A Guest Mailout from David Bretherton.

Dear subscribers,

As you may know, we at UCU Commons are recommending that those in the South region vote for David Bretherton (he/him) to join the NEC. David is Associate Professor of Music at the University of Southampton, where he is also President of the UCU branch. He is up for election as an independent candidate. In this guest mailout, David explains why he is running: UCU democratic structures aren’t working for members, and are in dire need of improvement. We hope you find David’s piece informative and illuminating.

You’ll find more information about all UCU Commons candidates on our website. We have also written an explainer of the role of NEC and the elected officers, how the voting system works, and why it is vitally important to vote in these elections. Please keep reading and sharing it!

The UCU officer hustings were held last week, and the recording is now available to watch online. We strongly recommend giving it a watch.

If you are still yet to receive your ballot papers, order a replacement set here.

In solidarity,

UCU Commons

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Guest Elections Mailout by David Bretherton:

Hello UCU Commons!

Thank you for all you do representing members, and thank you for recommending that members vote for me in the South HE region UCU elections!

I’m standing because I believe in the trade union movement, and that a trade union is its members, so it’s not enough to complain when things in your union aren’t working – you must try to do something about it. And let’s be honest, things in UCU haven’t been worked well at a national level for a while. I’m not in a faction, but I believe the long-standing dominance of UCU Left bears some responsibility, which is why I have voted for those candidates recommended by UCU Commons and the Campaign for UCU Democracy.

In my election address I have written about my UCU activism to date, so here I want to comment on UCU democracy, which has become something of a dividing line in this year’s election. During the last period of HE industrial action (IA), a Branch Delegate Meeting (BDM) took place on 11 August 2023. For those unfamiliar with UCU structures: prior to a BDM, branches consult their members on several questions, branch delegates then vote at the BDM, and those votes are then weighted according to branch size, with the results informing the decisions of UCU’s Higher Education Committee (HEC). You’d hope that BDMs would be a reliable gauge of members’ views, particularly during IA, but they are not.

For example, to the question ‘Does your branch support the continuation of the Marking and Assessment Boycott (MAB)?’, the BDM answered: Yes 47%, No 37%, Abstain 16%. HEC decided to get the views of the broader membership in an e-consultation. 18,874 members participated, and they disagreed with the BDM: 40% wanted to continue the MAB, while 60% wanted to suspend it. The General Secretary – who had been instructed by HEC to act on the result – advised members on 6 September 2023 that the MAB was suspended. Meanwhile, to the question ‘Does your branch support HEC calling for strike action prior to the end of the current mandate on 30 September?’, the BDM answered: Yes 54%, No 24%, Abstain 22%. HEC decided to call strike action, which was set for 25-29 September 2023. But calling five days of strike at the end of the IA mandate – after which ‘Action-Short-of-Strike’ cover would end, and strikers would have to catch-up with missed work at one of the busiest times of year – resulted in a significant backlash from members. HEC subsequently resolved to let branches decide locally whether to participate, and only 42 out of c. 140 branches actually decided to go ahead with the planned five days of strikes.

On these two crucial questions, the BDM votes were completely at odds with the views of the broader membership. In the first case, we discovered this via HEC’s ‘top-down’ e-consultation; in the second, it was a ‘bottom-up’ rebellion by members. (UCU Left were against HEC overturning the BDM votes – or at least, not unless sanctioned by another BDM!) When UCU balloted members in September-October 2023 to ask for a further mandate for industrial action, members declined. The union had lost their trust.

Now, before I’m accused of being ‘industrially conservative’ by UCU Left, let me be clear: I’ve always fully participated in industrial action called by UCU, and in recent years I’ve been heavily involved in ‘getting the vote out’ and strike-day organising at my branch. But I feel very strongly that if UCU is going to call on members to take IA, we need to ensure that they actually support it. So, if UCU is again to call on members to take national action, we need to avoid the mistakes of 2023, and we need to rebuild trust. To do that, I believe we need to improve UCU’s democratic structures.

Please use your vote wisely.

In solidarity,

David.

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