NUS Scotland President “Staff and students are speaking with one voice, and politicians need to listen."
The National Union of Students (NUS) Scotland has today made a statement reiterating its long-term support and solidarity with education staff and their unions as many strike at universities across Scotland. Agreeing with the University and College Union (UCU) that the number of jobs currently being lost across Scotland's universities is a crisis, NUS Scotland has echoed calls for intervention from the Scottish Government and greater investment in education.
Like the UCU’s manifesto for the Scottish Parliament elections taking place in May, NUS Scotland’s student manifesto, A fair deal for our future, calls on the next Scottish Government to fully fund the education sector after a decade of underinvestment.
Commenting, NUS Scotland President Sai Shraddha S. Viswanathan said:
“Without workers we have no education and no universities. The security of their jobs is the security of our futures, and their working conditions are our learning conditions. Without job security for workers, Scotland’s education sector and students will never thrive. That is why Scotland’s student movement is proud to stand in support of education workers taking strike action this month.
“Our brilliant local member students’ unions are working tirelessly as always to support and represent their students, but we know that no disruption is greater than the disruption that is being caused by a decade of cuts to education funding.”
“We agree with the UCU, this crisis in Scotland's universities is a result of underfunding. The Scottish Government must urgently intervene to ensure no further job cuts anywhere in Scotland’s education system, and ahead of the Scottish parliament election all political parties must commit to funding education properly. Staff and students are speaking with one voice, and politicians need to listen.”
