Plus: Kehinde Andrews on the fight to save Black studies at Birmingham City University and strikes in schools, leisure centres and Argyll offices
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Tuesday 16 June 2026
On the picket line at Sheffield Hallam last week (Pic: @UCUHallam on X)
Workers at Sheffield Hallam University have won a major victory after 13 days of strikes.
Bosses have backed down over plans to employ them through a wholly owned subsidiary company.
The UCU union members were concerned about job security and access to the TPS pension scheme. They are continuing to fight to get bosses to rule out compulsory redundancies.
UCU members at Goldsmiths in south London are locked out by bosses. They started a marking and assessment boycott (Mab) in opposition to job cuts and were told that 100 percent of their pay would be deducted.
Workers have responded to this unprecedented move by launching an indefinite strike, now in its second week.
Art psychotherapist Lloyd told Socialist Worker, “It’s put us in an impossible situation. We feel we have no choice but to strike. We have had to stop supervision and support work.
“We have been very concerned about the students. But they have been supportive—they recognise what’s at threat.”
At the University of Edinburgh, UCU union members have also seen their pay deducted by 100 percent for taking part in a Mab.
Bosses are now taking vindictive action to try to break the union. They are demanding that workers who aren’t taking part in the action cover the marking and assessment work of their colleagues who are.
If they refuse to scab they will be pressured to declare themselves part of the action and lose all their pay.
UCU members at London Metropolitan University were visited by local MP and former London Met student Jeremy Corbyn on their final strike day on Monday.
He said he was “appalled that 10 percent of the workers are threatened with redundancy”.
“The worst is having to reapply to your own job in competition with your colleagues,” he said. “That is cruel, it is wrong.”
As Labour leader, Corbyn proposed the abolition of student fees. Slamming the marketisation of education, he said, “I want to open up university education to everyone in society irrespective of the financial means of their parents.”
At the University of Nottingham, UCU union members are set to continue two months of strikes this week after nearly 2,700 workers were told their jobs are at risk.
At London South Bank University (LSBU) in south London, UCU union members have announced two days of strikes, next Monday and Thursday.
Meanwhile, UCU branch members at Heriot-Watt in Edinburgh were set to strike for the whole of this week. They have now reduced this to Wednesday and Thursday only after making some progress in talks.
And at the University of Dundee, UCU members have voted for strikes after bosses refused to rule out compulsory redundancies.
University workers and students are facing an onslaught of cuts to jobs and courses that could end careers and may even see the collapse of some universities. The UCU should take action nationally to stem the tide.
Fight to save Black Studies at Birmingham University
Plans to close the masters course in Black studies and global justice at Birmingham City University (BCU) have been met with outrage.
Five black members of staff were called into a meeting in April to be told that the course was closing and that they are all at risk of redundancy.
Professor Kehinde Andrews is one of those affected.
He told Socialist Worker that the decision was “completely out of the blue, we had no idea it was coming.”
The workers are facing “a lot of uncertainty. What do we do? Where do we go next?”
He explained, “The course literally just started this year, so it hasn’t even run for four months when they made a decision in February. They said it’s a poor performing course, which is odd, given that it just started.
“It has similar numbers to other courses they haven’t cut. Alongside that they decided to put up the five black members of staff who work in sociology who teach on black studies, our jobs are at risk of redundancy.
“And just us. Nobody else is. They want to keep two people out of five.”
Kehinde said that the course was doing well and was attracting support from world famous intellectuals. “We just had a major event with Kimberlé Crenshaw.
“We’ve got research things planned. In fact, I actually have a major research grant I just won. But they didn’t know this before they tried to make us redundant.
“Nothing makes sense. It’s totally nonsensical.”
He also explained that the university hadn’t done the required equality impact assessment.
“It is the law. Public bodies have to do an equality impact assessment for any major decisions,” he said.
“For redundancies you must do an equality impact assessment which basically says, what will be the impact on protected groups—so race, gender etc.
“They admitted to us very early on, they didn’t do it. They said, because the numbers are small, there’s only five of us, they couldn’t protect our identity for GDPR.
“This is specifically not the case. It actually says in the law that that’s not an excuse. Even in BCU’s policies it says it’s not an excuse.
“So then they backtracked and said they did do it and then they actually made one up. So they know they should have done it. They’re now pretending they’ve done it when they very clearly didn’t actually follow their legal responsibilities.”
The proposals follow the closure of the undergraduate Black studies course two years ago at BCU. Kehinde said that bosses had promised no redundancies when they closed this course.
In 2023, Chichester University closed its masters course in the History of Africa and the African Diaspora, making the course leader Hakim Adi redundant.
Cuts to jobs and courses in higher education are widespread. But the onslaught disproportionately impacts black educators and students and the work that they do.
Shea Morris in Birmingham
School workers’ strikes
Support workers at Woodfield School, west London, were set to strike 16-18 June, with further dates planned for 25-26 and 29 June and 2-3, 6-9, 13-14 and 16-17 July.
The NEU union members have already struck for five days in a dispute over pay and conditions.
Compass Learning Partnership, the trust that runs the school, issued 47 workers with 30 day fire and rehire notices last week.
The trust is trying to get them to accept a £4,000 a year pay cut despite it having £3.8 million in reserves in the bank.
Meanwhile, it’s trying to keep the school running as normal, with play scheme workers. This has raised health and safety concerns.
Workers are asking people to join them for a mega picket this Wednesday 17 June from 7.30am at Glenwood Ave, NW9 7LY. They will then lobby the Department for Education from noon at Orchard House, 20 Great Smith St, SW1P 3BT.
NEU members, along with trade unionists in NASUWT, at Grays Convent High School in Essex are set to strike from 16-18 June.
Workers are opposing a proposed restructure, which includes the threat of compulsory redundancies.
- Join picket lines from 7.30am at Grays Convent High School, RM17 5UX.
At Forest Fields Primary and Nursery School, in Nottingham, workers walked out last week in a dispute over insufficient support in the classroom, failure to maintain industrial relations and management practices.
Sheena, assistant branch secretary for Nottingham NEU, told Socialist Worker, “Our members in the school are dealing with more and more work related stress, due to a high turnover rate, lack of funding and a lack of respect from management.
“They’re determined that things need to change. And that they won’t go back until they have.”
They are set to strike again 16-18 June, 7.30am, at the Forest Fields Primary School and Nursery, Stanley Rd, New Basford, NG7 6GQ.
Education workers at Aylesford School have fully suspended strikes after their employer agreed to take compulsory redundancies off the table.
They also agreed to a plan to reduce workloads and committed to recognise the union in the school.
Drivers deliver strong message to bosses
Thousands of Evri delivery drivers have voted to reject a rotten pay offer.
Some 6,000 GMB union members took part in a ballot that closed last week, with 97 percent of them voting to reject.
The union had urged the drivers to reject the offer—which represents a pay cut for workers.
An anonymous driver on the Evri Couriers Support Group Facebook page said, “I hope for all our sakes this pay deal doesn’t go through. I’m struggling now. With all these cuts, I’m going to be in a worse mess.”
The union says it is meeting with members to decide the next steps. It should use this strong mandate to launch industrial action that can hit bosses hard.
Bow bus drivers raise concerns over safety
Strikes at Bow bus garage, in east London, that were set to take place last week were suspended for talks the day before they were meant to start.
The Unite union members work for the East London Bus and Coach Company, part of Stagecoach.
Their concerns about fatigue putting drivers and passengers at risk are still unresolved.
Argyll Club need to clean up their act
Office cleaners from the Cleaners and Allied Independent Workers Union (Caiwu) are set to strike and march on Thursday.
The cleaners work in the prestigious London offices run by Argyll Club. Bosses at Sustainable Business Facility Management (SBFM) are trying to cut their hours. But they say they will be expected to do the same work.
The union’s general secretary Alberto Durango said, “We are calling on Argyll upper management to stop outsourcing their moral responsibilities, immediately terminate this exploitative arrangement with SBFM, and guarantee dignity, fair pay and a reasonable timeframe to complete the assigned workload for the essential workers.”
Workers are gathering at the Mayday rooms, 88 Fleet St, EC4Y 1DH, at 10am on Thursday and marching to Argyll’s offices.
Leisure workers resort to strikes
Be well leisure centre workers in Tower Hamlets, in east London, are on strike over their contracts.
The Unite union members include lifeguards, fitness instructors, customer service workers and swimming teachers.
Some workers at the chain of leisure centres are on full council contracts. But others endure the insecurity of zero hours contracts. Some have only five guaranteed hours of work per week, while others have no written contract at all.
Nine days of strikes started last week are set to continue 15, 17, 20, 23, 25 and 28 June.