEW: Where is the government in the UK HE jobs crisis?

A third blog post from Matt Barnard, our candidate for the UK-wide casual vacancy

UCU Commons Report from Special HEC - 1st September 2025

By UCU Commons HEC members Note: the explicit permission of the chair of HEC was sought, and granted, before publishing this report. Headlines: * HEC voted by 20-19 in favour of calling a UK-wide statutory industrial action ballot on pay * In a farcical vote, UCU Left members voted for a ballot

Imposters: a new blog post by Matt Barnard

On the threat of anti-trans ideology to the pursuit of academic enquiry

New: Alienation in Academia and a World Without Experts

A new blog post from our UK-wide NEC seat candidate, Matt Barnard.

Help your UCU Higher Education reps decide what we should do next for our pay dispute

Please read, fill in, and share with your contacts

Vote in UCU NEC's Casual Vacancy Elections!

Dear subscribers, As you may have already heard, voting opens today for two casual vacancy elections on UCU’s NEC. One is for a UK-elected seat, and the other is for a North East regionally elected seat, and these were created when Ann Gow and Andrew Feeney were elected as

Higher Education Committee Report: 4 July 2025

Headlines: * HEC approved a consultation of members on an industrial action ballot on pay and conditions starting soon * HEC approved coordination with other unions in JNCHES negotiations with UCEA on a shared timetable for industrial action next academic year Overview This meeting was the first for this year’s cohort

Congress and NEC sub-committee election results, 25-26

We are delighted that several UCU Commons members have been elected as chairs and members of NEC subcommittees for 2025–26 (as voted by the new formation of NEC) and to Congress-elected roles. These are: NEC subcommittees Recruitment, Organising and Campaigns Committee (ROCC) Chair: Mark Pendleton Member: Matilda Fitzmaurice Equality

NEC Report from Friday 20th June

By UCU Commons NEC members Headlines: * NEC agrees changes to membership of Equality Standing Committees to include non-employed postgraduate members * Calendar of meetings and allocation of unheard Congress motions agreed for 2025–26 * Motions passed in support of the arts, anti-racism, anti-ableism and researching the links between casualisation and equality

HEC Report from Friday 4th April 2025

By UCU Commons NEC members Headlines: * JNCHES: moves towards joint lobbying of the government over the sector’s financial crisis * Motion condemning the OfS investigation of the University of Sussex passed Greylisting of Brunel University There was a proposal for UCU to apply the sanction of ‘greylisting’ (also known as

Take action now against the Supreme Court ruling and for trans rights

By UCU Commons A core value of UCU Commons is equality and dignity for everyone; but particularly for transgender and nonbinary people whose rights and wellbeing have faced increasing attacks over the last few years. This has culminated in a supreme court case, brought by For Women Scotland and backed

Protect Education Now: national rally on Saturday 10 May

Register today!