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The Blog Confidential on unions in higher education (8 July) is way off the mark. It is untrue that "union membership is falling": it has risen markedly over the past two years. And the "dilemma" of an academic who thinks he/she is failing to gain promotion because of union activity rings false.

If I look at my own institution and many others I know, I can count dozens of union activists who have consistently been promoted, sometimes to the highest level.

The quip the piece ends with ("Have you heard the one about the dean who was a union rep? No, neither have I"), although cheaply amusing, shows a lack of familiarity with the diversity of people at all career levels who sit on union committees across the country.

Howard Moss, Swansea.