UCL UCU: AGM - Thurs. 22nd June w/ Sandwiches & Online Access

Dear Colleague

This is a reminder that we have our UCL UCU Annual General Meeting next Thursday, 22nd June, 12.45-14.30.

It is time to take stock of a year of action, announce officer election results, elect Committee members, and look forward to the next year. Please come and have some (non-UCL) sandwiches, or attend online.

This will be a hybrid meeting. Please register using this form to indicate a) whether you will attend in person or online (for catering purposes), and b) if you will attend in person, whether you have any dietary requirements.

Sandwiches and drinks will be served from 12.45 and the business of the meeting will start at 13.00.

AGM Agenda:

1. Chair's Business (and solidarity speakers, including IWGB Security Guards facing 40 redundancies)
2. Draft minutes of previous AGM on 29 June 2022 (Appendix 1 below)
3. Matters Arising
4. President's Annual Report
5. Accounts 
6. Subscriptions for 2023-24 - and proposed increase in local subs
7. Committee Elections 2023-24 & Report of the Returning Officer (to be circulated)
8. Delegates Report from Congress 2023 (to be circulated)
9. Motions (see Appendix 2 below - deadline for additional motions by Tuesday 20 June 13.00)

Important items and papers (to be circulated early next week)

• The Officer Election Results, nominations for non-officer Cttee members, and report of the Returning Officer
• A proposal to increase the local subscription rates for members in order to replenish our industrial action hardship fund.

• A delegates’ report on UCU Congress 2023.
• In addition to the two motions already submitted (Solidarity with Brighton UCU; Solidarity with UCL Security Workers – see Appendix 2 below), any member can submit a motion for the AGM. The deadline for this is by Tuesday 20 June, 13.00, and we will circulate these on the same day.

UCL UCU Executive Committee
www.ucl.ac.uk/ucu
@ucl_ucu

Appendix 1: Draft Minutes of AGM June 2022

UCL UCU Annual General Meeting

29 June 2022 
Draft Minutes

Chair: Sean Wallis
Peak attendance: 74
_______________

1) Chair's Business

None

2) Draft minutes of previous AGM on 20 July 2021

Accuracy agreed, no comments made. 

3) Matters Arising

Saladin Meckled-Garcia proposed extending the meeting by 15 minutes (2.15pm finish) to accommodate the number of motions. When put to vote this was agreed 42% for, 37% against, and 21% abstaining. 

4) President's Annual Report

The president’s annual report was circulated prior to the meeting which addressed:

• The past year has been very different to the previous one - which was dictated by the pandemic and resulting negotiations - whereas this year was focussed on UCL trying to return to ‘business as usual’.
• We have been balloted by the national union 3 times, resulting in industrial action in support of the Four Fights dispute. However this was the only occasion we managed to cross the 50% threshold and turnout has fallen since. This is a matter of concern as we are the biggest branch in the country and our ability to take action directly affects our ability to negotiate with UCL. 
• Public mobilisation matters and the president noted their gratitude to everyone who took part in action and supported pickets. 
• In 2018 we learned that industrial action can stop employers implementing cuts, this year none of the branches that took action over Four Fights and USS with a marking and assessment boycott received a pay deduction which is again testament to the leverage we can yield. 
• Our current Conservative governments’ attack on higher education by amending the student loan system, with incoming students being £20k worse off over their lifetime as a result, will explicitly benefit wealthier students and affect what and where students choose to study. As a relatively privileged university it is necessary for us to speak out against these changes. 

The full report can be read at Appendix 1. 

5) Accounts for the year ending 31 August 2021

Seán Doyle (Treasurer) presented the accounts and the Chair welcomed questions from the floor. The accounts were proposed for formal adoption and the meeting agreed unanimously, nem con.  Detailed accounts available on request from ucu@ucl.ac.uk.

6) Subscriptions for 2022-2023

To assist with the cost of living crisis Seán Doyle proposed no changes to the local subscriptions, as below:

The subscriptions were proposed for formal adoption and the meeting agreed unanimously, nem con. 

7) Elections

Prior to the meeting members were invited to put forward nominations for all Branch Officer positions. There were two contested positions, Secretary and President, but one of the nominations for President was withdrawn. An electronic ballot was held for the contested post of Secretary which opened on 13 June and closed on 27 June.

7.1 Contested election for Secretary - report

John Yandell, the Returning Officer of the election, presented his written report and requested that it be circulated to the wider membership (see text of the report in the appendix to these minutes). 
The election for the post of Secretary had a turnout of 16.6% and the results were:

• Tony Brown - 186 votes
• Saladin Meckled-Garcia - 372 votes

Saladin Meckled-Garcia is therefore elected Branch Secretary.

As incoming Branch Secretary, Saladin Meckled-Garcia committed to circulating the Returning Officer’s report. 

John Yandell noted four areas of concern on the conduct of the election:

1. While statements were available within the Choice Voting software they were not pre-circulated or immediately at hand. 
2. Candidates should not be involved in the administration of the election. 
3. Canvassing guidelines are needed for any future elections. 
4. A hustings would have been very beneficial for both nominees and the branch at large. 

7.2 Formal confirmation of uncontested posts

Officer Positions:

• President - Sean Wallis
• Joint Vice Presidents - Holly Smith and Ilektra Christidi
• Treasurer - Seán Doyle
• Equality Officer - Victoria Showunmi
• Anti-casualisation Officer - Matteo Tiratelli
• Communications Officer - Sonja Curtis
• Health & Safety Officer - Alun Coker
• Environment Officer - Anca Tacu

A confirmatory vote for the uncontested Officer Positions was held with 92% for, 2% against, and 7% abstaining. 

Executive Committee:

• Majella Lane
• Lily Kahn
• Bettina Friedrich
• Nalini Vittal
• Mark Newman
• Helen Donoghue
• Tony Brown
• Bella Vivat

A confirmatory vote for the uncontested Executive Committee positions was held with 92% for, 2% against, and 6% abstaining. 

Thanks and gratitude were offered to the members of the committee not standing for re-election:

• Catherine Dale - PGTA rep (joint)
• Nikhil Venkatesh - PGTA rep (joint)
• Maria (Masha) Sibiryakova
• Martin Fry

7.3 Co-option proposal

SW proposed that Richard Pettinger be co-opted to the Branch Committee as he did not submit his nomination in time. When put to vote this was carried with 90% for, 0% against, and 10% abstaining. 

8) Motions for debate

Motion 1: Solidarity with Queen Mary University UCU

• Proposed by Sean Wallis and seconded by Seán Doyle. 
• Nalini Vittal raised concerns that the £10000 donation was too high. Seconded by Holly Smith. 
• A vote was held to amend the donation to £5000 with 32% for the amendment, 63% against, and 5% abstaining. Therefore the motion remained as proposed. 
• When put to vote the motion was carried with 88% for, 3% against and 9 abstaining. 

Motion 2: International solidarity - PAME congress

• Proposed by Ilektra Christidi and seconded by Sean Wallis. 
• Matteo Tiratelli raised concerns that UCU has no formal relationship with PAME and that this sets a concerning precedent. Seconded by Bettina Friedrich who also raised issues with their subscriptions being used towards engaging with an organisation they disagree with. 
• Ilektra Christidi emphasised that 
• When put to vote the motion was carried with 60% for, 21% against, and 19% abstaining. 

Motion 3: Solidarity with in-housing campaigns

• Proposed by Gabriel Bristow and seconded by Matteo Tiratelli. 
• Concerns were raised that the motion, if carried, would create conflict with UNISON. 
• As the debate went beyond the agreed end time of 2.15pm a vote was held as to whether to extend the meeting to vote on the motion. This was agreed with 71% for, 26% against, and 2% abstaining.
• When put to vote the motion was carried with 77% for, 14% against, and 9% abstaining. 

Motion 4 and Motion 5 (including amendment) were not discussed as the meeting was overtime. 

The Chair thanked members for attending and closed the meeting.

*END*

Appendix 2: Motions Received

Motion 1: Solidarity With Brighton UCU (deferred from previous GM)

Mover: Tony Brown

UCL UCU notes:

1. The University of Brighton has proposed plans to sack at least 100 academic staff, saving £17.9 million, with approximately 400 members at risk of redundancy.
2. The most recent financial statements from the University of Brighton boast of the high levels of capital expenditure, with £24m on the balance sheet in 2021-22 and £28m the year before. The huge spend on new buildings is part of a plan apparently intended to allow the University to “grow student numbers”. 

UCL UCU notes:

3.  The student-staff ratio is already one of the very worst in the UK: 97th according to one source. Reducing staff while also planning to increase student numbers can only aggravate the  workload. If anything, staff numbers should be increased. 

4.   Cross branch solidarity is needed to stop this pattern of targeted redundancies within the sector.

UCL UCU resolves:

1.       To donate £2,000 towards Brighton UCU’s hardship fund
2.       To publicise Brighton UCU’s campaigns against the redundancies.
3.       To support cross-branch solidarity actions that Brighton may call during their campaign.

Motion 2: Solidarity with UCL Security Workers

Proposer: Eve Dickson 
Seconder: Matteo Tiratelli

This Branch Notes

1. UCL’s subcontractor Bidvest Noonan has informed outsourced security guards at UCL that they will all need to reapply for their jobs, with 40 redundancies made in the process.
2. Those not being made redundant will be required to accept worse working conditions and cuts to their hours. The new working hours proposed mean many workers face losing £13,500 a year from their salaries.
3. UCL and Bidvest Noonan's plans also involve removing building attendants from their roles. These roles are incredibly important for the functioning of UCL buildings, and this move will vastly decrease campus safety.
4. This move is on the back of a longstanding campaign from UCL security staff to be brought in-house, as already this workforce (the most racialised workforce at UCL) has among the worst pay and conditions on campus. 
5. Fire and hire restructures and redundancies are becoming common managerial strategies in HE to demobilise union branches and increase staff workloads.

This Branch Believes

1. Outsourcing should be eradicated from Higher Education as it creates a tier system between university workers and directly contributes to institutional racism.  
2. That security workers are key to running our institutions, and they risked their lives to keep our universities secure during the pandemic. Their struggle is our struggle. 
3. That every effective local campaign against redundancies in the sector strengthens the position of all university trade unions and will dissuade university employers from taking this approach in the future. 
4. That cross-branch and cross-union solidarity is one of the strongest resources we have in the fight against corporate managers and the erosion of our sector. 

This Branch Resolves

1. To make a donation of £400 towards IWGB’s strike fund. 
2. To publicise IWGB’s campaign against the redundancies at UCL.
3. To send a template email to UCL’s Provost.