Members of the University and College Union (UCU) are currently voting for positions on the national executive committee, as well as for a vice president from further education.
These elections take place against the backdrop of unprecedented threats of cuts in all post-16 education and research, under the direction of Lord Mandelson.
Like all parts of the public sector, universities and colleges are going to be made to pay for the banking crisis, regardless of who wins the next election.
The right wing leadership of the union has conspicuously failed to rise to the challenge posed by these threats, organising plenty of ‘lobbies’ and online petitions, but not the serious national action required.
Given this, Socialist Party members call for support for the UCU Left candidates in these elections, as those best placed to defeat the right wing.
Ultimately, socialist policies need to be linked to a fighting industrial strategy if we’re to defeat the threatened cuts and closures in further and higher education.
This will require building and generalising the existing local campaigns, and linking these to initiatives like the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition.