(a report from our delegate at the recent UCU National Congress)

This year’s UCU congress was held in Manchester from 8-10 June. About 400 delegates from Higher and Further Education institutions spent three days discussing and voting on over 100 motions that had been put forward by the different branches. The motions covered diverse issues such as defending multiculturalism, fighting redundancies among academic related staff and the replacement of National Student Survey with better feedback systems, among many, many others. There was strong support, for example, for the motions which addressed workloads, anti-casualisation and postgraduate researchers’ employment rights. Teeside University, for example, called for the abolition of zero hours contracts and London Metropolitan called for stepping up action where teacher only contracts are being introduced. All the motions were important and useful reminders of the issues members are facing across the country. They were therefore mainly agreed ‘nem con’ (without dissent), including the motion (below) put forward by our branch:

Part-time students in Adult and Continuing Education

(Birkbeck UCU's motion to National Congress)

"This Conference notes with regret that despite the much trumpeted 'level playing field' in access to student loans for part-time students, the consequence of the Government's funding policies has been to destroy what remains of a once flourishing programme of university adult and continuing education, both at the pre-degree and postgraduate level. Most concerning is the intended annihilation of learning perceived to be superfluous to the governments ‘employability’ agenda. 
Conference calls on opposition parties to affirm a new commitment to adult and continuing education and to work together with unions in higher education to restore these vital elements of part-time university provision which contributed so much to the well-being of our society."

USS Pension Dispute

During the Higher Education Sector Conference on Friday 8 June, the UCU negotiators presented a report about their progress over the USS pension dispute. They recommended members continue to suspend industrial action until October 2012 so that they could pursue the negotiations with employers. Progress has been slow since our decision to suspend industrial action in January 2012, however, and a number of motions put forward by HE branches suggested members reinstate working to contract immediately, whilst negotiations continue. This was considered important because the employers had not met a number of conditions UCU members had asked for, which included agreeing a timetable for completing negotiations, the replacement of Andrew Cubie as independent chair and the negotiation of a CARE accrual rate no worse than that for the TPS system.

The motion to reinstate working to contract was voted on and agreed, alongside developing a campaign over the summer for a programme of sustain industrial action in the Autumn and that the Higher Education Committee report to a special sector conference in early September with a credible strategy for escalating action in the Autumn term and beyond if necessary.

National Pay Claim

During the Higher Education Conference, the National Pay negotiations were also discussed. Congress advises members to reject the 2012-13 offer of 1% made by the university employers’ association (UCEA) as this is a real-terms pay cut for the forth year running. Votes close on 27 July: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/ucu/news/PayNat

The role of congress and consultative ballots

There was a proposal by Sally Hunt, the General Secretary (and motion 65 and 67), that the size of the National Executive Committee (currently over 70 members) be reduced to max 40 people in order to save money (members are paid travel/accommodation expenses to attend meetings). There was strong resistance to this at Congress because it was felt this would be a threat to the democratic structures of the union. Motions 62 and 62A.1 were agreed, which stated that congress ‘resolves to prioritise training and support aimed at ensuring branches can function in ways that allow maximum participation of members and actively encourage all branches to send delegate to their regional committees and affiliate to local trade union councils’. 

It was decided that a Commission on Union Democracy consisting of 5 FE and 5 HE representatives (elected from congress delegates) would be set up which will consider the size of the NEC among other matters. It was also agreed that ‘principles of representation and the identification of constituencies which are needed for effective union democracy should precede any decision on the maximum size of the NEC...’ 

There was criticism of the emphasis on the use of ‘consultative ballots’ and e-surveys (motion 63), which encourage people to vote without hearing the debates first (it was a consultative ballot which the General Secretary used as evidence that she had a mandate to reduce the size of the NEC). Motion 63 was passed which:

• Reasserts the vital role of branches and regions as the main mechanism for consulting and motivating members
• Resolves that the use, timing and content of consultative ballots by the GS should be in consultation with the NEC
• Resolves that when consultative ballots are used there should be adequate time for discussion in branches and regions.

“I am an academic, not a terrorist”

The Columbian trade unionist and academic Dr Miguel Angel Beltran gave an inspiring speech at Congress about his experience of being imprisoned for two years for ‘rebellion’ and ‘criminal conspiracy for terrorist purposes’. He spoke of the role and importance of academic and trade union freedom and the solidarity and support he received from around the world (Justice for Columbia and UCU campaigned for his release). Beltran stated that his imprisonment was part of a systematic attack on intellectuals, in which academics critical of the regime were accused of being guerrillas.

Defending public education

Overall, there was a sense at Congress that the changes to education such as increasing marketisation and privatisation, threats to employment rights and academic and trade union freedoms were all huge issues we currently face. There was a groundswell of support for coming together to fight these changes, together with students, and other public sector workers. There were a number of motions, for example, relating to real cases of sackings and redundancies of active trade unionists and academics critical of the neo-liberal turn in education. These acted as stark warning signals and highlighted the urgent need for solidarity and collective action across the FE and HE sectors.

Sophie Hope (Birkbeck UCU Secretary and representative at the recent UCU National Congress)