Kathleen Stock’s union betrays her.

And now I've gone and earwormed myself:

I move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left out of the line
I'll get all my papers and smile at the sky
For I know that the hypnotised never lie

Surely there must be something in the constitution of a union that says they can't actively contribute to getting you fired? Isn't protecting employment the whole bloody point of them??

The unions are captured. The government really, really needs to step up.

What with this and people like packham and vine being attacked, it's completely out of hand.

What a craven, arse licking statement. Im ashamed to have been an active trade unionist and one time shop steward all my working life if this is what a union is now. Lets call out the dogs on the lesbians. And HALFWAY down the statement, a few weasel words about condemning violence and harassment. If this is over the top - Im just bloody angry.

UCU are utterly fucking useless. Totally fucked any chance of taking on employers effectively on things like pensions devaluation by binning the idea of focused campaigns in favour of wanking on about 'four fights' - who the fuck thinks they can win on four fronts simultaneously? That level of stupidity should have automatically disqualified you from getting anywhere near a university job.

And in the middle of the biggest public health crisis the universities have ever faced, when staff are often being made to work in unsafe environments, they'd rather bang on about Israel and attack a lesbian academic.

UCU is functionally useless now. Time for a new union.

The question for every member of this union is:

Who's Next?

Disgusting but not surprising.

That’s utterly appalling. A union that condemns free speech and supports the removal of staff...

I hope she has a good employment lawyer.

Utterly disgraceful.

Are the biology faculty staff members of this union?

The phrase "identifies as" should rightly be changed to "wants to be".

Appalling.

And in The Times today, "Members can identify as black, disabled or female, university union insists"

A union that represents academics has reasserted a commitment to allowing its members to self-identify as being black, disabled or female.

A Twitter post by the Edinburgh branch of the University and College Union (UCU) said: “A reminder of UCU’s strong position in support of trans inclusion. Liberation cannot be built on exclusion”.

It contained a link to a policy document endorsed by the UK-wide union that states: “UCU has a long history of enabling members to self-identify, whether that is being black, disabled, LGBT+ or women.

“UCU supports a social, rather than a medical, model of gender recognition that will help challenge repressive gender stereotypes in the workplace and in society.”

One staff member at Edinburgh University, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, claimed that trans rights activists within the union were seeking to “weaponise” the issue and force out academics who expressed scepticism over the concept of self-identification.

My husband's in a union, but I am not for these reasons - I've asked him to agitate but he says it's the same with all unions (He's in UNITE)

That's appalling and it will encourage further attacks on Prof stock.

I left my union because I'm not paying subs to an organisation that I know won't support me

This betrayal by the unions is one of the many stabs in the back within all of this. I've been a staunch trade unionist all my working life, but I cannot rely on the UCU to support me. I was planning on raising a complaint to my employer (a northern red brick with a militant UCU branch) over being compelled to state my pronouns, but I'm not even going to bother because I know they won't be on my side.

It's a fucking disgrace.