Why you should vote for UCU Left candidates
UCU Left is a large group of leading rank-and-file activists, officers and reps who are committed to making UCU both more effective and more democratic.
The sectors we work in are under attack. Further Education has lost a million course places over the last decade. The employers do not implement national agreements. But UCU’s strategy has been to take action branch by branch, employer by employer, with the vast majority of members left out in the cold.
Higher Education vice chancellors are lobbying to increase tuition fees for home students to £12,000 a year. They say that international student recruitment has been subsidizing teaching, and this is projected to fall thanks to the war in Palestine and the ‘hostile environment’. The market system that encouraged universities to splurge over £10bn on campuses after 2014 is now moving from boom to bust in the face of high inflation. The employers took the end of the Marking and Assessment Boycott as a cue to begin a massive offensive on jobs and conditions — and they are lining up for more next year.
We need a union leadership that faces up to that offensive. This means organising now at the grass roots, in our branches, building solidarity between branches under attack. But it also means electing leaders who will implement the democratic decisions of Congress and Sector Conference, and not pick and choose the ones they like.
We believe in member-led democracy. Unlike the factions supporting the current General Secretary, UCU Left members see conference decisions as ‘sovereign’ and believe our obligation as elected representatives is to carry them out.
Indeed, we believe that democracy in our union should be even more thoroughgoing, to ensure that when members take part in a strike or decide to boycott marking, they have real control over the future of that strike or MAB, through a directly-elected strike committee elected and recallable by members themselves. This is what happens in the best-organised branches in local strikes, and we should be scaling up this type of direct democracy in all our national disputes.
Meet our candidates
Select a candidate photo below for more information about them.
General Secretary – Saira Weiner Vote #1
Saira says:
I am standing for five principles:
- Democracy – to defend the democratic structures of UCU
- Control from below – so members have a real say
- Strengthen the grassroots – empowering branches to defend members
- Transparency and accountability – everyone in office is accountable
- Trusting members – I will implement the decisions members make
Vice President (from FE) – Peter Evans Vote #1
Peter says:
If elected, my objectives include:
- Democracy – support rank and file organising and implement conference decisions
- Equality for our 4 nations – bring UCU closer to the nations and level up
- Workers’ rights – defend pay, conditions and pensions and the right to strike
- Education – resist mergers and course closures, and defend academic freedom
- Equality – fight oppression and ensure equality is the heart of our bargaining
- Health – Covid is not over, work with our NHS colleagues to defend health
- Internationalism – defend LGBTQ+ people around the world, welcome refugees and stand with Palestine
UCU Trustee
Ordinary members of the NEC
UK-elected FE
| 1 Naina Kent |
2 Dharminder Chauhan |
| 3 Saleem Rashid |
UK-elected HE
| 1 Peta Bulmer |
2 Saira Weiner |
| 3 Alan Barker |
4 Donna Brown |
North East FE
| 1 Elaine White |
North East HE
| 1 Matt Perry |
2 Josh Moos |
London and the East FE
| 1 Richard McEwan |
2 Regine Pilling |
London and the East HE
| 1 Sean Wallis |
2 Richard Wild |
| 3 Roddy Slorach |
4 Christina Paine |
Wales HE
| 1 Philip Allsopp |
Representatives of Women Members FE
| 1 Regine Pilling |
2 Safia Flissi |
Representatives of Women Members HE
| 1 Julie Hearn |
2 Lesley Kane |
| 3 Saira Weiner |
4 Christina Paine |
Other candidates
If you have unused preferences after voting for UCU Left candidates, we recommend using them for the following other candidates:
General Secretary: Vicky Blake
HE London and East HE: Dr Rhian Elinor Keyse, Nico Rosetti, Cecilia Wee
UK-elected HE: Grant Buttars, Marian Mayer, Dr Rhian Elinor Keyse, Sam Morecroft, Cecilia Wee
