Some positive news in this morning's trade union stats. Membership up to 6.57 million, its highest since 2020. Public sector trade union membership at its highest level since 2010 (4.0 million). Stats are for 2025, so before the new trade union rights in the Employment Rights Act came into effect.

You've got to ask yourself why this entire cohort of senior managers is so gullible they're throwing this amount of money away. Some respect for staff expertise would be nice. Some understanding of how leadership works as well. Instead, they're all paying big figures for generic powerpoints

We rarely shout about our successes but we can confirm that over 100 colleagues working in certain roles in the Library and Tech Services will be re-graded as of 1 July 💪🏻 This is a significant achievement for our pay campaign but we continue to support other colleagues with grades and workload 🤝

How refreshing to see our General Secretary taking the fight for the future of HE seriously.

They mess up with no accountability and fail upwards to destroy the next place; staff, students and the local community pay the price.

Our Chair took a flying visit to the @unisonaqa.bsky.social picket line this morning to lend solidarity to their fight against below inflation pay offers ✊🏻

1st May marks International Workers Day, a day when we celebrate the contribution that the working class make to our world. Without our brain and muscle not a single wheel of our economy could turn. We send solidarity to all workers across the world fighting for the respect and dignity we deserve.

If this is the kind of public support Higher Education has from politicians then it’s more important than ever that HE workers are organised and ready to strike to defend our jobs, defend our institutions and demand a fair funding system

🚨 ADDITIONAL SPEAKER ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨 Following yesterday’s disgraceful development that @ihghotels have SACKED victimised Unite rep Tom Bell, we’re honoured to welcome Tom to our line up THIS FRIDAY.

Don't forget to book your place at our rally! Join Unison AQA, Andrea Egan, Eddie Dempsey, John Hendy and more, as we work to build a strike ready movement to transform the country. #unison #rmt #PalestinianYouthMovement #organisedlabour #strike www.eventbrite.com/e/ready-to-s...

UNISON lining up in numbers for the @togetheralliance.bsky.social march in London! 💜✊

UNISON statement on the antisemitic attack on the Jewish charity ambulances in Golders Green.

Just rediscovered this classic quote from 2017. It was from George Holmes, the currently suspended Vice Chancellor of the University of Greater Manchester, who is suspected of unusual financial activities. If anyone fancies a rueful laugh then the whole article is here www.ft.com/content/9c12...

For two days this week our members at both Manchester Met and RNCM have once again made a stand against real terms pay cuts and a funding model for HE that is unfair, impractical and out of date. Thank you to all other union branches the amazing students who sent their solidarity this week.

Our early picket up and running at All Saints. We’re out today and tomorrow against our pitiful national pay offer of just 1.4% @unison.org.uk @unisoninhe.bsky.social

Incredibly dark times for our public service colleagues in the US

As well as strike action, next week sees the start of our aggregate AGM. Details and a final agenda have been emailed to branch members. Our guest speaker will be Ian Allinson, trade union activist and author of the book “Workers Can Win: A Guide to Organising at Work”.

Our branch will be taking a second round of strike action next week against our 2025/26 pay offer of just 1.4%. This time, members at MMU will be joined by the Royal Northern College of Music. Pickets will be formed at both institutions and will run from 6:30 at MMU and 7:30 at RNCM.

Good luck to other @unisoninhe.bsky.social branches who are being re-balloted for strike action against the 2025/26 pay offer. A second wave of action will only strengthen our fight for fair pay.

Tomorrow our branch will be out with many others to say that the racists of Britain First are not welcome here or anywhere!

The University of Essex plans to close their Southend campus and cut up to 400 jobs — around one in five staff! But the staff and students are fighting back. Sign their petition to stop the cuts, save Southend, and protect education www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/sa...

Last week our Branch Chair spoke to reporters from @thenorthernrose.com about our latest strike action against the derisory 2025/26 HE pay offer. Students from University of Manchester and MMU also give their views on trade unions and the state of HE. www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIqn...

Have a look at the reasons and effects of the Unison strike at MMU. #Solidarity 🏳️🔍✊🏾 @unisonmmu.bsky.social @unison.org.uk @unisonmedia.bsky.social @uniteucu.bsky.social @manmetucu.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIqn...

Strike day two is in the books. Great to have support from students once again as well as a delegation from Greater Manchester Tenants Union. @unison.org.uk @unisoninhe.bsky.social

Sending support and solidarity to fellow UNISON members striking today at Manchester Met @unisonmmu.bsky.social and Bristol Universities in protest against another insulting pay offer of 1.4% (less than half of current inflation rate). HE financial crisis is not the workers’ fault!

Strike day one is live and kicking! We’re calling for better pay in HE after an insulting pay offer of just 1.4% was imposed on hard working staff. @unison.org.uk @unisoninhe.bsky.social

I mean, you'd think that the last people bosses would want to mess with at work are ex-miners! Support the staff at the National Coal Mining Museum and sign their petition.

Universities face an existential crisis. We need a funding model that recognises HE's vital social, cultural, and economic value. Join @unison.org.uk and @ucu.org.uk members tomorrow, with Andrea Egan and Jo Grady, to rally against the cuts. #fundourfuture eastern.unison.org.uk/events/stop-...

Great words from @andreaegangs.bsky.social at the @unisoninhe.bsky.social conference last week. “While senior executive pay gets more obscene by the day, our lowest-paid staff struggle to get to the end of the month, and this is not acceptable.” www.unison.org.uk/news/article...

Our members at Manchester Metropolitan University will be taking strike action for three days next week. This is part of a national campaign in Higher Education against our latest sub-inflationary pay offer of just 1.4%. This will be the latest real terms pay cut in 18 years of real terms pay cuts!

EPSU and @psiglobalunion.bsky.social mourn Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse and AFGE union member killed in Minneapolis. We stand with unions, workers and communities demanding a full, transparent investigation - and an end to ICE violence. Read the solidarity letter 👉 www.epsu.org/article/publ...

27 January marks Holocaust Memorial Day. Today we remember the victims of the Nazi Holocaust in Europe and all others affected by genocide. We recommit as a trade union to bring our collective efforts to create that better future.

Big Underpants Gnomes from South Park energy from @northumbriauni.bsky.social

A great article that lays bare the madness of the student loans system. It's bad for students, bad for universities as a funding model and bad for society as it sees billions in public money given over to private hands. www.theguardian.com/money/2026/j...

We have a new Photo of the Week on our main page. On 12 January 15,000 nurses, members of the New York State Nurses Association, were forced out on strike. The walkout is the largest in the history of New York. The key issues relate to the safety of both nurses and their patients. (Photo: NYSNA)

The new year really gets going us this week with our first round of general meetings for members discussing negotiations with management, strike action and the ERB. We've got two in person on Thursday and one online next Monday. If you're a member you will have received details via email.

Our Assistant Branch Sec and our General Secretary elect @andreaegangs.bsky.social in Preston today to show support for care workers and residents as Lancashire County Council are threatening to close 5 care homes and 5 day centres, putting vulnerable residents and hundreds of jobs at risk.

Instead of evidence-based policy, we get ignorance-based policy. Deeply disappointing. We hope Councils follow South Cambs example and ignore Reed’s heavy-handed (but ultimately impotent) rhetoric.

Congratulations to Andrea Egan on her election as the General Secretary of @unison.org.uk! ✊🏾 Looking forward to keeping up our joint fight for workers and quality, accessible public services - together, we're stronger!

We’ve been sat on this for a while but I can confirm that our ballots over the 2025/26 national pay offer at both RNCM and Manchester Met were successful and we now have a mandate to take strike action.

From today's copy of The Times. A gentle reminder that our employer's wanted to offer us a 1% pay rise this year and finally settled on 1.4%

If this was happening in any other sector of the economy there would be uproar (and rightly so). The phrase "managed decline" comes to mind.

Today marks the end of our strike ballot over the 2025/26 pay offer. While we don't know the results yet I'd just like to say thank you to all reps, officers, activists and members of our branch and beyond in making the campaign happen and getting the vote out!

Labour promised us day 1 rights and workers deserve day 1 rights! Support the campaign.

It's not *just* academics and students (two groups that Starmer's Labour despise and see as undesirable) who populate universities. They employ vast work forces! There are administrators, cleaners, cafeteria staff, gardeners, post workers, builders all dependent on their university remaining open.

Obviously this government are wantonly reckless and idiotic and their treatment of universities, and see this as a disciplining of an out of touch elite. But what all of this unwillingness to intervene means is that a critical industry will collapse and a lot of ordinary people will be unemployed.

This is the data that everyone in our sector needs to see. This is what our unions should be shouting from the rooftops. HE workers thousands of pounds worse off than we were 17 years ago.

It’s Financial Wellbeing Week! 💜 UNISON members can join free online sessions to boost confidence with money, pensions, budgeting + more. 🗓️ 10–14 Nov 💻 MS Teams / Zoom 🔗 buff.ly/ZFyH6Vw

The conflation of everything under the meaningless and demeaning banner of "reward" is both deceitful and wrong. No worker should not have to choose between decent pay now or decent pensions later.