General Meeting Wed 31 Oct, 1-2pm

A reminder that there will be an Extraordinary General Meeting of UCL UCU this Weds 31 October, 13.00-14.00 in 25 Gordon Street Maths 500 LT.

The meeting will discuss the results of the recent ballot on our pay and equality campaign in anticipation of the forthcoming Special Higher Education Sector Conference (SHESC - see appendix 2) which will decide next steps in the pay campaign and also discuss the USS.

Motions to be discussed are below in Appendix 1.

Members voted for strike action and action short of a strike in record numbers at UCL (a 76% vote for strike action and an 88% vote for action short of a strike: some 1,100 members voted, out of 2,631 members balloted, a turnout of 42% for UCL and IOE branches combined). Unfortunately, as the turnout is below 50%, the entire ballot is invalid. Across the country, 7 branches got over a 50% turnout.  However, our turnout was the highest ever achieved over any pay campaign in percentage terms.

We need to debate where our pay campaign goes from here. We can re-ballot, and rebuild the campaign but it will clearly require a serious effort to do so. Your Executive wants to hear your views.

Agenda:

1. USS - National Dispute Committee: strengthening accountability during industrial action (Motion 1)
2. Pay - Re-balloting over pay, casualisation and equality (Motion 2) 
3. Forthcoming special sector conferences on Pay and Pensions, deciding on delegates. See Appendix 2.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Appendix 1: motions for EGM

Motion 1: USS - National Dispute Committee: strengthening accountability during industrial action

Conference welcomes the work of the National Dispute Committee (NDC) and thanks its members for their hard work.

Conference notes that the NDC was set up by a decision of HEC that changed it from a large delegate body elected by branches (as originally intended, to address identified democratic deficits) to a committee elected as a subset of, and from, HESC delegates. 

Conference resolves that if members are balloted for industrial action over USS, the NDC will be formally reconstituted on the same basis as Higher Education Sector Conference. The NDC will then have the same pro-rata delegate entitlement per branch and be formally constituted to permit delegates to make decisions about the conduct of the dispute. For the duration of the dispute the NDC will then replace informal ‘consultation meetings of branch delegates’ with no voting powers.

(138 words)

Motion 2: Pay - Re-balloting over pay, casualisation and equality

Conference notes that 

1. Both turnout and votes for industrial action in 2018 were much higher than in previous ballots. But 8 HE institutions crossed the 50% threshold.
2. If branches with a turnout of 40%+ reached 50%, 69% of balloted members could take industrial action. If branches with 35%+ reached 50%, 79% of members could strike.
3. Turnout is increased by effective grassroots campaigns and well-timed ballot periods.

Conference believes this issue will not go away. Crossing the 50% turnout threshold over pay and pensions is a strategic imperative for UCU.

Conference resolves to

1. Re-ballot all branches in the turnout range 35-50%, allowing other branches to opt in. Ensure that the ballot period is long enough to achieve a high turnout.
2. Organise grassroots GTVO campaigns for a YES vote in the re-ballot. 
3. Encourage local and national protest foci such as 12 November, Pay Inequality Day.

(148 words)

Appendix 2: Special Higher Education Sector Conference

UCU has called two special conferences in Manchester, on Wednesday 7 November 2018.

UCL UCU is entitled to send up to two motions to both these conferences.

UCL UCU is entitled to five voting delegates for national conferences. If you are interested in standing for election, do contact ucu@ucl.ac.uk for more information about what is involved.

More information is at https://www.ucu.org.uk/hesc_nov2018