London Met UNISON delegation to HE Service Group Conference
On Friday 26th, five reps from London Met branch attended the UNISON National Higher Education Service Group conference in Newcastle. The final agenda is here as a word doc (all the motions were passed):
We had one visitor and four delegates, two sharing* one post, so effectively three votes:
- Jacqui Applebee: Visitor
- Inderbir Bhullar: Delegate
- Daphne Chalk-Birdsall: Delegate (shared)*
- Megan Redmond: Delegate
- Max Watson: Delegate (shared)*
London Met: a branch that stands up for itself
It should be noted that we were praised as an exemplary, fighting branch at the end of the conference. This was in part due to the fact that London Met were often mentioned in debates about cuts in the higher education sector and we took part in many of the discussions, so people could not come away from the conference without remembering us!
We were mentioned in two more articles in Saturday’s Morning Star report from the conference, so they obviously got the message too:
‘Delegates call for unity against cuts’
‘Press Labour to end attacks’
Our basic message was that it was worth fighting back against the cuts, and if necessary to take strike action; key to our strength was unity with the UCU and with students at a local level; that nursery provision is a key element of widening participation universities that we cannot afford to lose.
We also had a motion tabled: ‘Defending Nursery Provision, defending widening participation’ (Motion 3). This was passed almost unanimously (one against). This also got picked up in the Morning Star.
Our counter-parts in Brighton are also fighting a spirited campaign to keep their nursery open and we’ve pledged to keep in touch and support them, see here:
‘Dozens protest at plans to close University of Brighton nursery‘
Manchester Metropolitan and Westminster University
Manchester Met are in a dire situation (127 compulsory redundancies at statutory minimum rates – no VR scheme, no enhanced payments), and they’re desperately fighting these cuts against an anti-union employer. Their branch secretaries are all being investigated under the harassment policies for organising a vote of no confidence in their VC.
See their campaign website for more.
Another branch fighting redundancies this year is Westminster, and Max Watson, Chair, was invited to go to speak at their AGM following the conference. Since then, “over 200 staff and students at the University of Westminster have protested, stormed the board of governors meeting and are currently in occupation, vice-chancellors office, in regard to recently proposed tutoring and administrative job cuts…”
See their campaign website for more.
Equalities
There were a couple of equalities motions from the LGBT National Committee, which were passed without a speaker against (Motions 7 & 8). We are currently engaged in the single equalities scheme ‘consultation’ with London Met, and we will report back more on this later.
Pay claim
Next year there will be a 4% pay claim (see motion 1). Last year our branch voted through gritted teeth (by a margin of approx 2/1), to accept a very poor pay rise of only 0.5%. This year UNISON are not going to accept such a measly award, so watch this space for updates on a campaign for a much higher pay offer next year.
—
This is an edited version of a regular email-update to all our members sent on behalf of the UNISON Branch Executive Committee. If you want to subscribe to these regular updates on what we’re doing, you need to join UNISON.
