Introduction

I have been active in UCU for almost 15 years. This manifesto draws on my experience of working at every level of the union from casualised branch rep to UK President, and conversations with members across the whole post-16 education sector.

We face many challenges. Top-down, managerialist approaches do not serve staff or students well. We also face the reality of climate change and the growing impact of artificial intelligence on our work. Education unions and the experience and expertise of our members should be at the very centre of the design and delivery of education, training, and research, but this can only happen when we organise and lobby effectively to make it so. I will work to create a democratic, united, and organised UCU, built by and for our members.

In the past five years our union has increasingly been characterised by division, often on public display on social media platforms. Since the last General Secretary election, we have lost members and many members have lost faith. A new low was reached when industrial relationships between UCU staff represented by Unite UCU and the senior leadership broke down. UCU needs a significant shift in culture and approach to leadership in order to take on the challenges we face in the workplace and wider society, and win.

I am a genuinely independent candidate and I believe in working constructively through differences in the interests of members. In this document I set out how we can operate more effectively to win the changes we need in our workplaces, and how our union can do its part to shift the UK to progressive education policy and practice.

As General Secretary I will organise relentlessly for decent, equitable, safe, and secure jobs and workplace democracy. I will always give my all for UCU members.

In what follows I set out my priorities which focus on the practical changes we need to rebuild confidence as the strong and effective force we know we can be.

  1. UCU Democracy and Decision-making
  2. Recruitment and Organising
  3. Industrial Strategy
  4. Equality, health and safety
  5. Job Security
  6. Influencing policy and the political landscape

You can download a full pdf of my manifesto here, or read each section on this website.