Branch Rules (prior to 2019 AGM)

1. Name

The name of the Association shall be the UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE UNION, herein referred to as UCLUCU.

2. Constitution

UCLUCU is constituted in accordance with the Rules of the Universities and Colleges Union, hereinafter referred to as the UCU, currently in force.

3. Objects

The objects of UCLUCU shall be those of the UCU, namely, the advancement of university education and research, the regulation of relations between academic and academic-related staffs in universities and analogous institutions and their employers, the promotion of common action by those staffs, and the safeguarding of the interests of the members.

4. Membership

Membership of UCLUCU shall be open to those Full, Retired and Attached Members of the UCU whose eligibility for membership of the UCU derives from their association with University College London, or of any institution which has merged with University College London. UCLUCU may also admit to membership Postgraduate Members, and, at its own discretion, members of the UCU who are members of institutions which do not possess their own Local UCU. UCLUCU shall have the power to establish sub-branches where it deems that it is appropriate due to the geographical location or the particular needs of members.

5. Subscription

Members of UCLUCU shall pay a monthly or annual subscription to the funds of UCLUCU and in addition the monthly or annual subscription to the funds of the UCU as laid down in the Rules of the UCU currently in force. These subscriptions shall be payable together to the Honorary Treasurer of UCLUCU. Members may pay in September the subscriptions due for the twelve month period beginning the first day of September that year. Monthly subscriptions are payable before the end of the month in which they are due. The amount of the monthly or annual subscription to UCLUCU shall be determined from time to time by the Annual General Meeting. Any member whose subscription is more than two months overdue shall be given notice by the Honorary Treasurer or Secretary of UCLUCU that the subscription is overdue and that if it is not paid within one month of that notice, membership of the UCU shall cease.

6. Use of Funds

The funds of UCLUCU shall be used for:

1. Expenses properly incurred in conducting the business of UCLUCU as shall from time to time be determined by the Committee. This may include the employment of a Branch Administrator.
2. Payment of expenses properly incurred by Congress representatives.
3. Payment of fees and expenses of any other representatives duly appointed to represent UCLUCU.
4. Payment of other such expenses as shall from time to time be determined by a majority of members present and voting at a general meeting of UCLUCU.
5. Donations to charities or other bodies whose objects are consistent with those of UCLUCU, as shall from time to time be determined by a majority of members present and voting at a general meeting of UCLUCU.

7. Officers

The Officers of UCLUCU shall be:

• The President
• The Vice President
• The Secretary
• The Honorary Treasurer 
• The Minutes Secretary

The Officers shall be elected annually at the Annual General Meeting from members of UCLUCU. Nominations for Officers shall be made with the consent of the nominee either by the Committee or by at least two members of UCLUCU, at least one of whom should not be a member of committee. Nominations shall be communicated to the Local Association (LA) office at least seven days before the Annual General Meeting. Election shall be by a ballot or show of hands at the meeting. Retiring Officers shall be eligible for re-election, except that the President and Vice-President may normally hold office for not more than three successive years in any one capacity. Should an office fall vacant between annual general meetings, the Committee shall be empowered to fill the vacancy from members of UCLUCU. An Officer thus appointed shall retire with the other Officers at the next Annual General Meeting.

8. President

The duties of the President shall be to chair all General Meetings and all Committee Meetings of UCLUCU and to perform such other duties as are laid upon the President in these Rules or that may be determined from time to time by the Committee. In the absence of the President these duties shall be performed by the Vice President , or other member of the Committee as decided by the Committee. The President shall establish a sub-group to be responsible for matters relating to the employment of any Branch Administrator, in consultation with the Branch Administrator and following ACAS guidelines for Good Employment Practice.

9. Secretary

The duties of the Secretary shall be to call General and Committee Meetings of UCLUCU, to deal with the correspondence of UCLUCU, to liaise with the Honorary Treasurer and any Branch Administrator to ensure that proper membership records are kept, to circulate to members such information as the Committee deems necessary and to perform such other duties as the Committee shall decide. 

10. Honorary Treasurer

The Honorary Treasurer shall have custody of the funds of UCLUCU and authority to make payments from them as the need arises. The duties of the Honorary Treasurer are to keep the books of UCLUCU, to present the accounts of UCLUCU annually for auditing, to present these audited accounts annually to a General Meeting of UCLUCU, and to submit a copy to the Honorary Treasurer of the UCU.

11. Minutes Secretary

The duties of the Minutes Secretary shall be to keep Minutes of General and Committee Meetings of UCLUCU and to perform such other duties as the President or Committee shall decide.

12. Committee

There shall be a Committee which shall be responsible for conducting the day-to-day business of UCLUCU and shall meet at least once every term. At all Committee meetings a quorum shall be eight members. The Committee shall consist of 

1. ex-officio members, being the Officers of UCLUCU together with the immediate Past-President and any member of UCLUCU who is an Officer, member of the National Executive Committee of the UCU; or member of a national specialist staff group committee of UCU; also, Officers of any sub-branches of UCLUCU; 
2. up to 20 ordinary members; and 
3. up to five co-opted members.

The ordinary members shall be elected annually at the Annual General Meeting from members of UCLUCU. Nominations to the Committee shall be made with the consent of the nominee either by two members of UCLUCU, at least one of whom should not be a committee member, in writing to be received by the LA office not less than seven days before the Annual General Meeting, or by the Committee. If there are insufficient timely nominations, the Annual General Meeting shall have the power to accept late nominations. Election shall be by a ballot or show of hands at the meeting.

The elected members of the Committee (including the Officers) shall take office immediately after the Annual General Meeting at which they are elected and shall retire at the next Annual General Meeting. Co-opted members of the Committee shall serve until the next Annual General Meeting after co-option. Any retiring member of the Committee is eligible for either election or co-option. 

Any member of the Committee (including the Officers) may be removed from office by resolution at a General Meeting of UCLUCU provided that (a) the terms of any such proposed resolution shall be notified to the LA office not less than fourteen days before the General Meeting and (b) the proposal for such a resolution is supported in writing by not less than twenty-five members of UCLUCU. Upon receipt of such a proposal the LA office shall dispatch it to each member of UCLUCU not less than seven days before the General Meeting at which it is to be considered. Any General Meeting which shall have removed a member or members of the Committee in accordance with the above shall have power to replace any such member or members until such time as the normal election of Officers and other members of the Committee next occurs.

13. Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting of UCLUCU shall take place in June each year. One month's notice of the date of the meeting shall be given to members. Fourteen days' notice of the agenda of the meeting shall be given to members. Both notices shall include a request for nominations for Officers and Committee. Twenty-five members of UCLUCU shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of the business of the Annual General Meeting. The Annual General Meeting shall elect representatives of UCLUCU to the Congress of the UCU, or may agree to delegate this election to the Committee.

14. Representatives to the Congress of the UCU 

Representatives to the Congress of the UCU shall be elected for the period and to the number provided for in the Rules of the UCU currently in force. The representatives to Congress shall normally include at least one Officer of UCLUCU. The resignation of a representative to Congress shall be submitted in writing by the representative to the LA office which shall ensure that the General Secretary of the UCU is informed forthwith. The Committee of UCLUCU shall have power to fill any vacancy, arising from whatever cause, among the elected representatives of UCLUCU to Congress.

15. Extraordinary General Meeting

An Extraordinary General Meeting of UCLUCU shall be called at any time during the College terms if a written request for such a meeting is received from the President or from at least fifty members of UCLUCU. The request must specify a date for the meeting and the topic or topics to be discussed, and must be handed to the LA office at least fourteen days before the date for which the meeting is requested. At least seven days' notice of the meeting shall be given to members. Twenty-five members shall form a quorum at an Extraordinary General Meeting.

16. General Meeting

There shall normally be at least one General Meeting of UCLUCU each term. Fourteen days' notice of the meeting shall be given to members. Twenty-five members shall form a quorum at a General Meeting.

17. Motions 

A resolution of a General Meeting is a motion that has been approved while that meeting was quorate by a simple majority of its members present and voting except as provided elsewhere in these rules. Any motion (other than an emergency motion) submitted to the Congress of the UCU shall previously have been published to all members of UCLUCU and approved by a quorate General Meeting of UCLUCU. Amendments to motions to Congress or emergency motions to Congress shall be approved by the Committee or by a majority of the UCLUCU representatives to Congress. All motions to the annual meetings of the national Specialist Group Committees shall be approved by the UCLUCU Committee or on its behalf by the President. Any motion agreed by a sub-branch of UCLUCU shall be considered by a General Meeting or by the Committee.

18. Ballots

A decision to hold a ballot of all the members of UCLUCU shall be taken by a General Meeting of UCLUCU after considering the recommendations of the Committee. Industrial action ballots will be conducted in accordance with national rules, to reflect the statutory requirements; and ballots shall be conducted by the single transferable vote system. Not less than fourteen days before the date fixed for counting the ballot the LA office shall send a ballot form to each member of UCLUCU. To be valid, completed forms must be received by the LA office before the start of the count. All such forms shall be opened in the presence of an auditor of UCLUCU. The time of the start of the count shall be communicated to all members when the ballot forms are distributed. The ballot shall be secret. The result of the ballot shall be notified in writing by the LA office to the members of UCLUCU and to the General Secretary of the UCU.

19 Quorum Arrangements for Formal Business 

Where an Annual General Meeting, Extraordinary General Meeting or General Meeting is unable to complete items of formal business required by national or local Rules, or resulting from trade union legislation, or from membership of the TUC, because the meeting was not quorate, the arrangements set out below will apply. Notice of a further meeting will be circulated to members to take place no later than 14 days from the inquorate meeting. The agenda of the further meeting will be restricted to this incomplete further business. It will be quorate if three members are in attendance, except that in respect of the adoption of the accounts, or of the determination in local rules of the manner in which the funds of UCLUCU will be held, these three will not for the purposes of the quorum include the Honorary Treasurer or the local auditors.

20. Discipline

No member of UCLUCU shall voluntarily and without contractual obligation assist in the selection for compulsory redundancy of individuals whose employment qualifies them for membership of the UCU. Notwithstanding the foregoing, a member may, with the approval of UCLUCU, serve on any committee or tribunal established under college or university procedures. No member of UCLUCU shall in the course of their employment do any deliberate act or make any deliberate omission which constitutes unlawful racial or sex discrimination, or that would constitute unlawful discrimination on the grounds of religious belief or political opinion if the Fair Employment (Northern Ireland) Act 1976 were in force in the United Kingdom, as outlined in the Rules of the UCU. Also, no member shall in the course of their employment knowingly aid another person in any such act or omission. 

Any UCLUCU member who wishes to raise a complaint that this national Rule has been violated by any UCU member shall do so in writing to the LA office of UCLUCU, which shall then ensure that the UCU General Secretary is notified, with full details and any documentation that is available. If this is not reasonably practicable, at least ten members of UCLUCU may notify the General Secretary of the UCU, with full details of the complaint. Thereafter, the complaint shall be dealt with according to the Rules of the UCU currently in force. 

21. Validation

No act done in good faith under these Rules by the Committee, an Officer or any other person or body shall be invalidated only by reason of the subsequent discovery of a defect in, or the expiry of, their appointment.

22. Rules

No Rule or Rules of UCLUCU shall at any time be in conflict with a Rule or Rules of the UCU currently in force. Changes in the Rules of the UCU shall, where applicable, automatically constitute changes in these Rules of UCLUCU.

23. Amendment of Rules

These Rules of UCLUCU may be amended by resolution of any General Meeting of UCLUCU. A proposed amendment to these Rules shall be handed in writing to the LA office and shall be circulated to all members of UCLUCU at least ten days before the General Meeting at which it is to be considered. Any amendment to these Rules must be carried by a majority of at least two-thirds of the members present and voting at the General Meeting where it is considered.