This year’s UCU election is a setback for all those wanting to see a fighting and more democratic union. The elections saw the right-wing and their new allies the Commons faction win a majority on the NEC. The elections saw one of the lowest turnouts in UCU national elections. We hope this analysis is useful and provides some initial next steps needed in order to resist the crises facing post-16 education.
The challenges
The Vice President position was won by Dyfrig Jones, who saw fit to publish an article in the THES during the election which called for quiet words in government ears and undermined calls for industrial action to defend jobs. The NEC and trustee elections were marred by red-baiting and the strategic pessimism of the right in terms of what members can achieve. This plays into the hands of a Starmer government that refuses to provide the necessary funding to the post-16 education sector and the far right who are pursuing a divisive ‘war on woke’.
The strengthening of the right and their allies will mean an emboldened resistance on the NEC to a UK-wide fight to defend jobs and pay across the sector. It will strengthen the GS’s attempts to impose depoliticised and localised battles to defend post-sixteen education. We can also expect hostility and reluctance to putting UCU at the forefront of international issues like Palestine and the fight to stop the growth of the far right.
Despite their pro-democracy rhetoric, the right will undermine the sovereign democratic decision-making bodies like sector conferences and congresses when votes don’t go their way. They will focus on plebiscites where members are atomised and the collective strength of our union is not leveraged. They will continue to falsely counterpose branch decisions to UK-wide ones to ensure that policies in support of UK-wide action are not implemented.
UCU Left doesn’t believe that we should be focusing on more cosy chats and partnership with Starmer’s Labour government, or providing excuses for its warfare not welfare spending policies.
It is clear that the failure of the GS and her team in HE to implement decisions regarding pay and refusal to launch UK – wide fight over jobs has left many activists frustrated and demoralised. This allowed the right to play on the concerns of those more passive within the union about our ability to prosecute an effective campaign that can win.
In FE a strategy of localised battles has led to a significant decrease in branches participating in any organised campaigning. In fact, for the first time in many years there are no FE branches taking action over pay or any other issue whatsoever.
It is in this context, that those putting forward a positive case for taking England-wide action over pay has taken place. The lack of strikes and campaigning in general has left a more passive union in FE. The pessimism of the UCU leadership about their inability to win members to England wide-action has badly weakened union organisation and a dwindling membership in the sector.
Members in FE are willing to fight – as shown by the example of a dozen or so branches which, in most cases, independently of regional offices, conducted indicative ballots and fought for a yes vote. In each case, members responded enthusiastically, with turnouts of 65% and more.
Members’ disenchantment with the union appears to have translated into a low turnout across both sectors in this election. UCU Left will be working to rebuild members’ engagement and provide strategies that build hope and confidence.
How to rebuild a union that fights for members
Winning seats on the NEC is important and it is a setback that the left fared poorly, albeit narrowly, in these elections. But this does not mean all is lost. We must and will continue to defend post-16 education collectively across FE and HE.
The key to achieving action that will be successful, make a difference to members’ lives and defend post 16 education is in branches building for UK-wide action.
In HE that means following the lead given by Newcastle, Dundee and Brunel. These examples demonstrate that when officers give a lead the membership responds brilliantly. The increases in memberships and record numbers of pickets in all these disputes shows the fighting spirit that exists to defend our universities.
But branches under attack must not be allowed to fight alone. We cannot stop 10,000 jobs disappearing from the sector by fighting university by university. Indeed this would defeat the very purpose of having a UK wide union – we need a UK-wide fight. This means inviting those on strike to your branches to speak, donating money to their strike funds and passing a motion demanding the union launch UK-wide action now.
FE, adult and prison education is in crisis. Further cuts in funding and a recruitment crisis means that localised action cannot succeed in pushing back further attacks.
The Further Education Committee met on Friday and passed motions calling for an indicative ballot of all members before the summer, and a motion to sector conference calling for UK action over pay, workload and national bargaining. Whilst there appears to be a change in mood amongst UCU HQ and the right on the FEC towards the ‘inevitability’ of England-wide action it did not stop them voting against motions calling to prepare for this.
Every branch needs to prepare for action over pay, workload and national bargaining by inviting striking HE staff to speak at your branch, organising lunch time protests and lobbies of your governing board.
The GS has agreed to implement congress policy and has called a UK-wide demo in defence of post 16 education on the 10th May. In every region there should be rallies in support of post 16 education with MPs, celebrities and strikers to highlight the crisis in HE, FE, Adult and Prison Education and to mobilise the UK-wide demo.