Tilde Resare, Delegate to UCU special HE conference
The University and College Union (UCU), representing 120,000 academics and support staff at higher education (HE) and further education (FE) institutions, held an emergency HE conference (SHESC) on 14 October.
This followed a motion passed in 23 UCU branches demanding it be called, to debate launching a dispute with the Secretary of State for Education over the current funding model of HE. 24 universities are currently at risk of insolvency and more are in dire straits.
The campaign for a special conference happened because the UCU HE Committee has so far refused to implement the decision of the HE conference in May for a sector-wide campaign.
The SHESC was held online, and was tightly chaired by the HE Vice President. In just over three hours, three motions were heard and voted on.
Motions 1 and 3, both for sector-wide action, were amended to explicitly include the participation of private HE providers. The growth of private providers in the HE sector in many places actively undermines the industrial strength of the union since they aren’t part of existing nationwide bargaining schemes for pay and pensions, and they need to fight to gain the protections already won in the public parts of HE.
The first motion called to immediately open a dispute with the Secretary of State (SoS) over the funding model, with an all-member consultative ballot to gauge appetite.
This goes directly against the will and advice of the ‘UCU Commons’ majority on the HE Committee, supporters of general secretary Jo Grady. They want the fight to be slower paced and more moderate, primarily focused on lobbying rather than industrial action.
But the sector is in crisis. Years of disputes at individual institutions (such as the six years of disputes at the University of Sheffield where I’m based) haven’t turned the crisis around, but have merely slowed it down at those institutions. This shows the need to bring all the fights together, and for a change to the current funding model.
Arguments about legality
A UK-wide dispute could mobilise the UCU as a fighting trade union.
Several delegates acknowledged that there are risks in this type of action, but delaying or taking a more moderate approach is tantamount to doing nothing.
Those arguing against constantly reiterated the legal risks in pursuing this strategy – claiming it would be ‘political’ and that only ‘industrial’ disputes are legal, and that devolved nations could be at risk of being classified as illegal ‘sympathy action’.
Legal risks should not be taken lightly, but a leadership that wants to lead a fight can frame a dispute that is legally robust. Lack of funding means cuts, job losses and low pay, all clear industrial issues. The current UCU leadership essentially wants to avoid a fight.
Motion 1 was moved by a member of the UCU ‘rank-and-file’ group who said: “There is a clear chasm between members and leadership, that’s why we’ve included a members-wide ballot”. This can give confidence that there is wide support for a fight in UCU. The motion was passed with 66% in favour. Motion 2, against a ballot, automatically fell.
Unfortunately, the third motion, moved by supporters of the UCU Left grouping, also fell because the vote was tied. Motion 3 was not counterposed to the strategy of a dispute with the SoS in Motion 1, but advocated fighting on this year’s pay claim as well, as a quicker way to a fightback. Socialist Party members supported both motions.
FE ballot update
UCU has agreed to a UK-wide aggregated ballot of members in Further Education. Socialists on the FE Committee have fought hard against the attempts of supporters of the general secretary to delay and water down the dispute.
A special meeting of the FEC takes place on Friday 23 October to consider legal advice and Socialist Party members and others will argue for immediate implementation of a bold campaign to mobilise members.
UCU day of action on N20 – link up with youth strikes!
After the conference, UCU general secretary Jo Grady sent an all-members email to promote the leadership’s “Education, It’s Ours” campaign, announcing a day of action on 20 November. This is probably an attempt to present the leadership as fighting, while actually trying to avoid a sector-wide strike. The sudden announcement is likely a direct response to pressure from members. It shows we should keep the pressure on to shape the policies of our union.
The more conservative reps in the union are likely to try to tell their members that the correct way to organise the day of action is to focus their efforts on appealing to MPs, MSPs, MSs etc to join their constituents in the campaign.
However, there is a better way. This day of action coincides with the international youth strike on 20 November, “Fight for our futures, not their wars”, which Socialist Students is a key part of organising in Britain.
All students who are organising a walkout should reach out to their local UCU branch for support and to organise a joint rally. Demand an end to militarisation on campus and across Europe, and an end to profiteering in education.
