Rob Macmaster

Rob Macmaster for UK-Elected HE

I am a Principal Lecturer in Politics at the University of Westminster, Chair of the Regent
Branch, and a member of the UCU Westminster Negotiating Team since 2015. I have been Secretary to the UCU Committee since 2022.

In my UCU roles, I have improved members’ conditions through contract negotiations at ACAS and won ballots for industrial action. I have prevented management-imposed mid-semester module evaluations and non-negotiated changes to the academic calendar.

I support members through casework and employ different fora and communications to engage with members’ concerns. I have organised strike action and pickets in our media attention central London sites. I have represented UCU Westminster at Congress and BDMs. I am a UCU London Region Committee member, holding the role of Training Officer, and a UCU Left member. 

I have helped build up the branch by empowering reps. I encourage reps to complete UCU training, take on casework, hold local meetings and maintain online forums, communicate and listen to members’ concerns effectively, report to the branch, and coordinate committee meetings. I have galvanised members through industrial action, championed their concerns, and resisted management attacks.

As a union, we face several challenges:

  • A broken funding model with university management fixated on capital projects
  • A hostile environment for international students and the insidious legacy of a Tory government-inspired cultural war
  • Widespread redundancies and possible university bankruptcies 
  • Deteriorating pay and conditions with excessive workloads
  • Widespread casualisation.

We shall address these issues by ensuring the union has the political clout to persuade the Labour government to recognise the contribution higher education makes. Higher education is a significant driver of sustainable economic growth, social mobility and social cohesion. It has a vital role in research and education in tackling climate emergencies and building a greener future. As a union, we must ensure a properly funded sector by arguing for the return of the block grant, ending the hostile environment for international students and demanding government intervention where university management has recklessly over-extended themselves financially by misusing public funds on capital projects.

If elected to NEC, I shall:

  • Help ensure the union has a coherent political strategy and message
  • Work proactively in addressing a broken funding model
  • Campaign to prevent redundancies and university closures
  • Listen to the needs and concerns of members
  • Promote an inclusive grass-roots-led organisation.

As an NEC member, I shall help ensure we are a member-led union representing members’ interests and concerns, empowering branches through a coherent political and industrial strategy with consistent messaging that improves our pay and conditions. We must seek to maintain UK higher education’s world-class position and role as a driver of progressive social change through increased public funding and government support.