Interim Statement from HEC Members on the 12th December HEC Decision

This is an interim statement by UCU Commons HEC members in response to HEC’s decision on 12th December to call an industrial action ballot for spring 2025.

This decision to call an IA ballot amounts, in our view, to a fundamental misuse of member energy, time, commitment and goodwill at a moment when the sector is in an unprecedented crisis. None of the Commons HEC members voted for this decision, and we all voted against the motion calling for the ballot. We tried to propose alternatives and mitigations, to no avail. We were met with a wall of hostility even for calling for investigation and soul-searching about the low levels of member engagement with and confidence in the union. We pointed to the 27% turnout in the consultative ballot and argued that this did not represent a mandate for a national IA ballot. All to no avail.

The only convincing majority the consultative ballot delivered was for acceptance of the non-pay elements of UCEA’s offer. We are concerned about the impact HEC’s decision to call a ballot will have on the union’s progress on the non-pay elements of the offer, and we refuse to take unwarranted risks with the future of the Terms of Reference (ToRs) on casualisation, workload, and pay inequalities. In the meeting on the 12th, we made a point of asking what the implications of calling a ballot would be for the ToRs, and we were warned in no uncertain terms that even a ballot for IA would put these at risk. The HEC members who voted for an IA ballot heard this, and voted for a ballot nonetheless. This national ballot will also have significant implications for the many local disputes that are in process over redundancies. A national ballot over pay will only make it harder to mount an effective nationally coordinated response to redundancies.

We refuse to waste members’ energy, time, and goodwill on a deeply flawed strategy when there are urgent and pressing fights for us to focus on.

We will say more in the coming weeks and months, but for now many of us are busy with the end of the teaching term, urgent branch work and other responsibilities.

Remember: regardless of what happens next, there will be elections for the NEC and union officers in February 2025. A low turnout from the membership at large is what allows HEC to take decisions like this. Please use your vote.

Signed,

UCU Commons HEC members

Jo Edge

Matilda Fitzmaurice

Bijan Parsia

Mark Pendleton

Caroline Proctor

Vivek Thuppil