| Full name | University and College Union |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2006-06-01 |
| Members | 116,000 (on formation) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Affiliation | TUC, ICTU |
| Key people | Sally Hunt (General Secretary) |
| Office location | London, UK |
The University and College Union (UCU) is a British trade union formed by the merger in 2006 of the Association of University Teachers (AUT) and the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE).
The union was formed on 1 June 2006. For the first year a set of transitional rules was in place until full operational unity was achieved in June 2007. The union has around 116,000 members and is the largest further and higher education union in the world.
During the first year of the new union the existing General Secretaries (Sally Hunt and Paul Mackney) remained in post, managing the union’s day to day business jointly. Paul Mackney did not stand for General Secretary of UCU owing to ill-health and Sally Hunt was elected General Secretary of the union on 9 March 2007, and took office on 1 June 2007.
The logo of the new union was designed by London design group sans+baum.[1]
The UCU is regularly criticized for its repeated boycotting of Israeli academics and is subject to claims of institutional antisemitism.
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Until the merger, AUT and NATFHE members in higher education were involved in ongoing 'action short of a strike' - including boycotting setting and marking exams, and 'Mark and Park' where members would mark coursework but did not release marks and this action was continued by the UCU. Lecturers were taking industrial action over issues of pay, and the gap that has grown up over the last 20–30 years between their remuneration and that of other similarly qualified public-sector professionals. Prime Minister Tony Blair promised that a significant percentage of new monies released for universities would be put towards lecturers' pay and this had not happened.
AUT and NATFHE rejected an offer of 12.6% over three years which was made on the 8th of May[4] and a further offer of 13.12% over three years made on 30 May.[5][6]
Concerns grew that students would not be able to graduate in 2006.[7] The National Union of Students' leadership supported the lecturers' action and although the matter was raised at various meetings NUS support for lecturers was never successfully challenged. In response to feedback from a group of students' unions NUS advised AUT/NATFHE (UCU) that their support for action could not be indefinite and was wholly dependent on seeking a fast resolution. Many students' unions from around the country went further and openly condemned the action taken by the lecturers' unions as holding the students to ransom.
To support the industrial action the new union, on its very first day of existence, organised a 'day of solidarity' by its higher education members. This included a demonstration in London which ended with a lobby at the headquarters of the employers' body, the Universities and Colleges Employers' Association (Ucea).[8][9]
Following further talks on 6 June between UCU and UCEA, sponsored by the TUC and Acas, the UCU agreed to a ballot of its members on the 13.1% offer (with an increase of around 15% for lower paid members of non-academic university staff) over three years, with the important proviso that any monies docked from striking lecturers would be repaid and that an independent review would consider the mechanisms for future negotiations and the scope of funding available to universities for future pay settlements. The pay increase will be phased over the three years, with the final year's figure subject to further increase in line with inflation. The boycott of assessment was suspended on 7 June.[10][11]
Since 2007, the UCU has been involved in controversy over boycotting Israeli academia and claims that an underlying institutional antisemitism has led to the resignations of some Jewish members.[12]
In July 2011, the UCU was notified of a Jewish member's intention to sue before the Employment Tribunal for violation of the Equality Act 2010.[13] This case was filed under the Equality Act with the Employment Tribunal in September 2011 and is expected to be heard in summer of 2012.[14]
UCU is campaigning against private finance initiatives and joint ventures, such as those proposed by INTO University Partnerships.
UCU Left is a group of activists within the union which calls for democratic accountability of union officials. It supports strikes, demonstrations and other actions in support of pay, jobs and pensions. UCU Left opposes "all forms of racism, sexism, oppression and imperialism". [15]
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