Sean Vernell for UK-Elected UK

A vote for me is a vote to fight to end the marketisation of the sector and for fully funded Further and Adult Education. We stand at the cross roads in the FE sector. Take the wrong turn and we’ll have many more years of underfunding and disparity of pay and conditions not just with school teachers but within the sector itself.
It’s a real insult to all who work in FE that the Labour government has refused to implement the 5.5% pay deal given to teachers. It is a further insult that the extra £300m given by government is not ringfenced for pay.
It’s clear that the strategy pursued since 2017 of local battles to eke out deals, has run its course. The possibility of reaching a national binding agreement on pay and conditions is more real than any time since incorporation in 1993. UCU is in negotiations with the AoC over bringing about a new deal in FE. But we will not achieve a deal that benefits us – or force the AOC and government to bring about pay and conditions parity – if we are not preparing to take national action.
Our members are suffering from workloads that lead to physical and mental ill health. Despite inflation falling many of our members feel poorer now that they did a year ago. It’s a matter of urgency that our union campaigns to maximise our collective strength.
I’m proud to have put UCU’s motion to this year’s TUC congress calling on delegates to support the workplace days of action over Palestine. We need more action like this to stop the genocide in Palestine.
Trump’s election has given the far right a real boost globally. He has made it clear that he will attempt to overturn every progressive reform we have won over the past 50 years. Our collective power is what makes us strong. We must use it if we are to bring about real change for our members, to halt the escalation of war and stop the far right.
UCU positions
- Branch Sec City and Islington College 2003 –
- 2007, Coordinating Secretary 2007-
- London Regional Council 2003 –
- NEC member 2007-2014, 2016-21, 2023-25
- VC FEC 2007- 2014, 2016–21
- National negotiator 2007-24
Publications
- Manifesto for Further Education 2006
- Don’t get young in the third millennium 2007
- Further and Adult Education: responding to a new social and economic climate 2008
- Fight the anti-union laws – no to austerity Yes to workers organisation 2015
- Reconstructing Further and Adult Education in a post Coronavirus world 2020.