University and college staff, as well as prison and adult
educators, from across the UK will rally tomorrow (Saturday 10
May) against the education cuts that are ravaging the sector,
confirmed the University and College Union (UCU) today
(Friday).
Attendees will meet at Bessborough Gardens, London SW1V
2JE at 1pm and march to Old Palace Yard for
speeches by UCU general secretary Jo Grady, UCU president Maxine
Looby, NUS president Amira Campbell, former Shadow Chancellor
MP, Educational Institute of
Scotland general secretary Andrea Bradley, and staff from
universities and colleges being hit with cuts.
The rally comes after the Office for Students confirmed it expects
almost half of universities to face financial deficits by
Summer.
UCU has already raised the alarm that
over 10,000 higher education jobs are at risk. In response to the
threatened cuts its members were on strike this week at the
University of East Anglia and Keele, Newcastle and Sheffield
universities; last week at Durham and Birmingham City
universities; have declared an academic boycott at Brunel
University; and are currently balloting for strike action at
Edinburgh and Bournemouth universities.
In further education, the union is demanding pay parity
with schoolteachers; national workload agreements; and
functioning national bargaining.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: ‘Education workers from
across the UK will come together to march through Westminster
tomorrow to take a stand against bosses forcing through drastic
cuts, and to demand the government starts protecting the
sector.'
