UK vice-chancellors with a taste for Saturday morning lie-ins got a rude awakening last month. “University bosses erode our working conditions and then sleep like babies,” read a typically abrasive tweet from the University and College Union, accompanied by a picture of a large golden bed. “This weekend, let’s give them nightmares.”
Attempting to rally members to vote to back more strike action, the union has turned up the dial in its “us versus them” rhetoric of late, using Twitter to accuse leaders of dodging accountability while “raking in” high salaries.
But such a confrontational approach has led to disillusionment among some members, who say they feel it undermines the chances of reaching an agreement with those being vilified.
It has also landed general secretary Jo Grady in potential legal trouble. She faces being sued by the firefighter Paul Embery, who has successfully raised £24,000 to bring a case against her for publishing what he says was a “serious libel” against him on Twitter. UCU declined to comment on the allegations.
