“We won’t stop ‘til we win” – UoM rent strikes supported by over 10,000 students after occupation eviction

Rent strikers at The University of Manchester (UoM) have been given a show of solidarity by 10,860 fellow students, almost a quarter of the entire student body. In an official referendum, only open to UoM students, 97% of respondents voted in favour of the strikers’ demands. The 350 members of the rent strike are calling for more students to join the movement in time for the next payment date on 20 April.

UCU members vote for strike action in ‘historic’ ballot

University and College Union (UCU) members voted overwhelmingly for strike action last month, to increase pay and improve conditions (81.1%) and reverse cuts to pensions (84.9%) in ‘historic’ ballot. If the dispute remains unresolved, up to 70,000 workers across 150 universities will strike over three days at the end of November.

As future students get their grades, hard-working lecturers and staff at the University of Manchester are getting redundancies

As prospective university students get their A-level grades, thousands of lecturers and university staff are getting redundancies. While the sector reels from the effects of Covid-19, the marketisation of higher education has cultivated an industry of insecure and exploited teaching staff who are worked the hardest, and are now being disposed of.