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Summary of key pledges

As General Secretary, I will:

  • RESPECT DEMOCRATIC STRUCTURES: I will support and uphold the democratic structures of the union as laid down in our rules and standing orders. I will facilitate a productive relationship between the NEC (and its industrial subcommittees HEC and FEC) and UCU staff in driving forward and executing policy decided by members, subject to legal and moral accountability. At no stage will I attempt to undermine those structures or the decisions made by them.

  • IMPROVE HOW WE MAKE DECISIONS: I am committed to increasing accountability and transparency in UCU. I will work with members and within our structures to identify where those structures are working well, and where there is a need for improvement, either in principle or in application.

  • INFORM AND EMPOWER MEMBERS: I will invest resources into our organising structures to facilitate organising work at branch, regional, and devolved national levels. During campaigns, I will ensure that members are provided with clear information about strategy, as well as the information they need to take a full part in decision-making.

  • ENGAGE MEMBERS: I will be visible and engaged with branches, regions, and the devolved nations, to routinely seek the views of members, elected reps, and staff, with a focus on determining how I – and UCU more broadly – can help practically support and facilitate their organising.

Read on for more detail or download pdf here

Democratic Structures

A key responsibility of the General Secretary is to ensure that our union’s existing decision-making bodies and democratic structures function effectively, meaning members know how to  engage with democratic decision-making in UCU, and can trust that these decisions will be implemented.

In recent years, it has often been difficult for members and branch committees to understand what is happening during important disputes and campaigns, and how different parts of the union interact. We have seen a proliferation of overlapping consultation mechanisms and decision-making bodies, and sometimes our existing democratic structures have been sidestepped. Members have reported that they feel as though they are being over-consulted via a confusing variety of platforms, but at the same time, decisions are being enforced without proper consultation.

As General Secretary I will make it a priority to re-establish trust in our decision making structures. As part of this, I commit to respecting the democratic and decision making structures of our union, and to respect and implement the decisions of members. There will be times when our decision making structures lead to complex or seemingly contradictory situations, but I am committed to working with the elected officers, NEC members, branch representatives, and UCU staff to find a productive path through such difficulties.

It is also clear that some of our union’s democratic structures require improvement. Some areas in need of work were highlighted by the work of UCU’s most recent Democracy Commission which I co-chaired in 2018-19, and some have been brought to light as our union has taken part in more organising and more industrial action. As General Secretary I will commit to a review, and supporting and resourcing the necessary work to improve UCU’s democratic accountability and transparency, and through this, restore members’ trust.

Democratic process should not take place from the top down. I have ideas about how our structures might be improved, but it is members who must discuss and decide on these changes through proper democratic processes. I commit to working with members, elected reps, and UCU staff to identify places where our structures are working well, where they are fine in principle but need to be applied more consistently, and where there is a need for improvement. I will work with the NEC, as my employer body, to ensure that I am accountable to members.

Informing, empowering, and engaging with members

We currently have a problematic disconnect between members (including local reps serving on  branch committees) and the ‘national union’. There is a sense of mutual distrust which is not a sustainable situation for a trade union or any collective organisation.

As a lay member and a long-serving branch officer I know that for members to feel able to participate fully in union decision-making, clear information is needed about what is at stake, in good time. Under pressure in fast moving industrial disputes this is more challenging, but I believe earlier and more regular engagement between head office and branches is needed to better support branch committees and officers in leading nuanced local discussions that consider the benefits and drawbacks of multiple possible approaches. I will prioritise improving communications, including better provision of detailed materials to inform decision making, and clear, effective routes for branch officers to raise specific queries and requests.  I also pledge to use digital tools to supplement rather than side-step our existing democratic structures.

Creating better spaces for dialogue

Effective member consultation cannot and should not be forced along a path chosen from the top down, because an effective strategy is always one that is rooted in what is happening on the ground. Branches must become the building blocks of our union again, rather than being seen as outposts to implement top-down strategy. This is the unhealthy dynamic that has developed in recent years. I believe members need new mechanisms and spaces in which to express their views and listen to other positions in more informal settings to precede and complement formal decision-making.

One mechanism which I believe should return is the activist list, which used to be a space for UCU members to engage with each other. This list was very helpful at some times as a space for sharing ideas and discussing strategy, and predictably, also a space for vehement disagreement at others. Whatever ways we might be able to encourage more productive debate and disagreement, unilaterally removing this space for member discussion – which was off of social media and out of full public view – was undemocratic. Democracy can mean criticism, particularly of the leadership. I am not afraid of this because I believe engaging with voices, including critical ones, enables us to arrive at stronger positions. As General Secretary, I will not isolate myself from the membership or surround myself only with people who agree with me. My role will always be to bring people together to find solutions rather than to sow further division.

Visibility and accountability

I will ensure that I make myself available to branch and regional meetings, that I take part in forums where ideas and opinions can be expressed, and I will ensure that union communication is two way. I commit to strengthening the role of branches, regions, and devolved nations, as spaces for forthright debate to develop and shape campaigns and industrial strategy. Regional committees are very undervalued at present and I will consult widely about how we can make better use of this space.

There are serious challenges inherent in consultation via deliberation and discussion. It takes time, and workload and the capacity to take part in discussion varies across members and at different times of year. The accessibility of different forms of meetings can also create barriers. While there is not one single solution to this, one concrete action that I commit to taking is to launch a union wide discussion of accessibility in branch meetings. To do this I will ensure branches are provided with resources and guidance developed with our equality standing committees on how to facilitate open discussion at branch meetings, and how to facilitate smaller, less formal discussion via branch reps networks, workplace meetings, and branch equalities networks.

(See Recruitment and Organising for information on proposed UCU Organising Hubs)

Sectoral decision-making

Similarly, the NEC and its industrial subcommittees (FEC and HEC) need spaces to discuss strategy prior to making crucial decisions about industrial action which is currently undertaken in short, high intensity debates. Some work to achieve this has been driven by members of UCU’s staff, and I pledge to work with staff and NEC members to continue to create spaces for them to discuss strategy prior to pressurised motion debates.

I believe that an effective General Secretary listens to all views and respects different political positions, traditions and affiliations. It is important that we do not shut any individuals or groups out of our collective conversations or demonise or caricature the views of others, and this is the approach I have always taken to my work in UCU. From 2012–17 I chaired the Anti-Casualisation Committee. During that time, we secured formal representation of casualised members across UCU and the inclusion of job security (backed by robust data collection) in local and sectoral bargaining claims. We deliberately worked across UCU’s factions to develop networks of casualised members and permanently employed allies, building common goals.

I intend to restore and protect the principle of a truly member engaged union where we can all take genuine ownership of decisions. If we can do this, we are much more likely to win.