University and College Union | |
Abbreviation | UCU |
---|---|
Founded | 1 June 2006 |
Headquarters | London, NW1 |
Location | |
Members | 125,016 (2023) [1] |
Key people | Jo Grady (General Secretary) |
Affiliations | TUC, ICTU, STUC |
Website | www |
The University and College Union (UCU) is a British trade union in further and higher education representing over 120,000 academics and support staff. [2]
UCU is a vertical union representing casualised researchers and teaching staff, "permanent" lecturers and academic related professional services staff. Definitions of all these categories are currently rather ambiguous due to recent changes in fixed term and open-ended contract law. In many universities, casualised academics form the largest category of staff and UCU members.
UCU was formed by the merger on 1 June 2006 of two British trade unions: the Association of University Teachers (AUT) and the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE).
During its first year, a set of transitional rules was in place until full operational unity was achieved in June 2007. During the first year of the new union the existing General Secretaries (Sally Hunt and Paul Mackney) remained in post, managing the union’s day-to-day business jointly. Paul Mackney did not stand for General Secretary of UCU owing to ill-health and Sally Hunt was elected general secretary of the union on 9 March 2007, and took office on 1 June 2007.
Sally Hunt was re-elected twice, in 2012 and 2017, but was then forced to resign for health reasons in February 2019. [3]
Dr Jo Grady was elected to be the next UCU general secretary in May 2019 [4] to take up position on 1 August 2019.
UCU campaigned against private finance initiative transfers and joint ventures, such as those proposed by INTO University Partnerships. [5]
UCU campaigns heavily to reduce academic casualisation, [6] including the use of temporary contracts to employ tutors, lecturers and project researchers. UCU's view of project research is that research is performed more efficiently by professional and stable career researchers, based in researcher pools and assigned to projects internally as they come up, as in most non-university project-based organisations. As in industry, researchers between projects should be considered "on the bench", paid out of full economic costs from previous grant income, and use their bench time to manage new project bids and fulfill their continued professional development quotas. Hourly paid bank workers on zero-hours contracts have also been represented by UCU, and in universities such as Edinburgh these positions have been replaced by full-time jobs as a result. [7]
Until the merger, AUT and NATFHE members in higher education were involved in ongoing 'action short of a strike' - including boycotting setting and marking exams, and 'Mark and Park' where members would mark coursework but did not release marks and this action was continued by the UCU. Staff were taking industrial action over issues of pay, and the gap that has grown up over the last 20–30 years between their remuneration and that of other similarly qualified public-sector professionals. Prime Minister Tony Blair promised that a significant percentage of new money released for universities would be put towards lecturers' pay and this had not happened.
AUT and NATFHE rejected an offer of 12.6% over three years which was made on 8 May [8] and a further offer of 13.12% over three years made on 30 May. [9] [10]
Concerns grew that students would not be able to graduate in 2006. [11] The National Union of Students' leadership supported the staff's action and, although the matter was raised at various meetings, NUS support for staff was never successfully challenged. In response to feedback from a group of students' unions, NUS advised AUT/NATFHE (UCU) that their support for action could not be indefinite and was wholly dependent on seeking a fast resolution. Many students' unions from around the country went further and openly condemned the action taken by the staff unions as holding the students to ransom.
To support the industrial action the new union, on its very first day of existence, organised a 'day of solidarity' by its higher education members. This included a demonstration in London which ended with a lobby at the headquarters of the employers' body, the Universities and Colleges Employers' Association (UCEA). [12] [13]
Following further talks on 6 June 2006 between UCU and UCEA, sponsored by the TUC and Acas, the UCU agreed to a ballot of its members on the 13.1% offer (with an increase of around 15% for lower paid members of non-academic university staff) over three years, with the important proviso that any monies docked from striking staff would be repaid and that an independent review would consider the mechanisms for future negotiations and the scope of funding available to universities for future pay settlements. The pay increase was phased over the three years, with the final year's figure subject to further increase in line with inflation. The boycott of assessment was suspended on 7 June 2006. [14] [15] [16]
UCU members took part in industrial action across the UK on 31 October 2013. [17]
In 2018, members took part in strike action in February and March in a dispute with Universities UK (UUK) over the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS). [18] In 2019, members took part in strike action in November and December in another dispute with the UUK over the pension scheme and with the UCEA over pay, workload, equality, and casualisation. [19]
Since 2007, the UCU has been controversially involved in the academic boycotts of Israel and for rejecting the previously accepted definition of "antisemitism". Some Jewish members resigned following claims of an underlying institutional antisemitism. [20] [21]
On 30 May 2007, the congress of the UCU called for the UCU to circulate a boycott request by Palestinian trade unions to all branches for information and discussion, and called on lecturers to "consider the moral implications of existing and proposed links with Israeli academic institutions". [22] [23] Dr John Chalcraft, of the London School of Economics, said: "A boycott will be effective because Israel considers itself part of the West: when Western civil society finally says 'enough is enough', Israelis, not to mention Western governments, will take notice. A non-violent international boycott, like that of South Africa, may well play a historic role in bringing down the Israeli system of apartheid." [24]
The British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP), established by British academics in 2004 to promote academic boycotts of Israel and to support Palestinian universities, did much of its work within the UCU. [25]
In September 2007, delegates at the Liberal Democrat conference voted to condemn the UCU's "perverse" decision, and called for UCU members to reject the proposal and continue to engage in "the fullest possible dialogue" with their Israeli and Palestinian counterparts. [26]
There was a great deal of discussion concerning the links between the calls for boycott and a growth of antisemitism in the UK, and on British campuses in particular in 2009. While organisations such as Engage or Scholars for Peace in the Middle East argue that widespread antisemitism is at the root of the problem, some academics dispute this and say that it is a self-defeating argument. [27] This was particularly the position taken by a representative of Israel's universities in the UK, Professor David Newman who, while countering the attempts at academic boycott, did not see all such activity as being inherently antisemitic. Newman, the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Israel's Ben-Gurion University, focused his activities on strengthening scientific and academic links between Israel and the UK, and was influential in creating the BIRAX research and scientific cooperation agreement between the two countries – an agreement which was promoted by successive British Ambassadors to Israel, Tom Philips and Matthew Gould, and which has been funded, among others by the Pears Foundation in London.
Professor Neve Gordon, a professor of Political Science at Ben-Gurion University, published a column in the Los Angeles Times in the summer of 2009, supporting boycott activity against Israel for as long as the country continued with its policy of occupation. This led to demands for his dismissal by many of the university supporters and donors in the United States, and resulted in a lively debate about the limitations of academic freedom among Israeli academics.
In 2009, the UCU passed a resolution to boycott Israeli academics and academic institutions. However, the vote was immediately declared invalid as UCU attorneys repeated previous warnings that such a boycott would likely trigger legal action against UCU. [28] [29] The UCU also rejected a resolution urging them to examine the trend of "resignations of UCU members apparently in connection with perceptions of institutional antisemitism". [30] Tom Hickey, [31] from the University of Brighton, put forward one of two motions calling for lecturers to "reflect on the moral and political appropriateness of collaboration with Israeli educational institutions".
Camilla Bassi, [32] from Sheffield Hallam University, opposed the boycott, stating that it would "not help anyone" and would be "part of an anti-Jewish movement." Jeremy Newmark of the Jewish Leadership Council and joint head of Stop the Boycott, sharply criticised the boycott proposal, stating that: "Whether you are a trade unionist wanting a powerful union or whether you are a long-standing campaigner for peace, it is clear that the UCU has taken leave of its senses." [29]
Later that year, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology rejected the academic boycott of Israel, stating that being able to cooperate with Israeli academics, and hearing their views on the conflict, is critical for studying of the causes of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and how it can be resolved. [33]
At the 2010 conference, UCU members voted to support the BDS campaign against Israel and sever ties with the Histadrut (Israel's organisation of trade unions). Tom Hickey, from the University of Brighton, who introduced the motion, stated that the Histadrut had supported "the Israeli assault on civilians in Gaza" in January 2009, and "did not deserve the name of a trade union organization". An amendment to this motion, which sought to "form a committee which represents all views within UCU to review relations with the Histadrut" and report back in a year, was defeated. The UCU's boycott motion invoked a "call from the Palestinian Boycott National Committee" for "an isolation of Israel while it continues to act in breach of international law" and calls to "campaign actively" against Israel's trade agreement with the European Union. [34]
At the 2011 conference, the UCU voted to adopt an academic and cultural boycott of Israel and to disassociate the UCU from the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC)'s discussion paper on a working definition of antisemitism. [35]
After several years of promoting discriminatory boycotts and ignoring the resignation of dozens of Jewish members, UCU has never taken claims of antisemitism in the union seriously. Now, in a final insult to its Jewish members, UCU is cynically redefining the meaning of 'antisemitism' so it never has to face up to its own deep-rooted prejudices and problems.
—Spokesman for the Board, the JLC and the CST [36]
The union's abrogation was sharply criticised by leaders of Jewish organisations in the UK and Israel, including Jon Benjamin, chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews (the Board); [37] Paul Usiskin, chairman of Peace Now UK; [38] Oliver Worth, chairman of the World Union of Jewish Students; [37] Dan Sheldon, Union of Jewish Students; [37] and Jeremy Newmark, chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, who said: "After this weekend's events, I believe the UCU is institutionally racist." [38]
The Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) wrote to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to express its concern, [36] while a letter of protest was sent to UCU General Secretary Sally Hunt from Mick Davis (chair of trustees of the JLC), Gerald M. Ronson (trustee of the JLC and chairman of the Community Security Trust (CST)), Vivian Wineman (president of the Board and chair of the Council of Membership of the JLC) and Sir Trevor Chinn CVO (vice-president of the JLC). [39] Wineman, also wrote to university vice chancellors asking them to consider whether maintaining a normal relationship with UCU was compatible with their requirement to "eliminate discrimination and foster good relations" with minorities. [38] Representatives of the JLC, the Board and the Community Security Trust appealed to government ministers David Willetts and Eric Pickles to support a formal EHRC investigation into the decision, [38] and Ariel Hessayon, a lecturer at Goldsmiths University, resigned from the UCU in protest at the union's disassociation from the EU's discussion paper. [40] Sally Hunt responded that the UCU remained opposed to antisemitism and asked for a meeting with Jewish leaders to help write an "acceptable" definition of anti-Jewish prejudice. [38]
The result is that the proceedings are dismissed in their totality... Lessons should be learned from this sorry saga. We greatly regret that the case was ever brought. At heart, it represents an impermissible attempt to achieve a political end by litigious means... We are also troubled by the implications of the claim. Underlying it we sense a worrying disregard for pluralism, tolerance and freedom of expression, principles which the courts and tribunals are, and must be, vigilant to protect.
—Courts and Tribunals Judiciary, Judgement Fraser v UCU, 22nd March 2013 [41]
In 2011, Jewish UCU member and chair of the Academic Friends of Israel, Ronnie Fraser, sued the union for breach of the Equality Act 2010 [42] with the Employment Tribunal. [43] In March 2013, the complaint was rejected in its entirety with the judgement describing it as "an impermissible attempt to achieve a political end by litigious means." [44] [41]
In May 2013, Stephen Hawking joined the academic boycott of Israel by reversing his decision to participate in the Jerusalem-based Israeli Presidential Conference hosted by Israeli president Shimon Peres. Hawking approved a published statement from the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine that described his decision as independent, "based upon his knowledge of Palestine, and on the unanimous advice of his own academic contacts there". [45] Noam Chomsky and Malcolm Levitt were among a group of 20 academics who lobbied Hawking to undertake the boycott, based upon a belief that a boycott is the proper method for a scientist to respond to the "explicit policy" of "systemic discrimination" against the non-Jewish and Palestinian population. [46]
The union has been criticised for its use of online consultations when helping to determine policy. Such a survey was used for the general secretary’s proposal to Congress in 2012 that the size of the National Executive Committee be reduced from 70 members to a maximum of 40, to save money on expenses. Such consultations were challenged at Congress on the grounds that they ‘encourage people to vote without hearing the debates first’. [47]
There are several groups that run or endorse candidates for union elections.
Campaign for UCU Democracy describe themselves as "committed to a union that is built on strong principles of union democracy and transparency as well as strategic and tactical thinking". [48]
The Rank and File Network describes itself as "not aligned to any faction within the union but believe firmly in a member-led union in a meaningful sense" [49] but does make voting recommendations in elections. [50]
UCU Commons describe their common values as being for "equality in all its forms", "transparency", and "Education is a public good". [51]
UCU Independent Broad Left described itself as "a group open to all like-minded UCU members who agree to work together to unite the Union around a progressive trade union and equality agenda." [52] . [53] It no longer functions as an organised faction. [54]
UCU Left described itself as "committed to building a democratic, accountable campaigning union which aims to mobilise and involve members in defending and improving our pay and conditions and defending progressive principles of education". [55] It has been criticised for having "always been controlled by the Socialist Workers Party". [56]
UCU Anti-casualisation network is a group of activists within the union who are focused on reducing casualisation. Its voice has increased in recent years,[ when? ] including calls to national UCU to strike over casualisation issues instead of, or as well as, over pay. [ citation needed ]
UCU holds elections for general secretary every five years, using the Alternative Vote system. Upon formation of the union, there was a one-year transitional period (2006—07) in which the post of general secretary was jointly held by the general secretaries of the predecessor institutions: Sally Hunt from AUT and Paul Mackney from NATFHE.
Years | General secretary |
---|---|
2006—07 | Sally Hunt and Paul Mackney |
2007—19 | Sally Hunt |
2019— | Jo Grady |
An election for general secretary was held in 2007. [57] There were three candidates:
The results were as follows: [58]
Candidate | Round 1 | Round 2 | |
---|---|---|---|
Jones eliminated | Hunt elected | ||
Hunt | 7605 | +858 | 8463 |
Jones | 2494 | −2494 | |
Kline | 6151 | +966 | 7117 |
unassigned | +670 | 670 |
There were a total of 16,250 valid papers and 465 invalid papers, making a total of 16,715. This was out of an electorate of 116,512, representing a turnout of 14.3%.
As Sally Hunt's first five-year term as elected general secretary of UCU had come to an end, an election was held in 2012. There were two candidates:
The results were as follows: [59]
Candidate | Round 1 |
---|---|
Hunt elected | |
Campbell | 3941 |
Hunt | 10776 |
There were a total of 14,717 valid papers and 328 invalid papers, making a total of 15,045. This was out of an electorate of 117,918, representing a turnout of 12.8%.
As Sally Hunt's second five-year term as elected general secretary of UCU had come to an end, an election was held in 2017. [60] There were two candidates:
The results were as follows: [61] [62]
Candidate | Round 1 |
---|---|
Hunt elected | |
Hunt | 8138 |
McNeill | 5586 |
There were a total of 13,724 valid papers and 156 invalid papers, making a total of 13,880. This was out of an electorate of 101,497, representing a turnout of 13.7%.
A general secretary election was held in 2019, triggered by the resignation of Sally Hunt. [63] There were three candidates:
The results were as follows: [64] [65]
Candidate | Round 1 | Round 2 | |
---|---|---|---|
McNeill eliminated | Grady elected | ||
Grady | 11515 | +3699 | 15214 |
McNeill | 6019 | −6019 | |
Waddup | 6104 | +1617 | 7721 |
unassigned | +703 | 703 |
There were a total of 23,738 valid papers and 43 invalid papers, making a total of 23,681. This was out of an electorate of 115,311, representing a turnout of 20.5%.
As Jo Grady's five-year term as general secretary will be coming to an end, an election will be held in 2024. [66]
The candidates will be as follows:
The results were as follows: [67]
Candidate | First preference | Stage 2 | Stage 3 | Outcome |
---|---|---|---|---|
Weiner eliminated | Blake eliminated | |||
Weiner | 2580 | |||
Blake | 3837 | 4821 | ||
Grady | 5990 | 6441 | 7758 | Elected |
McGaughey | 4724 | 5306 | 7576 | |
Non-transferable | 563 | 1797 |
According to its rules, [68] UCU has five UK officers: the Vice-President, the President-elect, the President, the Immediate Past President, and the Honorary Treasurer.
UCU has an annual election in which the successful candidate serves a year as Vice-President, a year as President-elect, a year as President and a year as Immediate Past President. In alternate years, this election is restricted to candidates from the Further Education sector, and candidates from the Higher Education sector. An Honorary Treasurer is elected for a two-year term every other year (with no restriction on sector).
From the further education sector (FE) From the higher education sector (HE) |
The National Union of Students (NUS) is a confederation of student unions in the United Kingdom. Around 600 student unions are affiliated, accounting for more than 95% of all higher and further education unions in the UK. Although the National Union of Students is the central organisation for all affiliated unions in the UK, there are also the devolved national sub-bodies NUS Scotland in Scotland, NUS Wales in Wales and NUS-USI in Northern Ireland.
Liberation Left is a factional grouping operating within the National Union of Students of the United Kingdom.
The Association of University Teachers (AUT) was the trade union and professional association that represented academic and academic-related staff at pre-1992 universities in the United Kingdom. The final general secretary of AUT was Sally Hunt.
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a civil rights group and Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to The New York Times, is "widely regarded as the dean of American Jewish organizations".
Oxford University Labour Club (OULC), currently known as the Oxford Labour Club (OLC), was founded in 1919 to promote democratic socialism and is today the home of the Labour Party and of social democracy at Oxford University. OULC is the largest and oldest university Labour club in the country and has a particular reputation as an active campaigning force.
The National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) was the British trade union and professional association for people working with those above statutory school age, and primarily concerned with providing education, training or research. In the higher education sector it was mainly concentrated in the Post 1992 sector.
Anthony Robert Julius is a British solicitor advocate known for being Diana, Princess of Wales' divorce lawyer and for representing Deborah Lipstadt. He is the deputy chairman at the law firm Mishcon de Reya and honorary solicitor to Foundation for Jewish Heritage. He is a trustee for the Institute of Jewish Studies.
The Jewish Labor Committee (JLC) is an American secular Jewish labor organization founded in 1934 to oppose the rise of Nazism in Germany. Among its central purposes is promoting labor union interests in the organized Jewish communities, especially in the USA, and Jewish interests within U.S. labor unions. The organization is headquartered in New York City, where it was founded, with local/regional offices in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles, and volunteer-led affiliated groups in other U.S. communities. Today, it works to maintain and strengthen the historically strong relationship between the American Jewish community and the trade union movement, and to promote what they see as the shared social justice agenda of both communities. The JLC was also active in Canada from 1936 until the 1970s.
Sally Colette Hunt is a British trade union leader, the General Secretary of the Association of University Teachers until its merger into the new University and College Union (UCU), of which Hunt was the General Secretary until 2019.
Engage is a British website, and briefly an online journal, that aims to help people counter the boycott Israel campaign. Engage describes its mission as to "challenge left and liberal antisemitism in the labour movement, in our universities and in public life."
Paul Mackney is a British educator and trade union leader. From 1997 to 2006, he was General Secretary of the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE). NATFHE merged with the Association of University Teachers (AUT) in 2006 to form the University and College Union, at which time Mackney was elected Joint general secretary. He retired from union service in May 2007. He then worked part-time as an Associate Director of the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) until May 2009 when he took ill-health retirement.
The Jewish Leadership Council is an organisation in the United Kingdom, founded in 2003, whose declared aim is to forward the interests of the organised Jewish community in Britain. The council was founded by its first chairman, then president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Henry Grunwald, and a number of other senior UK Jewish leaders. The council acts as an umbrella group for various Jewish community organizations, charities, Zionist and pro-Israel advocacy groups.
The Jewish Labour Movement (JLM), known as Poale Zion (Great Britain) from 1903 to 2004, is one of the oldest socialist societies affiliated to the UK Labour Party. It is a member of the progressive coalition of Avodah/Meretz/Arzenu/Ameinu within the World Zionist Organization. Its sister parties are the Israeli Labor Party (Havodah) and Meretz.
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Boycotts of Israel are the refusal and calls to refusal of having commercial or social dealings with Israel in order to influence Israel's practices and policies by means of using economic pressure. The specific objective of Israel boycotts varies; the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement calls for boycotts of Israel "until it meets its obligations under international law", and the purpose of the Arab League's boycott of Israel was to prevent Arab states and others to contribute to Israel's economy. Israeli officials have characterized the BDS movement as antisemitic.
The current campaign for an academic boycott of Israel was launched in April 2004 by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) as part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. The campaign calls for BDS activities against Israel to put international pressure on Israel, in this case against Israeli academic institutions, all of which are said by PACBI to be implicated in the perpetuation of Israeli occupation, in order to achieve BDS goals. Since then, proposals for academic boycotts of particular Israeli universities and academics have been made by academics and organisations in Palestine, the United States, the United Kingdom, and other countries. The goal of the proposed academic boycotts is to isolate Israel in order to force a change in Israel's policies towards the Palestinians, which proponents argue are discriminatory and oppressive, including oppressing the academic freedom of Palestinians.
Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) is a British non-governmental organisation established in August 2014 by members of the Anglo-Jewish community. It conducts litigation, runs awareness-raising campaigns, organises rallies and petitions, and provides education on antisemitism and publishes research.
Reactions to Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) refer to the views of international actors on the BDS movement.
The working definition of antisemitism, also called the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism or IHRA definition, is a non-legally binding statement on what antisemitism is, that reads: "Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities." Accompanying the working definition, but of disputed status, are 11 illustrative examples whose purpose is described as guiding the IHRA in its work, seven of which relate to criticism of the Israeli government. As such, pro-Israeli organizations have been advocates for the worldwide legal adoption of the definition.
Jo Grady is a senior lecturer in Employment Relations at The University of Sheffield, and a British trade union leader who serves as the general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU).
I cannot in good conscience remain a member of a union that countenances the antics of such extremists; fanatics who seem at best oblivious and at worst disdainful of the consequences of their single-minded obsession: Israel.NB: The article inaccurately states that Hessayon is a professor; he is not—see Goldsmith's website.