Category: Elections

Election stories in here

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Vote Umit Yildiz for UK elected member, Further Education

Defend pensions and jobs, Fight for equality

I have been working in Further Education at Bradford College since 2001, and have been a member of NATFHE/UCU from the day I started there. I am a member of the union’s national Black Members Standing Committee.

Before I became a lecturer I was a postal worker in Keighley where I was the CWU union rep representing 170 Postal Workers.

I want to represent FE members on the NEC because I am angry at the direction the sector is heading in.

 

Marginalised

Since incorporation ushered in competition, we have seen FE increasingly marginalised within education. A fixation on market-led initiatives has led to thousands of job losses, the creation of an army of casualised staff, pay falling behind other professionals year after year and workload spiralling out of control.

All of this has had a direct impact on our students’ education. I believe that sponsorships of academies by FE colleges is another problem for the struggling FE sector which our union will need to address.

2010/11 witnessed demonstrations and a fight back from students and staff alike against tuition fees, EMA, pensions and job cuts across Britain. We also saw a magnificent rejection of the increased fees which the IfL wanted to impose on us. The importance of these events in FE colleges such as mine is the unity created between staff and students.

Anger

The November 30th strike showed the growing anger amongst the other public sector unions and a willingness to take the fight further.

These experiences should be our springboard to defend education, jobs and pensions in our colleges and universities.

If elected I would strive to ensure that all campaigns around these issues are fully supported by UCU through advice and practical solidarity.

As a supporter of UCU Left I believe that the union is a place to campaign and fight for equality and peace for all.

My election pledges are to campaign for:

• Pensions and jobs
• Fractionalisation of hourly paid staff
• De-marketisation of our education system
• Implementation of equality and diversity at all levels
• Stop the cuts in ESOL and Adult Education
• A stronger UCU at local and national level

In UK-elected members FE, please vote:

Richard McEwan 1

Umit Yildiz 3

Steve Boyce 3

Jenny Sutton 4

Leaflet downloads are available from here.

STV Voting system

To maximise votes for progressive candidates we ask you to do the following:

Please use your votes to first endorse all UCU Left candidates and only after that use lower preferences for other progressive candidates in each relevant list;

and

Give your highest preferences in the UK-Elected list to UCU Left candidate(s) from your region

 

Elections run from 6 February to 1 March

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NEC Elections: Vote Alan Whitaker for Trustee

I joined NATFHE as soon as I started working in  FE sector in 1987. I held several positions on the branch committee, including chair and treasurer. I became a delegate to NATFHE’s Southern Regional Council in 1989, and was chair of the region in 1995-96.

I became a member of the NEC in 2001, representing FE members in Southern Region for one year before becoming the nationally elected representative for LGBT members.

I continued in this seat through the merger until I became vice-president in 2008. I retired from my job at Oxford and Cherwell Valley College on completing my term as president in May 2011, but I retain my membership at that branch.

Attack

It was an enormous privilege to be the president of our union last year as we began to face the greatest attack on post-16 education that we have ever experienced.
During the course of the year I was able to visit a large number of branches and listen to members’ views and concerns.

I also stood on picket lines alongside colleagues involved in both national and local disputes

I think this has given me an overview of our union and its members which makes me ideally placed to continue working for UCU as one of its trustees.

Proud

I am standing as a member of UCU Left and am proud to do so. However, I believe that during my time as an officer I have been able to work with all members, whatever their position on the political spectrum. I also developed good working relations with our staff.

I am particularly pleased to have played a role in the negotiations which resulted in the acquisition of an office in Leeds, which will lea to an improved level of service for members in Yorkshire and Humberside.

Knowledge

I have also gained a knowledge and understanding of the financial and legal workings of the union, which are the chief concerns of a trustee.

I also appreciate the constraints under which we operate, both those imposed by the appallingly restrictive laws governing trade union activity in this country and those that are specific to us, chiefly the sale of the Britannia Street building and the incorporation of the NATFHE Pension Scheme into USS.

If elected, I will do my best to ensure that both these matters are resolved as soon as possible, and that in all its undertakings our union works in the best interests of its members.

Leaflet downloads are available from here.

STV Voting system

To maximise votes for progressive candidates we ask you to do the following:

Please use your votes to first endorse all UCU Left candidates and only after that use lower preferences for other progressive candidates in each relevant list;

and

Give your highest preferences in the UK-Elected list to UCU Left candidate(s) from your region

 

Elections run from 6 February to 1 March

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Vote Jelena Timotijevic, NEC Elections, UK Elected HE Memeber

Defend Education, Jobs and Pensions.

I have worked at the University of Brighton for 12 years, firstly as an HPL and then in a permanent post. Currently I am a Principal Lecturer in Linguistics and Philosophy of Language.

In my UCU branch, I have been an Equal Opps Officer and Membership Secretary, and Secretary of the UCU Coordinating Committee. I am a delegate to the Southern and Eastern Regional Trade Union Council (SERTUC).

My experience as an hourly paid lecturer was similar to many on casual contracts which did not protect against disproportionate workloads, imbalance of teaching and research hours, lack of pensions’ contributions, pressure to teach more for less, all of which we must continue to resist and negotiate greater contractual protection for every single member in our branches where that protection still does not exist.

Ethos

We face unprecedented attacks on university education. Employers are turning Universities into market-led, privatised companies whose ethos is that of profit and competition.

Their strategy is to cut courses and provision which do not fit into the government’s market priorities – the main aim of the Higher Education White paper, which says nothing about improving teaching experience and empowering generations of students to come. This will jeopardise the existence of some HE institutions.

Our pensions and jobs are under threat. The changes the government wants to introduce to pensions are not necessary; pension schemes are not facing financial burden – the changes are about shifting this burden to public sector staff.

This government’s strategy is closely linked to the strategy for the privatisation of higher education: both are aimed at cutting public provision, both open up opportunities for for-profit companies and the financial sector and both work towards changing the tradition of social responsibility to individualism and commercialisation of education sector and pensions’ provision.

Our students are also under attack: higher tuition fees will prevent many from staying on in education, and those who do will be faced with a lifetime of debt.

Staff are under continuous and increased pressure. In many institutions intensified workloads and contact hours mean less time for research, increased stress levels and pressure on staff to sell courses, shifting the emphasis therefore from teaching and research to marketing.

The UCU must therefore fight to defend every single job, and defend education, pensions, pay and conditions.

That is why those we elect as reps should be accountable to every member in our branches. We need democratic and member-led local branches to ensure the implementation of Congress decisions by elected officers of the NEC.

We must link our fight to defend pensions and pay with a fight to defend education and make common cause with our students against escalating student debt. The UCU must play a pivotal role in the campaign against the White Paper.

We must fight for free education and an education system open to all. Central to that is our vigorous defence of academic freedom, under threat like never before.

That means we need nationally supported campaigns to resist job losses, cuts to courses and increased workloads. We need to campaign for fair working conditions for all staff, including hourly paid.

I am a convenor of the Defend The Right To Protest Campaign, to which UCU affiliated at Congress 2011; also a member of Unite Against Fascism and the UCU Left.

Leaflet downloads are available from here.

STV Voting system

To maximise votes for progressive candidates we ask you to do the following:

Please use your votes to first endorse all UCU Left candidates and only after that use lower preferences for other progressive candidates in each relevant list;

and

Give your highest preferences in the UK-Elected list to UCU Left candidate(s) from your region

 

Elections run from 6 February to 1 March

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UCU Left organising Conference

 Pension disputes – Higher Education White Paper – Privatisation and cuts – Equality – Defending jobs and education – Elections

All UCU members welcome

Time – Date – Location

12pm-4pm, Saturday 28th January, Soas Vernon square, 10min walk from Kings X, Map

Flyer available online now – distribute in your branch.

SIGN UP HERE NOW

Speakers:

John McDonnell MP
Priya Gopal – On Higher Education White Paper
Alex Kenny NUT NEC – Pensions Battle
Mark Campbell – UCU GS Candidate
Ange McConnell – UCU VP Candidate
Ian Bradley – Sparks striker, Unite London rank and file committee
Invited Langdon park striker

A conference organised by UCU Left to discuss a strategy for the defence of further, adult and higher education at a critical moment to defend pensions and plan a strategy in the fight against cuts and privatisation.

The USS and TPS pensions disputes have reached a critical junction with unions forced to accept savage cuts or escalate the fight. The white paper and pension attack are part of the same package, we will discuss our strategy to organise in the coming weeks and months for us to defeat these reforms.

In 2011 the UCU played a critical role in resisting austerity across the UK culminating in a 2 million strong general strike. We have seen significant victories for adult education and ESOL provision, the boycott IFL campaign, as well as key local disputes to defend jobs and trade union organisation including Barnsley College.

In February important internal UCU elections will open that will shape the union for the next five years. We want to encourage maximum participation in the elections to strengthen democracy in the union and the accountability of our leadership. The UCU Left is supporting and fielding a number of candidates, including for General Secretary and Vice President, standing for democratic fighting unions, this is your chance to meet them and discuss the campaign. Publicity will be available to collect on the day.

The UCU Left is a key force in the union acting decisively in the last year to mobilise effective resistance, come and join us to discuss and debate the way forward at this critical moment. We have invited a number of speakers to facilitate a full discussion on key themes for the movement, the union and to inspire us with their struggles including rank and file strikers.

During the day we will breakout into Further Education and Higher Education groups to focus in on key local battles and national issues in different sector like the USS dispute in HE and TPS in FE and post 92 HE.

We will operate a pooled fare on the day of £15 per person to ensure we can share and reimburse the costs for those travelling to London from further afield. Please book your tickets as early as possible to help reduce costs.

The venue is situated just 10 minutes walk from Kings Cross with a number of Cafes available next door serving hot food and drinks. If you are free we can go for a drink and chat at the end of the day.

I hope you can make it and encourage others to attend. Please contact us if you have any questions, and sign up online here.

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Why we’re supporting Mark Campbell

Hundreds of UCU members from around the UK have already pledged personal support for Mark’s campaign for General Secretary you can add your name to the growing list here, and the full list, which is growing every day is included at the bottom of the page.

Here’s what a few of them have to say:

‘‘ I am delighted to nominate Mark Campbell as UCU General Secretary. Mark has worked tirelessly to represent UCU members at London Met through countless attacks from a completely dysfunctional management. UCU is facing horrendous challenges but Mark has shown real commitment to building a democratic, campaigning union that has a clear vision of what education should be.”

Sasha Callaghan, UCU Past President

‘‘ We are in unprecedented times with a government determined to turn the clock back to Dickensian days. We need union leaders who not only say the right things but can follow them through. I’m backing Mark because he has the determination to fight and he understands the struggle from the grass roots.”

Veronica Killen, UCU Northern Region Secretary and NEC

‘‘ During our recent successful campaign against compulsory redundancies at Barnsley College the support of UCU activists including Mark proved vital in encouraging members to commit themselves to taking substantial strike action. It was only by being prepared to take such action that we were able to win when negotiations had failed. Mark clearly stands for the strategy of fighting to resist attacks on jobs and conditions. A vote for Mark is a vote for a fighting union.”

Graham Mustin, UCU Barnsley College

‘‘ I support Mark because he talks like the people I fed up with being treated as if they’re not trusted to do their jobs. Mark doesn’t give the impression that the best we can do is hold the line, and even then only if we’re lucky. He makes a coherent argument, not just for resisting the encroachment of management into teaching and researching, but also for fighting to build the branches and use our organisation to improve conditions at work for staff and quality in the classroom for students.”

Mike Orr, UCU St Andrews Branch Secretary

Mark is a dedicated, energetic and creative, ranch officer. As a lecturer he is well respected by colleagues and students alike. His political ideals, which I respect, are held strongly but presented lightly. In branch officer meetings he is pragmatic but principled which gives him a consistency and certainty that leads.”

Peter Cambridge, UCU London Metropolitan, H&S Officer

“Mark recognized the importance of our strike in 2009 with his continuous support and regular presence on our picket lines. His encouragement to build the resistance to defend jobs helped to keep our strike strong.”

Barbara Jeffreys, UCU Tower Hamlets, Branch Chair

“At a time when HE faces unprecedented estruction, we in UCU need energetic new
leadership from among the ranks of education staff themselves: Mark Campbell is a committed trustworthy and experienced colleague and campaigner who can provide us this.”

Dr Priyamvada Gopal, Faculty of English, Cambridge University

We the undersigned endorse Mark Campbell’s candidature in the forthcoming UCU General Secretary election campaign. Mark is a UCU branch officer at London Met and a member of the NEC. Mark has a well established track record in the union as a campaigner against cuts, redundancies, privatisation and in defence of education. Mark is standing in the election to give a voice to rank and file members across Further, Adult and Higher Education

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Mark Campbell for General Secretary

Mark Campbell works as a lecturer in computing at London Metropolitan University. He has been on the UCU Co-ordinating Committee at London Met for the past ten years, where he has played a central role in the many battles that UCU has fought alongside the other campus unions and the student body to defend jobs and course provision.

Mark has served on the National Executive of UCU for the past four years, and has played a prominent role in helping to develop active campaigning strategies for the union. He has also represented UCU at successive TUC Congresses.

As an active socialist Mark has pledged that if elected he will only draw the salary he currently receives at London Met with any increases that the union wins for its members. The remainder of the General Secretary salary will be donated to the union’s strike fund

This election takes place against the backdrop of the greatest assault on living standards and public services that we have faced in generations.

Our union faces a huge challenge to defend post- 16 education and we need to ensure that we are ready for the fights ahead.

30 November showed the potential to win on pensions. However, the latest offer on TPS still leaves us paying more to work longer for less.

Our NEC rightly voted to reject the offer alongside our sister unions the NUT and PCS, and agreed to make firm proposals to other public sector unions for more co-ordinated action, with a UK wide strike in early March..

✪ achieving fair funding – opposing the HE White Paper, fees policy and privatisation threat, resisting similar threats in the devolved nations;

✪ protecting Adult Education, defending ESOL provision, restoring the Educational Maintenance Allowance;

✪ defending pensions and resisting real terms pay cuts across FE and HE;

✪ defending jobs, reducing workloads, and resisting the ‘audit culture’;

✪ ensuring employers deliver genuine equality for women, black members and all facing discrimination;

✪ replacing the discredited Institute for Learning (IfL) with a voluntary member-led body;

✪ defending our most vulnerable members – Hourly Paid Lecturers, Graduate Teaching Assistants, junior researchers;

✪ reforming governance – we are educational institutions, not businesses.

To address these issues we need to look to our organising and industrial strength. It follows that we need a strong and democratic union: well- organised branches, and well-trained officers.

We need as many members as possible involved in the union’s democratic structures – from local branch activity to attending regional committees, Congress, and our HE and FE Sector Conferences. Our National Executive Committee must reflect all of the union’s constituencies fairly and equally.

I am standing for General Secretary because I believe we can fight back, and we can win. We need an alternative vision of the privatised, market- led system that the current government wants to impose on education and society as a whole.

A vote for me is a vote to build a union that can meet these difficulties, a union that is representative of all the diversity, talent and strength of our membership.

Mark Campbell

 

This is taken from marks election leaflet which can be found here, a number of people have already endorsed Mark as their preferred candidate in the up coming election, you can see what some of them have said here and endorse Mark’s candidacy here.

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2012 Election Candidates

The Elections for UCU General Secretary start in February 2012. Alongside the General Secretary, the position of Vice President (Further Education) and a range of positions on the NEC are being elected. One of the reasons why UCU has established itself as a campaigning union at the forefront of the battles to defend education has been the presence of elected lay activists from the left on the unions NEC.

Supporters of UCU Left are endorsing Mark Campbell’s candidacy for General Election and are also calling for a vote for the following candidates, more information will be uploaded about each candidate in the near future, with election flyers available online here.

 

Vice President FE

Angie McConnell, Wigan and Leigh College

Northern Ireland HE

Brian Kelly, Queens University Belfast

North East HE

Elizabeth Lawrence, Sheffield Hallam University
Gavin Reid, University of Leeds
Veronica Killen, Northumbria University

North East FE

Graham Mustin, Bransley College
Umit Yildiz, Bradford College

London and the East HE

Mark Campbell, London Metropolitan University
Jane Hardy, University of Hertfordshire
Jim Wolfreys, Kings College London

London and the East FE

Sean Vernell, City and Islington College
Mandy Brown, Lambeth College

Wales HE

Liza van Zyl, Cardiff University

North West FE

Darren Bradshaw, Blackpool and the Fylde College

UK-elected members HE

Jane Hardy, University of Hertfordshire
Jelena Timotijevic, University of Brighton
Lesley McGorrigan, University of Leeds

UK-elected members FE

Steven Boyce, A4E Prisons Branch
Richard McEwan, Tower Hamlets College
Jenny Sutton, College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London
Umit Yildiz, Bradford College

Representatives of women members HE

Marion Hersh, University of Glasgow

Representatives of women members FE

Alison Lord, Tower Hamlets College
Jenny Sutton, College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London

Seats for casually employed members FE

Regine Pilling, Westminster Kingsway College

UCU Trustee

Alan Whitaker, Oxford and Cherwell Valley College

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2012 Election Materials

 

This contains all of the election materials for the UCU left candidates running in the 2012 NEC, Trustee and General Secretary Elections full details here.

click here to download

 

Mark Campbell for General Secretary Election leaflet. Paper copies of this leaflet can be requested via email from jeaden@tesco.net (click the thumbnail for the online version.)

 

 

Angie McConnell, UCU left candidate for Vice President has her election leaflet available online now to download and distribute. Download here and online version here.

 

Jelena Timotijevic, UCU left candidate for UK elected HE member, has her election leaflet available online now to download and distribute. Download here and online version here.

 

Elizabeth Lawrence, UCU left candidate for North East NEC member, Higher Education, leaflet available now to download and distribute. Download available here and online version here.

 

Umit Yildiz, UCU left candidate for nationally elected FE member, leaflet available now to download and distribute. Download available from here and online version here.

 

 

Alan Whitaker, UCU left candidate for trustee of the union has his election leaflet available online now to download and distribute. Download here and online version here.

 

Gavin Reid, UCU left candidate for NEC, North East, (HE) has his election leaflet available online now to download and distribute. Download here and online version here.

 

Graham Mustin, UCU left candidate for NEC, North East, (FE) has his election leaflet available online now to download and distribute. Download here and online version here.

Veronica Killen

 

Veronica Killen, UCU left candidate for NEC, North East, (HE) has her election leaflet available online now to download and distribute. Download here and online version here.

 

Regine Pilling, UCU left candidate for NEC, Casually Employed Members, (FE) has her election leaflet available online now to download and distribute. Download here and online version here.

 

Lesley McGorrigan, UCU left candidate for NEC, UK Elected HE (Academic Related) has her election leaflet available online now to download and distribute. Download here and online version here.

 

Mandy Brown, UCU left candidate for NEC, FE, London and the East has her election leaflet available online now to download and distribute. Download here and online version here.

Sean Vernell

 

Sean Vernell, UCU left candidate for NEC, FE, London and the East has his election leaflet available online now to download and distribute. Download here and online version here.

Mark Campbell

 

Mark Campbell, UCU left candidate for NEC, HE, London and the East has his election leaflet available online now to download and distribute. Download here and online version here.

 

 

Jim Wolfreys, UCU left candidate for NEC, HE, London and the East has his election leaflet available online now to download and distribute. Download here and online version here.

 

Jane Hardy, UCU left candidate for NEC, HE, has her election leaflet available online now to download and distribute. Download here and online version here.

 

Jenny Sutton, UCU left candidate for NEC, FE, has her election leaflet available online now to download and distribute. Download here and online version here.

 

Richard McEwan, UCU left candidate for NEC, FE, has his election leaflet available online now to download and distribute. Download here and online version here.

 

Marion Hersh, UCU left candidate for NEC, representative of women (HE), has her election leaflet available online now to download and distribute. Download here and online version here.

 

Darren Bradshaw

 

Darren Bradshaw, UCU left candidate for NEC, for the North West (FE), has his election leaflet available online now to download and distribute. Download here and online version here.

Alison Lord

 

Alison Lord, UCU left candidate for NEC, representative of women (FE), has her election leaflet available online now to download and distribute. Download here and online version here.

 

A generic national flyer for the upcoming elections can be found here.

All leaflets flyers and other downloadable election content will appear here as it is created.

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Mark Campbell for UCU General Secretary

Mark Campbell to challenge Sally Hunt for General Secretary of the UCU

At the recent UCU Left conference, “Defending Education: building an autumn of resistance”, I was adopted as candidate for General Secretary of the University and Colleges Union (UCU).

I’m a rank and file activist in the union, and I am well aware of how much is now at stake for all UCU members and for future generations of students and staff. I believe that the UCU and all of its members must now be committed to a defence of public education, and to a defence of open access to it.

Joint Campaigns

I’m committed to the robust defence of Further, Higher and Adult education as we face unprecedented attacks on colleges and universities and a reimposition of elite provision for a minority of students. I believe that there is no significant distinction between the defence of the quality of education and the defence of pay, jobs and conditions. The defence of one requires the defence of the other.

I believe that the UCU has a key role to play in mobilizing a wide coalition of forces that are opposed to the Government’s dystopian agenda. It needs to appeal to other trade unions in the sector, to students and their families, and to all in the wider community for whom the Government’s assault on post-16 education, and education’s reorientation toward business training, is both a betrayal of hope for millions, and an assault on an inclusive and democratic society.

Pensions and Education

I’m committed to helping to mobilise all UCU members to take united strike action alongside millions of other public sector workers on 30th November in defence of pensions, and to encouraging the links with other trade unionists, with our students and with anti-cuts campaigners. This is the unity and the determination that we will need to defeat the Government’s plans to privatise post-16 education and to subordinate it to market principles.

My Record

I’m Chair of the UCU Coordinating Committee at London Metropolitan University where I work as a Senior Lecturer in Computing. I’m UCU London Region Rep on the South East and Eastern Regional TUC and Vice-Chair of its Public Services Committee. I’m a member of the UCU’s National Executive Committee (NEC), and have served on the Recruitment, Organisation, and Campaigns Committee (ROCC) for the last four years, and have represented UCU at the TUC Congress for the past three years. I have been in the forefront of the fight to defend jobs and courses at London Met and have played a prominent role on the NEC in defence of pensions, pay and members’ conditions. If elected as General Secretary, I pledge to only draw the equivalent salary to my current lecturer’s salary plus any increases we win for our members, the rest to be donated to the union’s strike fund.

Leadership

As a rank and file activist I’m committed to ensuring that we elect a leadership that is unafraid to stand up to the Government and to the employers. I am committed to organising the kind of political and industrial action needed to defend educational principles, and to defend our members.

In the discussions in the union that will take place during the coming months I will urge UCU members to elect national union officers and NEC members who will always abide by the democratic decisions of members at Congress and Conferences. If elected, I will seek judiciously to use the union’s industrial strength and its political influence to defend contractual terms, security of employment, and equality for all staff and students.

The members’ union

I’m committed to a democratic, member-led union that will campaign and organise collectively to defend both the principles of wide access to, and a democratic ethos in, education. A key part of that struggle will be a defence of members’ jobs, pensions, pay, and conditions.

Mine is a vision of a leadership for the UCU that is committed to collective campaigning rather than one seeking to develop an individual servicing model that is over-reliant on casework. Mine is a vision that seeks to play to the organising strengths of the union rather than to focus on appeals for sympathy.

Solidarity

UCU members hold diverse jobs within various sectors. However, all are campaigning to be treated respectfully as professionals; to have job security, and decent salaries that truly reflect the work we do; to have a clear career path; to feel part of an integrated and diverse workforce where all our voices are heard; to have sufficient control over what we do and how we do it. These concerns mirror those of other public sector workers such as health professionals, school teachers and civil servants. I believe we should stand together in solidarity with those workers when their jobs and conditions are under attack as in doing so we not only help them in their struggle but develop our own strength and win solidarity for our own battles.

Unity

I will seek to unite the union on an agenda for resistance to Government policy, for defence of jobs and conditions and equal rights at work for staff and our students, and for an open and accountable educational system that is oriented on social benefits rather than private interests.

Mark has a campaign blog here.