Endorsement from Dr Shane Boyle, Queen Mary, University of London
There is only one clear and politically solid choice in the election for UCU General Secretary and that’s Jo Grady. Jo is running for General Secretary independent from the union camps that have, in my opinion, done little to struggle against the tide of casualisation, government defunding and reckless real estate speculation that have come to define workplaces in UK Higher Ed today. Instead, the national involvement of Jo Grady in the union and the way many of us know Jo came when she emerged as an important voice and organiser in the pension strike last year. She was a key part of the rank-and-file revolt that made the strike the success it was. But this doesn’t mean that voting for Jo is a protest vote. Her manifesto is sound. Among the many highlights are Jo’s commitments to: moving against casualisation, campaigning against surveillance and anti-immigrant policies, building up resources for handling grievances, tackling gendered and racialised pay gaps and discrimination, and pushing back against metrics.
Image: ‘Queens’ clocktower, Mile End’, by Ewan Munro, from Wikimedia Commons.
Jo Grady for UCU General Secretary