Marco Tesei, University and College Union (UCU) NEC member, personal capacity
Around 30 education workers from adult community education centres, further education (FE) colleges and prisons met on 7 March to discuss how to advance UCU’s Save Adult Education campaign.
Though formally organised by head office, this was in reality an initiative led by grassroots activists in UCU frustrated with the union’s lack of drive in campaigning for funding. The government’s budget for adult education has been cut by over 60% since 2010!
Where have UCU leaders been?
Last 19 November the same group of activists organised a lobby of parliament involving around 400 teachers, students and branch reps. Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell were among several MPs present. The lobby has not only given UCU members an opportunity to directly put demands on MPs, it has pushed the FE employers’ body (Association of Colleges) to call its own summit to address the crisis. Even more importantly, it has lit a fire under our own union leadership, which has now announced a second lobby on 21 April, organised centrally.
Workers’ election stand
On Saturday we discussed strategies for leveraging Save Adult Education’s growing profile and resolved to step up the campaign. I said I would be using May’s local elections, standing as an anti-cuts TUSC candidate in my college’s ward in Hammersmith, to champion our funding demands. I also reminded attendees of UCU congress motion 63 (moved by Socialist Party members last May) calling on our union to seek alternative political representation to austerity-bent Labour. Lobbying your local MPs is all well and good, but what we really need is workers like yourselves standing in elections to represent our sector’s demands directly.
