Jo Grady

Jo Grady (born 7 April 1984) is a senior lecturer in Employment Relations at The University of Sheffield, and a British trade union leader who serves as the general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU).

Biography Grady was born in Wakefield in 1984, while her father was part of the UK miners' strike. She's mentioned that he worked at Lofthouse Colliery. She completed a PhD on trade union responses to neoliberal pensions reforms at Lancaster in 2011.

Grady joined the University and College Union (UCU) in 2006, and became joint secretary of its University of Leicester branch in 2016. She then moved to work at the University of Sheffield, and became active in the UCU branch there, as its pensions officer. In 2018, she was elected to the union's national dispute committee for the Universities Superannuation Scheme, and she enthusiastically supported the union's strike that year over cuts to the scheme. In 2019 she was elected to the union's National Executive Committee.

Grady ran in the election to become General Secretary of UCU, after Sally Hunt stood down in February 2019. Her campaign was noted for its strong online presence, and prominent badges and posters. She defeated Jo McNeill and Matt Waddup, taking 64% of the vote in the final round of voting.

In March 2024 Grady was re-elected as UCU General Secretary with 50.6% of the vote, and a majority of 182.

In May 2024 UCU staff took strike action over a dispute which includes issues around racism, organisational dysfunction, and the breach of the staff union's recognition agreement, after Grady agreed that another union would be recognised for UCU managers. As of March 2025, the dispute remained unresolved and strike action had been taken.