Education round-up

Birmingham university strike

UCU union members at Birmingham University were set to walk out on Thursday of this week to defend jobs.

Workers plan to follow up the half-day strike with walkouts every week of term. Lecturers want bosses to lift the threat of redundancies, and to negotiate a redundancy avoidance agreement and an agreement on performance management.

Some 65 percent of UCU members backed strikes in a recent ballot.

Workers say the high turnout of 48 percent shows the mood to fight.

Halesowen College strike suspended

Lecturers at Halesowen College in the Black Country have suspended a planned two-day strike on Tuesday of next week after management agreed to talks.

The workers are fighting to defend four sacked lecturers at the college.

They may hold a two-day strike later in the month if talks fail.

Send messages of support to HalesowenUCU_branch_secretary@hotmail.com

UCU elections close this week

Elections to the UCU union’s national executive committee and for national officer positions were due to end on Friday of this week.

UCU Left, which Socialist Worker supports, is standing candidates.

UCU Left candidates stand for a democratic and fighting union that can stop the Tory assault on education.

Go to uculeft.org for more details

Reid Kerr College strike

Lecturers at Reid Kerr College in Paisley, Scotland, were set to strike over pay on Wednesday of this week.

The EIS union members say management has not made them a pay offer.

The EIS submitted a pay claim in August last year.

As official inflation rates are around 2.7 percent, keeping pay levels the same is effectively a pay cut.