The state of the union

How much unity was on display at the UCU’s annual congress?

While universities were taking a bank holiday break from the marking and assessment boycott affecting summer exams, branch delegates from the University and College Union met in Glasgow this weekend for their annual conference. The union should have had much to be pleased about.

After five years of industrial action—we know it feels like longer—over the Universities Superannuation Scheme, employers, fund managers and the union are on track to agree a restoration of benefits to pre-strike levels. Playbook has followed the twists and turns of that dispute closer than most and this outcome is undoubtedly a vindication and victory for the UCU.