Archive

TL;DR: The (Good, for Once) TPS News

Note: While I (Bijan Parsia) have served on UCU's Superannuation Working Group and am now (2026-2027) an elected USS alternative negotiator, I am not a pensions expert per se, e.g., I'm neither a professional pensions advisor nor a pensions academic. Nothing here should be

UCU Commons newsletter #21, 1 July 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:

Friday 1st May NEC Report

UCU’s NEC met for the final time in its 2025-2026 incarnation on 1st May 2026. The finalised minutes, which were agreed at the first meeting of the new NEC on 19th June, are now available. Key takeaways * Brutal funding cuts from the Ministry of Justice to the prison

Rule Change to Anti-Casualisation Committee Nomination Process

Jo Edge, co-chair of UCU's Anti-Casualisation Committee (ACC) is bringing the following paper and motion for discussion and decision to the meeting of the committee on 8 July 2026. Explanatory paper This paper provides background and rationale for the motion to amend the nomination process to

UCU Commons newsletter #20, 17 June 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:

Motion on X for June 2026 NEC

By Matt Barnard I have submitted a motion, in consultation with others, to the upcoming NEC on Friday June 19 asking for a report into the usage of X, formerly known as Twitter, by UCU and potential consequences should the union decide to leave the platform. This comes out of

‘We shouldn’t mourn those who are not dead’: A reply to Lorna Finlayson’s ‘Irreversible’

By Matilda Fitzmaurice There is no arguing with many of the facts stated up front in Lorna Finlayson’s ‘Irreversible’, published in the New Left Review’s ‘Sidecar’ on 29th May. Climate change is irreversible. There is a great deal that is now baked in. Warnings about the impending crisis,

UCU Commons newsletter #19, 3 June 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:

UCU Congress 2026 Report

By Lisa Rull Several hundred delegates from branches across the four nations and from higher, further, prison and adult and community education, met in Harrogate last week for UCU’s annual Congress – the peak policy-making body of our union. UCU Commons members were also active over the last week,

Project: JNCHES vs Inflation

We're happy to announce a new UCU Commons Project: JNCHES vs. Inflation. We've extracted pay spine point data going back to 2005 and plotted it in a number of ways against several inflation measures.

Comparing the UCU Congress with the Quakers' Britain Yearly Meeting

By Michael Bartlett UCU and the Quakers are in some ways similar institutions. Both have thousands of members across the UK, both are arranged in an inverted pyramid of local branches supported by regional staff and a national organisation, and both have a few hundred sometimes under-appreciated employees who

UCU Commons newsletter #18, 26 May 2026

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: UCU congress

UCU Commons newsletter #17, 20 May 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. This edition of the newsletter

Some TechyTools for Congress

We have some reorganized digitally enhanced versions of UCU's second CBC report with options for navigation and note taking including a copyable Google Doc.

Report from HEC, 17 April 2026

UCU’s HEC met for the final time in its current incarnation on 17 April 2026, and you can read the draft minutes here. Highlights * For the first time in living memory (for UCU Commoners at least), HEC both got through all business and finished early * Another record: all six

NEC Report, 13th March 2026

This meeting was dominated by highly technical discussions of rule changes and we have not written all these up in detail. Only rule changes that attracted some degree of disagreement, or where the committee was in any way divided, have been included in this report.  The NEC meeting began in

UCU Commons newsletter #16, 6 May 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:

NEC Late Motion: Solidarity with our Jewish members and communities

Update: The motion passed overwhelmingly (2 no votes). UCU issued a statement which we sure was forthcoming regardless of the success of this motion. We look forward to the first NEC after Congress to explore how UCU can be more systematic about its combating anti-semistism work. In response to

NEC Motion: Donation to the Good Law Project (GLP)

Since last April's Supreme Court ruling, the Good Law Project (GLP) has been fighting a legal campaign in defence of trans people's human rights in the UK. They have had several important victories so far: its legal challenge has forced the Equality and Human Rights Commission

UCU Commons newsletter #15, 22 April 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: