What is UCU doing?
UCU’s founding Congress in 2007 committed UCU to play its part in ‘greening the campus’ and ‘greening the curriculum’ and to assist campaigns for sustainable national policies and local practices.
With 120,000 members in further and higher education, UCU is uniquely equipped to make a significant contribution to the battle against climate change. We have union reps in every FE and HE workplace and many members with specialist knowledge.
UCU is:
- Encouraging health and safety reps and others to train as ‘environment reps’ – to negotiate locally for greener workplace practices and better incorporation of sustainability into the curriculum.
- Intending to press employers in every college and university to develop local carbon reduction strategies in conjunction with staff unions and student representatives.
- Liaising with other trade unions and the TUC to press for greener government policies
- Climate change is ‘arguably the single greatest challenge facing humankind… For the TUC climate change has become a key issue‘ (TUC deputy general secretary, Frances O’ Grady)