This afternoon I attended a UCU Higher Education (HE) lobby of the Welsh Assembly. There were UCU members from the 4 Universities in south east Wales (Cardiff University, UWIC, Newport University and the University of Glamorgan) as well as a few members of Socialist Students to show solidarity.
The lobby was called in order to defend Higher Education against future cuts in the sector and to fight to secure adequate funding for the future. With it looking likely that the will be a funding cut from the Welsh Assembly to Higher Education institutions when the finances for next year are released, there has already been cuts at several welsh universities if not all of them even before budget cuts have been announced. For more information go to the UCU Wales website.
Several Welsh assembly members came out to speak to the lobby, but with one or two exceptions as predicted as soon as the camera’s left so did they! This of course did not go unnoticed by UCU & Socialist Student members who were present. Some of the AM’s even went as far as to question the value of education whilst at the same time having the cheek to stand next to us and tell us that they were on our side, couldn’t even be bothered to put in the effort to hide their blatant opposition to defending Higher Education.
It seemed clear to everyone there that despite no official decision having been made yet, that it was more than likely that the majority of AM’s had made up their mind to support cuts rather than to make the bosses pay for the economic crisis. After the lobby a few UCU members along with myself went off for a coffee and discussed the need for joint action between students and university staff to stop the cuts in Higher Education all in all a very productive day.
Kind of reminds me of the rally outside Linamar, when the MPs showed up and came out with stuff that was completely irrelevant to the struggle taking place. Of course, they were only there because the press was.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I really hope the UCU and Socialist Students can start working and fighting together for education.
A number of UCU members from Aberystwyth -- where the union is suing management for underhanded & deceptive dealings in the recent announcement of job cuts -- were present. I hung around with them while you were off for coffee.
ReplyDeleteI got stuck talking to our Conservative AM, David Melding. I swear he looks exactly like a grown-up version of Harry Enfield's "Tory Boy" character.