Sep 20, 2026 · 42 min · 10 segments
Welcome to the first episode of No Shortcuts - A UCU Podcast. Once a month we will be bringing you the latest news, campaigns, organising and union building for workers in higher and further…
Jo GradyPanelistDyfig JonesPanelist
Emma NagouseHost
Mark PendletonPanelist
Well there's a number of reasons but primarily we are introducing a new and exciting essentially communications infrastructure in the union of which this podcast is a key feature so we are doing a monthly newsletter where we're going to be talking in depth about our FE and HE and obviously within FE prison and adult education campaigns but this podcast is going to be a key piece of how we communicate what our campaigns are to members.
We also want to make written commentary from this as well, if listening or viewing isn't your bag.
And this is going to complement our other types of communications, whether that's the things that we have in print, the solidarity videos that we've been doing.
So yeah, as you say, we're going to be focusing on our campaigns, but we really want to use this podcast to also showcase our branches.
So we want our members to be a part of this podcast and we're going to develop this format over time.
And Jo, I just wanted to touch on the name of the podcast, which is No Shortcuts, which is at least in part a tribute to the late American organizer, Jane McAlevey.
But she really pioneered a very kind of militant but methodical organising philosophy, really.
And it was based on the idea that nobody's coming to save us as workers, but that crucially, we are enough.
and that we are the union and that actually workers in their thousands, in their hundreds of thousands should be taking over their union.
And that was why she was really keen that we shouldn't other or third party the union.
With that said, the best way to do that is to have what she would have called a super majority union.
Well there's a number of reasons but primarily we are introducing a new and exciting essentially communications infrastructure in the union of which this podcast is a key feature so we are doing a monthly newsletter where we're going to be talking in depth about our FE and HE and obviously within FE prison and adult education campaigns but this podcast is going to be a key piece of how we communicate what our campaigns are to members.
We also want to make written commentary from this as well, if listening or viewing isn't your bag.
And this is going to complement our other types of communications, whether that's the things that we have in print, the solidarity videos that we've been doing.
So yeah, as you say, we're going to be focusing on our campaigns, but we really want to use this podcast to also showcase our branches.
So we want our members to be a part of this podcast and we're going to develop this format over time.
And Jo, I just wanted to touch on the name of the podcast, which is No Shortcuts, which is at least in part a tribute to the late American organizer, Jane McAlevey.
But she really pioneered a very kind of militant but methodical organising philosophy, really.
And it was based on the idea that nobody's coming to save us as workers, but that crucially, we are enough.
and that we are the union and that actually workers in their thousands, in their hundreds of thousands should be taking over their union.
And that was why she was really keen that we shouldn't other or third party the union.
With that said, the best way to do that is to have what she would have called a super majority union.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.