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NEC Elections, Vote Regine Pilling, Casually Employed Members (FE)

Stamp out Casual Contracts

I am a 24 year old hourly paid lecturer at Westminster Kingsway College and have been teaching for three years, mainly in Additional Learning Support and A Level Sociology. I joined UCU and the branch encouraged me to become involved as a new member and hourly paid lecturer.

Since 2010 I have been the Casual Workers Rep on branch committee, a member of the union’s Young Members Steering Group and a regular delegate to London Regional Meetings. I
at all levels of the union. We need a unified approach to stamp out casual contracts, for the benefit of every UCU member.
am also a member of UCU’s Anti- Casualisation Committee. I have been a delegate to Unite Against Fascism Conference and this year I was proud to be a delegate to UCU’s Annual Congress.

With the huge success of November 30th and increasing membership we should be proud of UCU’s lead in the fightback across the public sector.
We should defend the education we provide, whilst demanding a better education for all.

Casualisation

With devastating cuts facing FE the threat of increased casualisation is becoming critical for hourly paid lecturers (HPL) and Agency staff but also for permanent staff.

Employers are increasing the proportion of casualisation, which could help drive down wages and conditions for all working in the sector. It is essential that UCU supports every member.

It is important to raise the profile of the anti-casualisation campaign at branch, regional and national level. Within my branch, I have been supported by a network of reps campaigning to fractionalise staff. I’m active within the London wide anti- casualisation campaign which unites FE, HE, HPL and permanent staff.

At UCU’s Annual Congress I helped move Anti Casualisation Committee motions ensuring the campaign was driven through at all levels of the union. We need a unified approach to stamp out casual contracts, for the benefit of every UCU member.

If elected I will regularly report back to the Anti Casualisation Committee and London Region and work with the HE casualisation rep to ensure anti-casualisation issues are up front in the union’s bargaining and campaigning agenda.

Member-led

I am a UCU Left supporter, believing UCU must be a democratic member- led union based on strong branches. Therefore, I’ve supported the successful lesson observation boycott at Westminster Kingsway College, which required a high level of membership involvement.

I oppose IFL fees and as a new teacher want to defend pension rights and sustain the scheme for those retiring sooner.

In the huge fight over pensions, wages and job cuts, we must listen to and involve members and show a clear lead in organising to win.
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 Veronica Killen, NEC, North East Seat (HE)

Resist Privatisation and Marketisation

Higher education should be publicly funded, publicly owned, accessible to everyone and free at the point of use.

The university is a place where minds are developed through freedom of speech, subject choice and respect for diversity. True collegiate governance and democratic accountability for the public good.

We have to stand up for our values and resist marketisation and privatisation. Our universities are not treasure chests to be plundered by multinationals or other opportunists, or to be subject driven by employers, nor any restrictions on research (REF).

Crisis

Pensions, pay and terms of condition are threatened. We will not allow the government to make us pay for an economic crisis we did not create. We need to show the government is wrong on all its assertions. We deserve decent pay, pensions and working conditions.

Overwork, casualisaton of contracts and bullying all need to be challenged. Protection of the post 92 contract and decent workloads for all lecturers, researchers, academic related and protection for hourly paid staff.

We know when cuts bite, equality issues are left behind at great speed. There are many universities that need to progress on EPA’s, maternity schemes, support for members with disabilities, impact assessments and anti-bullying.

Unions should be member led – it is a basic union principle. Members deserve nothing less. Values based on collectiveness, unity, aspiration and organisation. UCU can grow from strength to strength by:

Developing work nationally, regionally and locally with our students, other education trade unions, the TUC, Trade Union councils, the occupations, anti-cuts and other community groups.

A greater visibility on the value of education, for the good of society.

Encourage new and younger members to get involved in UCU.

Listening to and mobilising UCU members.

Biographical information including service to the union

I work full time as a senior lecturer at Northumbria University, teaching Midwifery, public health and other health areas.
I am a member of the Northumbria equality sub-committee. I have been an active trade unionist most of my working life. After transferring from a teaching position in the NHS in 1994, I have been:

1994 – Department and school rep l 2004 – Branch officer;

2007-11 Secretary of the Northern Region HEC;

2007–11 Member of the standing women’s committee

2007-11 delegate to the women’s’ TUC conference and UCU national congress;

2007– National health educators group member

2007– Northern Region TUC council member l 2008 – Northern Region Secretary

2010-11 Vice Chair of the women’s standing committee

(2010) Delegate to the TUC conference

2011– NEC member, member of the Education Committee and vice chair of the national Equality Committee

UCU Left member

For the North East HE seat please vote;

Liz Lawrence 1
Gavin Reid 2
Veronica Killen 3
Jeff Fowler 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 Graham Mustin – North East (FE)

Build the resistance, Defend education

I have been an active member of NATFHE and UCU since joining the profession in 1981. I am currently joint branch secretary of Barnsley College UCU. I have represented the branch at UCU congress and FE sector conference and am branch representative at Yorkshire ad Humberside region.

I am currently employed at Barnsley College as Tutorial Team Leader in the department of Catering Hospitality and Tourism. Previously I taught A level History at the college.

Defend Further Education

Further education in this country is under attack from a government that hates the public sector and is determined to force through austerity and principals only interested in the bottom line. UCU must continue to be in the forefront of those campaigning to defend high quality education and training for all our students.

Build the resistance to attacks on pensions, jobs and conditions.

I am proud of the role that UCU has played in building the fight back against attacks on our pensions.

November 30th was a magnificent example of solidarity and we need to be taking the lead in calling for further action.
We also need to resist all attempts to force through redundancies and undermine our terms and conditions. If elected I would press for the widest possible support for colleges taking action.

I know from our recent experience in Barnsley College, where a robust campaign of industrial action prevented my compulsory redundancy, how important support and solidarity are in encouraging members to take effective action. We need to spread the message that determined action can win.

Building a democratic and effective union

Our membership has continued to grow over the past few years wherever lecturers and others see the union standing up strongly for its members but UCU needs to recruit more members and make members into active trade unionists.

As a member of UCU Left I believe that strong branches are the key to building a strong union. And as Vice- Chair of Yorkshire and Humberside region I also believe that regions can play an important role in co-ordinating action and supporting weaker branches.

To be as effective as possible the UCU must be a democratic union responsive to the grassroots.

This means an NEC that is accountable to the membership. If elected I will report back regularly from NEC meetings and make myself available to speak to branches if requested.

Please vote for Mark Campbell for General Secretary and for myself and Umit Yildiz for the North East FE seats

Vote Graham Mustin 1;Umit Yildiz, 2

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 Gavin Reid for North East (HE)

The Government has embarked on a savage process of privatising our universities. The scandals that have rocked the American for-profit sector, one that spends more on advertising than it does on staff, appear only to spur Willetts on in his race to the bottom.

The current period will therefore define what our union is about and how it operates – roll over and invest in ‘member services’ or use our available resources to fight back where we can. We must defend our pensions, pay and working conditions across the full spectrum of our membership.

Focus

t would be a mistake to focus exclusively on pensions; this will likely lead to defeat over the Government white paper.

Furthermore, the HE sector has suffered the worst pay settlements in the whole of the public sector during the current recession.

The fact that since 2004 we have had to take industrial action to secure every pay increase, when this has not happened in much of the rest of the economy, suggests a collective failure of the Vice-Chancellors towards their staff, this we must reverse.

Pillars

Universities must be the pillars of any democratic society, yet many VCs are now engaged in shedding jobs even resorting to compulsory redundancy.

There is further strong evidence that the UK is falling behind other European countries in its obligations to defend academic freedom.

I believe UCU should be campaigning for the reintroduction of tenure and collegial governance structures as defined by UNESCO. Academic tenure is the only defence against closure and redundancy.

Business

As our universities are turned into businesses and run on traditional business lines, they are being set up to fail like businesses.

The UCU must be at the forefront of promoting a new vision for higher education – to reclaim our universities from the Tories.

Biographical information including service to the union

I first joined AUT in 1996. Over the past decade I have been Joint Secretary, twice Vice-President, President, Past President, and I am currently again President of the University of Leeds LA.

I have been a member of the UCU National Executive Committee since 2007
Chair, Education Committee (2010, 2011) l Vice-Chair, Education Committee (2007-09)

Vice-Chair Pre-92, Higher Education Committee (2010)

National pay negotiator (2009-present) l Member of the Legal Support Review Panel (2009, 2011)

I am a Senior Lecturer at the University of Leeds. Currently, I am Director of Student Education in the School of Chemistry. I have research interests in femtosecond spectroscopy and biophysical chemistry.

I am or have recently been an elected member of the University Senate, Learning & Teaching Board and Council.

I am a member of UCU Left and not of any political party.

North East (HE) Vote:

Elizabeth Lawrence 1
Gavin Reid 2
Veronica Killen 3
Jeff Fowler 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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Model motion in support of the NEC

Please find below a model motion in support of the NEC’s recent decision – this can be downloaded along with other materials including flyers arguing the NEC position on the pensions dispute from here.

 

Branch/regional motion on NEC decision 20th January

This Branch/Region endorses the 20th January decision of the UCU NEC, alongside the NUT, PCS, UCAC and Unite, to reject the government’s “Heads of Agreement” proposals.
It recognises the urgency of the situation in that the Government intends to impose contribution increases from 1st April, and that;

  • under the proposals, public sector workers will continue to pay more to work longer for less;

 

  • the main issues of the dispute remain unresolved – the change from RPI to CPI for pensions in payment, the increase in employee contributions, the extension of the Normal Retirement Age to State Retirement Age, and the abolition of the Final Salary scheme;

 

  • the new proposals represent no substantial improvement on what was on offer before the strike by over 2.5 million public sector workers on 30 November and that, therefore, in common with the other ‘rejectionist’ unions, do not warrant a membership ballot at this time.

This Branch/Region supports:

  • the decision of the NEC that our General Secretary (GS) will meet the leaders of other ‘rejectionist’ unions to propose possible forms of co-ordinated action from February, and to invite them to join with UCU in a nationwide strike to defend public sector pensions on 1 March  (exactly one month before the government imposes changes on 1 April);

 

  • the call for the NEC’s plans to be debated across UCU branches and regions and for branches and regions to begin preparations for further action including the national strike on March 1st;

 

  • the call for the GS to report back on discussions with other unions, and the results of discussions at branch/regional meetings of the NEC’s position, at a full meeting of the National Executive on 10 February.

 

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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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Vote Elizabeth Lawrence, NEC elections, HE Member for North East

Defend Education and Academic Freedom

We must defend academic freedom and reclaim universities as institutions of learning, where the pursuit of education not profitability is the driver. UCU should defend collegiality and democracy in university governance. We must promote real education and challenge the view that the only worth of a degree lies in employability and graduate salary levels. This means an end to divisive league tables which turn higher education into a commodity.

 

Pensions, jobs, pay and working conditions – build the resistance

Pensions are deferred salary. We must defend final-salary pensions for all academic and academic-related staff. In 2012 we are going to have to fight energetically to defend jobs. We need a decent pay rise in 2012. There is a major negotiating and organising agenda around enhancing the student experience. This must be done on the basis of good conditions of service for university staff, not at our expense.

Workloads

For many members work intensification is the number one problem of working life. In post-92 universities we have a national contract, covering teaching hours, holidays and other conditions of service. We need to maintain this contract as protection against over-loading. Within pre-92 universities we need to negotiate greater contractual protection. The REF should not be used to exacerbate workloads and restrict academic freedom.

Building a democratic and effective union

UCU needs to recruit more members and to turn members into activists. We need to build strong Branches and Regions and defend union facility time. None of this will deliver, however, unless we build UCU as a democratic union. This means an NEC which implements Congress decisions and national negotiators who are accountable to the membership.

Please vote for Mark Campbell for General Secretary and for Gavin Reid, Veronica Killen and myself for the North East HE seats

Biographical information, including service to the union.

I joined NATFHE in 1975 and have served as Branch Secretary, National Negotiator, NEC member and delegate to Annual Congress and HE Sector Conference

I am Regional Secretary for Yorkshire and Humberside, a member of the NEC and a local union representative at Sheffield Hallam University.

I am employed as a Principal Lecturer in Sociology. I am Equal Opportunities and Diversity Co-ordinator for the Faculty of Development and Society at Sheffield Hallam University. I am a member of the British Sociological Association. UCU Left member.

– NEC Member 1994-97, 1998-present, Member of Strategy and Finance Committee
– National Negotiator for HE Sector 1994-96, 1997-present
– Delegate to Women’s TUC 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005
– Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Secretary 1993-present
– Negotiating/Co-ordinating Committee Secretary Sheffield City Polytechnic 1987-92
– Vice-Chair NATFHE Higher Education Committee 1998-2006
– NATFHE National Women’s Rights Panel 1985-88
– NATFHE National Research Staff Panel 1977-79

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

Posted on

Still work longer, Still pay more, Still get less.

The governments ‘Heads of Agreement’ offer has been discussed at length, with UCU left giving it’s response to it, and the way in which it has been handled by the General Secretary.

The NUT who have given a very strong condemnation of the offer have created an up to date pensions calculator which can be found here. This has been updated to reflect the changes in the “Heads of Agreement” offer, and clearly shows how members will:

Still work longer, Still pay more and Still get less.

 

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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