Outrage as major trade union demands Britain STOP helping Ukraine against Putin
Protesters marching during a rally as members of the University and College Union (UCU) strike
PA
A major trade union has demanded the UK stop arming Ukraine against Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
The University and College Union (UCU) held its annual conference over the weekend.
Unionised academics also voted to boycott Israel and called for a ballot on further strike action.
University lecturers have been involved in Britain’s longest-running pay dispute over the last five years.
Russia continues with its invasion of Ukraine more than a year after stepping foot into the ex-Soviet stateReutersThey are also protesting against universities by refusing to mark exams and even dissertations.
The vote on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine made clear that academics want Putin’s troops to leave the ex-Soviet state but also that they support bringing to an end supplying arms to Kyiv.
It was also revealed that academics support a ban on Nato expansion and escalation.
UCU member Dr Sarah Whitmore, a reader of politics at Oxford Brookes University, said: “I am ashamed of my union.
University and College Union (UCU) workers and supporters on a picket line at Queens University Belfast
PA
“And embarrassed as it is a union of academics - those people who are supposed to investigate and rigorously interrogate the available evidence - who have passed a resolution that is morally reprehensible but, worse, profoundly ignorant of Ukraine.”
Dr Anna Hajkova, from the University of Warwick’s Centre for Global Jewish Studies, expressed her disappointment about the vote.
She added that “many, many good members” are leaving the UCU and she could too.
UCU delegates from the University of Leeds attempted to remove any call for the UK to stop arming Ukraine.
Rishi Sunak and Volodymyr Zelensky at Chequers
PAThey also hoped to remove support for both the Stop the War group and Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
However, the attempts proved futile as union members voted against the amendments.
Jess Kent, UCU delegate from the University of Sheffield, told the conference: “Comrades, the main enemy is at home.
“We fight against our own warmongers. We must deal with our own imperialist Government.”
University of Birmingham staff join a picket line outside the campus
PA
Many academics are currently boycotting marking exams and essays.
Thirty universities have revealed they will withhold pay from those joining the boycott, The Observer has claimed.
A further 43 would deduct between 50 and 80 per cent of pay.
Universities have also said that they cannot offer a pay increase higher than the five to eight per cent currently on offer.
Higher education institutions cite stagnant tuition fees and rising inflation as the reason behind the limited room for manoeuvre.
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