UCU NEC elections:
Vote Maria Chondrogianni for Women
Equality and Fairness for all
Principal Lecturer, Computer Science, University of Westminster, and NATFHE/UCU activist since 1993.
I currently serve as Health and Safety Representative for London Region. In this work I endeavour to support gender equality by ensuring that all policies take account of gender differences, where relevant. This can affect areas like design of personal protective equipment and safety for pregnant workers.
I currently serve as Health and Safety Representative for London Region. In this work I endeavour to support gender equality by ensuring that all policies take account of gender differences, where relevant. This can affect areas like design of personal protective equipment and safety for pregnant workers.
I was an NEC member for 2018-20. During this time, I was concerned with protecting contractual provisions around workload maxima. Keeping workloads within reasonable limits is important for all college and university staff. It is even more important for those workers who have caring responsibilities for children and other family members, and such workers are still more likely to be female. Workload management is an important gender equality issue.
Equality
At Westminster University I am active as a local branch officer and local negotiator. Equality considerations are central to this work. For instance, I led negotiations for successful fractionalisation of hourly-paid staff. I was instrumental in ensuring that no compulsory redundancies took place. I have been a union activist throughout my university education/ career because I believe that by working together we can defend education and protect our rights.
Being a local union officer during the pandemic has also made me more aware of gender equality. Homeworking has been challenging for all our members, but doubly so for those trying to combine working with home-schooling of children. We showed employers a lot of goodwill during the pandemic. They need to reciprocate with more support for family-friendly working practices. What we saw, however, was inequalities intensifying during the pandemic. This must enhance our determination to safeguard health and safety and abolish precarious contracts.
The Four Fights dispute remains pertinent for all, in particular for women, who often find ourselves in low grades, precarious contracts, and facing unacceptable gender/ethnicity/disability pay gaps.
Campaigning
Our response must be through national campaigning so that local UCU activists and members are supported. The looming crisis in post-92 institutions, which often affects first the lower-paid women members, needs to be addressed nationally. We need to strengthen branches to defend equality, members’ jobs and employment conditions. We must ensure that fair working conditions apply to all, first and foremost for casualised staff.
I am a hard-working branch chair, a defender of academic and academic-related staff. Vote for me for a union that campaigns for you and defends women’s rights. I would be honoured to get your vote.
- October 2020-present London Region H&S rep
- 2018-2020 UK-elected NEC member HE
- 2013-present UCU Westminster Coordinating Committee Chair/Vice Chair; and UCU Westminster Cavendish Branch President/Chair/Secretary
- 2003-2010: UCU Westminster Negotiating Secretary (joint); Equalities representative; and member of the negotiating team