UCL UCU Branch Policy
UCL UCU explicitly condemns all attacks on civilians, including the attacks by Hamas on October 7th and subsequent assaults by the Israeli Defence Forces on Gaza and in the West Bank. We call an immediate ceasefire to prevent further casualties and for the immediate release of all hostages. This is our Branch Policy.
UCL UCU Branch Policy on this, as any other question, is determined by the democratic processes of our union branch.
2023/24
Increasing financial support for members in the MAB - Passed 23 November 2023
UCL UCU notes
1. During the Marking and Assessment Boycott in the summer, the branch agreed to financially support UCU members who participated in the MAB by covering their losses in terms of net pay (after tax and national insurance contributions have been taken into account) above a threshold of 7 days, and to request pledges and donations from members of 7 days' net pay.
2. This decision was made when members faced the prospect of approximately 35 days loss of pay.
3. The current set of estimates of the cost to the hardship fund for paying members for deductions in excess of a number of days is set out below. These figures have a degree of uncertainty due to the fact that around a third of affected members have not yet completed our survey.
Net cost to support
> 7 days -£14,000
> 6 days - £20,000
> 5 days - £28,000
> 4 days - £40,000
> 3 days - £52,000
> 2 days - £65,000
4. The branch hardship fund contains approximately £160,000 before donations are taken into account.
UCL UCU resolves to reduce the threshold for support from 7 days to 2 days (i.e. 14.6 hours).
This will mean that:
1. all members who participated in the MAB will be entitled to apply for support for net pay beyond 2 days' net pay from the branch hardship fund, citing the letter from UCL as evidence (if UCL decides to make deductions from part-time staff on an hourly basis, then we will also support part-time MABbers at an hourly rate and cover net pay beyond 14.6 hours);
2. all union members who did not participate will be encouraged to make donations to the branch hardship fund for the equivalent of 2 days' net pay; and
3. members who have made donations of 7 days' net pay will be contacted to ask them if they wish their donations to be reduced to 2 days.
Result: Carried (90% for; 3% against; 6% abstentions)<Back to Top>Emergency UCU motion on Palestine - Passed 27 October 2023
UCL UCU notes:
The current war in Israel and Gaza, triggered by the breakout of Gaza and subsequent killing and hostage-taking of Israelis, is taking place following decades of injustices meted out against the Palestinians which saw more than 7,000 Palestinians killed since 2008.
That this war is beginning to turn into a wider military conflict involving the US, Lebanon and Iran, and attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.
That UCU Congress has repeatedly affirmed support for peaceful civil-society campaigns of twinning with Palestinian universities and Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, including supporting members who choose to boycott Israeli academic institutions.
That the government is attempting to silence dissent by attacking free speech on Palestine, including making veiled threats to Vice Chancellors and UCU to police campus speech.
That over 300,000 people demonstrated for an end to the war and freedom in Palestine on 21 October in London.
UCL UCU resolves:
To support protests for Palestine called by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and/or Stop the War Coalition.
To call for the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas and of all political prisoners held by Israel.
To call for an immediate end to UK military support for Israel, and for an arms embargo.
To support campaigns against attempts by the government to restrict the right to free expression and protest in solidarity with Palestine.
Ongoing Humanitarian Crisis and Crimes Against Humanity – Ceasefire Now! - Passed 27 October 2023
This Branch notes
The urgency of the ongoing and present humanitarian situation in Gaza where the siege on water and food means the population is about to starve or begin to die of dehydration, and the blockade on fuel and electricity means that the hospitals are now failing and without fuel to power generators, 120 babies in incubators will die, along with all those in need of electricity to be kept alive (e.g., for life support or dialysis).
That, as of the 23 October 2023, 5000+ Palestinians in the Gaza strip have been massacred by indiscriminate bombing by the Israeli army, of which 2080 were children (picture 7.5 average sized schools of children – every 15mins a Palestinian Child is killed), and over 800 children are thought to be buried beneath the rubble of bombed buildings with 1 in 20 buildings in Gaza having been bombed. 1119 of those killed by Israel are women and 187 are elderly. In addition, 15,900+ have been injured – often with life changing injuries
That Israel has bombed hospitals, schools, obliterated all the universities in Gaza, obliterated every bakery in Gaza, killed journalists (13 so far), UNWRA workers (35), nurses, doctors, first responders, rescue teams, dropping over 4000 tons of explosives on Gaza in one week alone, increasing in the 2nd week (cf. the 3,900 total dropped on Dresden in WWII).
That over 200 Israeli civilian hostages are being held in Gaza by Hamas, during an attack on Israel on the 7thOctober where they killed many civilians in indiscriminate acts in contravention of international law.
That 170 Palestinian children and several thousand Palestinian adults are presently held without trial, in arbitrary detention by the Israeli state (Israel has upped its administrative detention, without trial to 10,000).
The defamation in the media and by public figures of marches in support of Palestinian human rights and against ethnic cleansing, Genocide, and a humanitarian catastrophe perpetrated by Israel, as “supporting terrorism”, “antisemitic”, “standing for anti-Jewish hatred”,
That the marches of between 100,000 and 300,000 people have not been about Jews at all, but indeed supported by large contingents of publicly self-identifying Jewish people of conscience saying “not in my name!”
The public statements, events and demonstrations of anti-occupation Jewish organisations like Namod, IfNotNow, Jews for Peace, Independent Jewish Voices, and many others, some of whom formed a Jewish Bloc on the 21 October demonstration in London to say “not in my name!”
That this Branch has policy to oppose occupations (motions on Palestine and on Ukraine) and to support the Palestinian people against oppression and subjugation by a settler colonial apartheid state and policy on supporting boycott and divestment campaigns against state institutions of two occupier states (Russia and Israel).
That international law, morality, and basic humanity forbid a) the indiscriminate attack on civilians, b) the taking of civilian hostages, c) Genocide.
That the UK (along with the US) government has been instrumental in blocking calls for a ceasefire at the UN.
This Branch Believes
The root cause of the conflict is the ongoing illegal military occupation and settlement expansion on Palestinian territories and the violation of the rights of the Palestinian people by the Israeli state. Therefore, there can be no lasting or just peace under the ongoing conditions of the Israeli siege of Gaza, or of Israeli occupation, colonisation, and apartheid across Palestine. These are conditions which Palestinians have a right to resist.
World leaders repeating the mantra that “Israel has the right to defend itself”, whilst blocking a call for a ceasefire, in the context of a massacre by that power that in no way represents a defence of its citizens, are complicitly in some of the gravest crimes against humanity.
That continuously asking Palestinians to talk about Hamas, in the middle of a Genocide, because they are Palestinians or care about Palestinian civilians, is as racist as asking Jews to talk about Israel, because they are Jews.
That what is taking place in Gaza and the attacks on Palestinians by settlers and the army in the West Bank are a crime against humanity.
The occupation, murder, and humiliation of Palestinians did not start on the 7th October, but has been ongoing (9000+ so far killed in 6 Gaza “wars”, continual subjugation, arrest without trial, torture, killings).
This Branch resolves
To call for an immediate ceasefire, and for UCU leadership to be steadfast in campaigning on this
To support and advertise the London national demonstrations calling for a ceasefire and end to these crimes against humanity.
To call for immediate entry of necessary and adequate humanitarian aid to Gaza, and an end to the 17-year siege of Gaza.
To condemn all attacks on unarmed civilians and the taking of civilian hostages.
To call for diplomatic means to immediately release Israeli civilian hostages and Palestinian civilians in Israeli administrative detention, the release of Israeli political prisoners detained for dissenting and speaking out for Palestine.
To support colleagues affected by these events, from those affected by the attacks on Israeli civilians on the 7th October, to those affected by the assaults on Gaza and the West Bank.
To resist and protest attempts by the government and other institutions to restrict the right to free expression and protest, and support staff facing clampdowns on their free speech and/or academic freedom (within the law) on this issue and reject all dehumanising language directed at any group.
To call for an immediate end to UK military support for Israel, and for an arms embargo.
Untitled Motion - Passed 27 October 2023
UCL UCU notes:
1. UCL have sent out correspondence to students and staff about the Israel-Palestine situation, but have failed to acknowledge the word 'Palestine' or 'Palestinian' in their communications. These refer to antisemitism and islamophobia, but fail to explicitly acknowledge anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab racism, given that not all Palestinians or Arabs are Muslims. This has led to students and staff reporting feelings of distress, rage and fear about UCL's stance.
2. UCL’s connection with companies that support and materially assist both the occupation, and anti-Palestinian violence through the supply of weapons technology, such as BAE systems and Elbit.
UCL UCU believes:
This is institutional silencing, and is creating an atmosphere of threat and censorship around communicating about, supporting, and/or advocating for Palestine. Some of the emails have evoked threat of disciplinary procedures, and the general erasure of the word 'Palestine' implies that merely acknowledging Palestinian people may be seen as misconduct. It is also affecting the wellbeing of staff and students. Such a one-sided perspective from a leading research institution is unacceptable, and compromises academic integrity as well as obstructs material support for Palestine and Palestinian students.
UCL UCU therefore resolves:
1. to communicate with UCL management about this issue, demanding that they acknowledge the word Palestinian, and anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab racism, and that an apology email is sent out, to all the staff and students who have been affected by these communications.
2. to instruct the Executive Committee to issue a statement of support for ending the Israeli 17-year siege of Gaza, and demand that UCL end their ties with BAE Systems and Elbit Systems, in support of this.
Result: Carried (54% for; 27% against; 19% abstentions)<Back to Top>Supporting UCL-UCU branch members impacted by the Israel/Gaza conflict - Passed 27 October 2023
Notes:
That UCU issued a statement about the current Israel/Gaza crisis on 10 October: https://www.ucu.org.uk/article/13229/UCU-statement-on-IsraelGaza
That the UCL-UCU branch includes a considerable number of members and their students who are directly impacted by these events because they have family, friends, and colleagues in Israel and/or Palestine
That members across UCL have seen their pastoral care demands increase dramatically as a result of this conflict––at a time when staff workloads are already unsustainable
That members across UCL with expertise in the region are grappling emotionally with the recent violence while also navigating a quickly shifting professional landscape
That members and their students across UCL are concerned about the recent rise in antisemitism, Islamophobia, and attacks directed at Israelis and Palestinians in London because of their nationality.
Believes:
That UCL-UCU’s primary responsibility is to represent, support, and advocate for its members
That is the duty of UCL-UCU to support all of its members, regardless of their religious, ethnic, or national identities and personal views with respect to the conflict
That UCL-UCU should be a safe space for members across UCL amidst concerns about rising racist activity including antisemitism, Islamophobia, and attacks directed at Israelis and Palestinians because of their nationality
That at a time of significant work-related issues in the UK higher education sector, there is a need to focus on building broad coalitions of members who are fighting for the improvement of working conditions in our profession.
Resolves:
To show solidarity with all UCL-UCU branch members affected by the conflict
To support members dealing with any work-related issues linked to the conflict, such as seeking reasonable adjustments (e.g., deadline extensions) for delays caused by emotional or other repercussions of the conflict
To defend academic freedom and freedom of speech
To condemn any racist activity that affects staff and students and makes them feel unsafe
To support initiatives across UCL promoting constructive dialogue between the parties in the conflict.
Proposed: Alinda Damsma, Sonia Gollance, François Guesnet, Lily Kahn, Sacha Stern
Result: Carried (84% for; 4% against; 12% abstentions)<Back to Top>Proposal for UCU-UCL Branch Statement on the Gaza War - Passed 27 October 2023
We, the undersigned academics, researchers and university staff in the UCL branch of the University and College Union, strongly condemn all forms of violence that have been taking place in the current war between Israel and Hamas, and over the previous 75 years in Israel and the Occupied Territories. We join countless others now in speaking out to demand an end to the killing and destruction in the Gaza Strip.
In response to recent actions in this ongoing war, namely the massacres of 7 October 2023 of Israeli citizens by Hamas fighters and the taking of Israeli citizens hostage, experts in international law and genocide have noted that we are now seeing the State of Israeli respond by carrying out a conscious policy of genocide on the people of Gaza – both in terms of their language, which describes Palestinians as ‘human animals,’ and the actions being taken to achieve ‘zero population in Gaza’ and the ‘annihilation of Gaza’.
The deliberate killing of civilians is always an atrocity and a violation of international law. Neither Israel, the occupying power, or armed groups of the people under occupation, the Palestinians, can ever be justified in targeting defenceless people. We express our grief and heartbreak for the victims of the recent tragedies, and for their families and friends, both Palestinians and Israelis.
Therefore, the planned genocide in the Gaza Strip by the State of Israel must be denounced and stopped at once. We call on all political leaders nationally and internationally, including the UK government and the United Nations, to use all diplomatic measures at their disposal, including an arms embargo and sanctions on those responsible for the attacks, to achieve:
· an immediate ceasefire by all parties involved.
· the immediate protection of the 2.3 million civilian population of Gaza, by resuming water, food and power supplies to Gaza, and allowing humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.
· the immediate freeing of the hostages taken by Hamas and held in Gaza.
· the presentation of a petition to the prosecutor’s office of the International Criminal Court to investigate the war crimes committed by Hamas and the State of Israel against civilians in Israel and the Occupied Territories.
· an end to the complicity of western leaders and media with the Israeli state, and a recognition – in discourse and action – that the lives of Palestinians do matter and that there must be no annihilation or genocide in Gaza, or attacks on civilians in the West Bank.
· renewed diplomatic efforts to end Israel’s occupation and apartheid of Palestinian territories as this is the root cause of the violence we are sadly seeing today.
We call for an immediate end to the violence and to the occupation of Palestine, and for the power of diplomacy to move beyond self-interest in order to establish a just and equitable resolution where Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Muslims, can live together in peace.
In solidarity,
[insert signatures]
Result: Carried (70% for; 21% against; 8% abstentions)<Back to Top>No to occupation! No to imperialism! Solidarity with Palestinian workers and youth! - Passed 27 October 2023
UCL UCU notes:
A new conflict has flared up between Israel and the Palestinian people, which has already caused nearly 5900 and 1400 victims since 7 October, among Palestinians and Israeli, respectively.
Thousands of Palestinians, including women and children, have been killed by the Israeli security forces in recent years, such as during ‘Operation Cast Lead’ in 2008-09 and ‘Operation Protective Edge’ in 2014. Before the events on 7 October, 200 Palestinians have been killed this year alone.
Israel is actively supported by western governments, with billions in British military equipment being used by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF). The United States subsidises Israel’s military to the tune of 3.6 billion dollars per year.
UCL UCU believes:
This latest conflict is a direct consequence of decades of violent oppression of the Palestinian people by the Israeli state, with the support of western imperialism, beginning with the ethnic cleansing of the Nakba in 1948.
Recently, this oppression has been intensified by the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, which is the most reactionary in Israel’s history.
Imperialist diplomacy – such as the Oslo accords – has failed. Only a mass uprising on both sides of the green line and across the Middle East can free the Palestinian people, end the occupation, and ensure equal rights for all peoples.
It is the duty of the international movement of workers and youth to support this struggle.
UCL UCU resolves:
To reaffirm its solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people against occupation and for national self-determination.
To call on its members to mobilise and campaign – through mass direct action – against companies, banks, and institutions that aid the manufacture and delivery of arms to Israel.
To condemn the British government’s support for the Israeli state and the distortions of the mainstream media in Britain in its coverage of this conflict.
To reaffirm the commitment to organise and support local rallies in solidarity with Palestine.
To submit this motion to UCU Congress and call on it to publicly oppose British imperialism’s role in the oppression of the Palestinian people.
To call for a Socialist Federation of the Middle East -- Intifada until victory!
2022/23
Progressing the Four Fights dispute - Passed 23 August 2023
UCL UCU notes:
The serious disruption caused by the MAB to management, students, and workers throughout the sector.
The punitive pay deductions that have been applied to members participating in MAB, nationally and at UCL.
That employers have disregarded academic standards in order to undermine the effectiveness of the MAB, and progress or graduate students.
That the delay by the General Secretary (GS) and officers of the union in authorising a new ballot for industrial action means there will be a break in the current legal mandate for industrial action, which expires at the end of September.
The MAB is part of a national dispute, and decisions need to be addressed by the national consultative (BDM) and decision making bodies of the UCU (HEC, GS and officers).
UCU’s Higher Education Committee (HEC) has agreed to
(a) Call five days of strike action in either of the last two weeks of our current mandate (with flexibility where student terms have not commenced);
(b) Start an industrial action ballot at the earliest opportunity over ‘Four Fights’;
(c) Survey members on next steps for the MAB.
UCL UCU believes:
Staff that have participated in the MAB cannot instantaneously complete boycotted work on the 1 October.
UCL needs staff goodwill to address complaints and possible legal action by students who have been affected by UCL’s actions to compromise academic standards to undermine the MAB.
Starting the industrial action ballot pressurises our employers.
UCL UCU resolves:
That existing marking and assessment which has not been carried out due to MAB will not be marked unless and until UCL management withdraw their threat of pay deductions.
To continue to challenge the legality of punitive pay deductions at UCL.
To send a clear signal to university employers (and new students) that the dispute is not over by calling five days of strike action in induction week of Term 1, and to carry out all necessary preparatory steps to ensure that this action is a success.
To start preparations for the industrial action ballot as soon as possible.
Next steps for the MAB? - Passed 8 August 2023
UCL UCU notes:
The intransigence of UCEA, who have not improved their 15 March final offer for the 2023-2024 pay dispute.
The serious disruption caused by the MAB to management, students, and workers throughout the sector.
The punitive pay deductions that have been applied to members participating in MAB, nationally and at UCL.
That employers have disregarded academic standards in order to bypass the MAB, and progress or graduate students, thereby damaging the reputation of UK HE.
That the delay by the General Secretary and officers of the union in authorising a new ballot for industrial action means there will be a break in the current legal mandate for industrial action, which expires at the end of September.
That management can instruct members participating in MAB to carry out marking and assessment from 1 Oct when the mandate expires.
UCL management’s threat of further punitive deductions for 14 days for MAB mid-September for Late Summer Assessments.
The statements from the General Secretary on 1 August and UCEA indicating that the 2023-2024 pay dispute is deadlocked.
UCL UCU resolves:
To advise UCL UCU members not to boycott the marking of new assessments such as the Late Summer Assessments, Postgraduate Taught marking, and other incoming work.
That existing marking and assessment which has not been carried out due to MAB will not be marked unless and until UCL management withdraw their threat of punitive pay deductions.
That (if UCL management continues to demand completion of previously-boycotted marking) without removing the threat of punitive pay deductions, we will use our existing legal mandate to call for strike action during Induction Week (25-30 September).
To continue to challenge the legality of punitive pay deductions at UCL.
If the threat of punitive deductions is not withdrawn, to ask members who have not yet made a pledge to contribute to the UCL Fighting Fund, to help cover all members participating in MAB so that none suffer the loss of more than 7 days’ pay.
To call a further all-members general meeting next week to review the situation.
Call the reballot now! - Passed 8 August 2023
UCL UCU notes
that a Branch Delegate Meeting has been called for Friday 11 August which will advise HEC on the next steps in the dispute;
that our motion at HESC calling a long summer reballot has not yet been actioned
UCL UCU believes that UCEA's decision to wait out our action until 30 September is due to the fact that UCU will have no industrial action mandate after that date.
UCL UCU resolves to write to the General Secretary and HE officers to call an immediate reballot of members in both disputes with the minimum of break between mandates; if this does not occur, to call on HEC to do likewise.
Result: Carried (76% for; 14% against; 11% abstentions)<Back to Top>
Solidarity with Ukraine, reject UCU Congress motion no. 5 - Passed 23 June 2023
Notes:
That since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in Ukraine in February 2022 (preceded by its annexation of Crimea and invasion into Eastern Ukraine in 2014), the world has witnessed repeated evidence of Russia’s atrocities on occupied Ukrainian territory, recognized by the International Criminal Court as war crimes, as well as the displacement of millions of innocent civilians, and environmental devastation.
That more specifically, as of the beginning of May 2023, this Russian aggression towards Ukraine has destroyed or damaged more than 2500 educational establishments including institutions of higher learning and more than 900 medical establishments.
That at a General Meeting of UCL UCU on March 31, 2022, a motion was passed stating that UCL UCU stands united in our condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and declares its support for the human rights of those under occupation or suffering oppression.
That the same General Meeting defeated a motion proposing an equidistance between Russia, the aggressor, and Ukraine, and framing the Russian attack as the outcome of NATO expansion.
That in late May 2023 UCU Congress passed by a big majority motion (no. 6) stating that it stands united in its condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and declares our support for the human rights of those under occupation or suffering oppression.
That in late May 2023 UCU Congress also passed, by a majority of only 9 votes, a widely condemned motion (no. 5) repeating the false claims of an alleged NATO expansion as the cause of the war and calling for UCU to support a position whereby Ukrainians are deprived of adequate means for self-defence, and thus left vulnerable to being kidnapped, tortured, raped or bombed in their homes by the Russian armed forces.
That this same motion features a common antisemitic trope by including an entirely gratuitous point associating the Ukrainian president, Israel, and the US.
That in a letter from union members at UCL SSEES dated 31 May 2023 to UCL General Secretary Jo Grady, these colleagues stress the damage done by the passing of motion no. 5 at UCL Congress, and the fact that many UCU members have decided to leave UCU because of it.
Believes:
1. That the Russian Federation should immediately cease fighting and withdraw its forces. If Russia stops fighting, there will be no war. If Ukraine stops fighting, there will be no Ukraine.
2. That allowing Russia to fulfil its demands, even partially, will create further instability in the Eastern Europe, and will signal to the aggressor that such actions may remain unpunished.
3. That Ukraine is lawfully exercising its right to self-defence, according to the Charter of the United Nations.
4. That military aid to assist Ukrainian self-defence saves lives. Stopping it would appease the aggressor. Hesitating and delaying it prolongs the war and brings more losses and suffering.
5. The UCU Congress motion no. 5 is ill-informed, discriminatory, and does not reflect the branch majority views of the branch. It equates the victim and the aggressor, denies Ukraine’s agency, and only helps the Kremlin’s propaganda.
6. That the debate on this important issue did not include proper representation of the Ukrainian perspective and did not facilitate an informed discussion, which is a core feature of academia.
7. That the UCU Congress motion no. 5 damages the union’s ability to undertake its core mission by taking energy and focus away from the current disputes, angering members, causing colleagues to leave the union.
8. That the passing of UCU Congress motion no. 5 has done considerable reputational damage to UCU.
Resolves:
To condemn the unprovoked and unjustified military aggression of Russia against Ukraine.
To support the provision of Ukraine with any form of aid that it needs, including military aid, humanitarian aid, and tougher political and economic sanctions against Russia.
To consider possible cooperation and affiliation with the Ukrainian Solidarity Campaign.
To engage with the Ukrainian community in the UK, including Ukrainian academics hosted by British universities, and ensure adequate representation of Ukrainian voices.
To state opposition to the UCU Congress motion, and to call upon UCU to revise and recall it.
To follow in our activities the suggestions of the Ukraine Peace Appeal towards a more informed solidarity (https://www.ukrainepeaceappeal2023.info/), and to call for its wider support by UCU.
To call on UCU to denounce the devastating impact of the Russian aggression on Ukrainian institutions of higher education more forcefully.
To call on UCU to energetically support solidarity with Ukraine in general, and in particular with colleagues working in higher education (as academics or in professional services) and students, whether in Ukraine itself, or displaced as a result of the war, or those within the wider Ukrainian diaspora.
To support initiatives at UCL supporting displaced Ukrainian colleagues and students and aiming at the reconstruction of Ukrainian institutions of higher education.
To call on UCU to review and change the governance procedures relating to the avoidance of discriminatory wording or framing in motions (more generally, and specifically here), and the procedures that resulted in passing the UCU Congress motion.
To send this motion to London Region UCU, without the sections specifically concerning the UCL branch, for adoption by the region.
Solidarity with UCL Security Workers - Passed 22 June 2023
This Branch Notes
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.
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.
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.
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.
Fire and hire restructures and redundancies are becoming common managerial strategies in HE to demobilise union branches and increase staff workloads.
This Branch Believes
Outsourcing should be eradicated from Higher Education as it creates a tier system between university workers and directly contributes to institutional racism.
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.
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.
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
To make a donation of £1,000 towards IWGB’s strike fund.
To publicise IWGB’s campaign against the redundancies at UCL.
To send a template email to UCL’s Provost.
Local Subs - Passed 22 June 2023
UCL UCU notes:
if UCL implements the current punitive deductions in the Marking and Assessment Boycott the local Branch Hardship Fund will be dramatically reduced
that UCU is arguing that branches will need to increasingly rely on local Hardship Funds for future industrial action
that local subscription rates were frozen for several years, and following merger with the IOE branch, local subscriptions for UCL members were reduced, because at the time there was no need to increase them
UCL UCU local subscriptions for 2022-23 are currently set at the following rates per month:
F0 (£60K and above) £5.00
F1 (£40K-£60K) £3.20
F2 (£30K-£40K) £2.40
F3 (£22K-£30K) £1.60
Below £22K and retired: 0
Attached members: £0.50.
union subscriptions, including local subs, are 2/3 tax exempt (see https://my.ucu.org.uk/app/answers/detail/a_id/469/~/tax-relief-on-subscr...)
that local subscriptions currently bring in approximately £48k per year, which funds a branch administrator and office as well as supports the hardship fund
UCL UCU resolves
to increase local subscriptions by 50% for all members that pay subscriptions.
to review subs at the next Annual General Meeting
to remind members to claim tax relief on their subscriptions
Solidarity with Brighton UCU - Passed 22 June 2023
UCL UCU notes:
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.
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 believes:
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:
To donate £2,000 towards Brighton UCU’s hardship fund
To publicise Brighton UCU’s campaigns against the redundancies.
To support cross-branch solidarity actions that Brighton may call during their campaign.
Motion on Strike action - Passed 27 April 2023
UCL UCU notes:
The decision by UCL management to impose a flat rate deduction amounting to half pay for 70 or more days (i.e. at least 10% of annual salary) on every member of staff participating in the Marking and Assessment Boycott (MAB) - with the threat of higher deductions if the dispute continues into July.
That this flat rate applies regardless of whether a colleague was due to mark 1 essay in June or 200 essays in April. The same rate applies for one-off assessments such as PhD vivas.
That marking and assessment do not make up 50% of the work of colleagues’ workload who are engaged in marking and assessment during this period.
That by contrast most universities have said they will make deductions based on due dates of submission of marks.
The UCL undergraduate exam board period is 15-23 June.
UCL UCU believes:
UCL’s decision on deductions is deliberately punitive, disproportionate, and designed to maximise the pressure on colleagues to not take part in industrial action (the MAB).
That members' rights to take part in ASOS, now and in the future, are under threat.
This threat must be confronted first and foremost with an escalated industrial response, because legal challenges can take years.
Our core focus must be to win the dispute and protect our members.
An escalation of this kind by an employer must be met with an effective industrial escalation on our part.
UCL UCU resolves:
To plan strike action that targets the undergraduate Exam Board period (15-23 June 2023).
To call on HE officers to trigger the formal employer-notification process outlined in our motion to Special HE Sector Conference, HE5. This notifies the employer for strike action over a long period but then allows the branch to stand down action according to how the employer responds.
To monitor UCL’s response and adjust strike action dates, if necessary, to be effective.
To call on all exam board chairs, deputy chairs, and participants to not reschedule exam boards.
To also consider other dates of strike action depending on the employer's response.
That our strike action threat will only be withdrawn if UCL withdraws its threat of punitive deductions.
Motion on USS legal action - Passed 05 April 2023
UCL UCU notes that:
In 2022, UCU HESC L5 instructed UCU to financially support the USS legal action.
Subsequently, the NEC instructed the national officers to provide £350,000 to the legal action.
The UCU national officers have refused to enact these instructions, and are in breach of UCU’s rules.
The Court of Appeal has agreed to hear the case.
UCL UCU believes a key factor in the USS directors’ and TPR’s current willingness to restore benefits cut between April 2022 and April 2024, is the ongoing legal action.
UCL UCU resolves:
To call on UCU national officers to comply with Conference and NEC’s instructions and to financially support this campaign with £350,000.
To use UCU resources to gain additional publicity and political support for this legal challenge, and
That UCU must back the case publicly by email and social media.
Motion on disagreeing respectfully in UCU - Passed 05 April 2023
UCL UCU notes that:
Our current disputes raise strong feelings because they deeply matter to members
Dissent, debate and discussion are a vital part of union activity
The recent public fighting (e.g. on social media) over union strategy and decision making is a boon to employers wishing to divide and defeat us
There is no place for personal attacks in our union
UCL UCU resolves to call on all officers to circulate guidance on union discussions outlining the importance of:
Disagreeing respectfully
Being willing to listen to other points of view
Considering carefully whether publicly voicing concerns is detrimental to our current disputes
Utilising private channels of debate, dissent and discussion through utilising UCU emails, branch meetings, local reps and executive committee to pass on ideas, comments and concerns
Calling out unacceptable conduct from other members
Motion on the current USS e-consultation - Passed 05 April 2023
UCL UCU notes:
expressed an intention to restore benefits by April 2024, but has not committed to so doing, while member institutions have to agree to this policy before it is enacted;
agreed to seek an improved risk-management mechanism in the light of the open and long-term nature of the scheme, but has made no commitment to the preservation of benefits or to restraint on contribution increases should the scheme experience future adverse valuations;
has made no commitment to repay USS benefits lost between April 2022 and 24.
The 29 March 2023 UCU news item ‘USS Trustee confirms full pension benefit restoration on course for April 2024’.
The resignation of USS Chief Executive Bill Galvin and his replacement with Carol Young (who led the closure of the Heineken DB pension scheme in 2011 and designed and launched their replacement DC plan).
That the limited progress made on USS is not conditional on agreeing to pause industrial action or settle the grounds of our dispute with UUK.
That UCL UCU mandated delegates to the 29 March 23 BDM to ‘Vote ‘no’ [to] putting the current commitments in UUK statements on USS to the members for formal consultation’.
UCL UCU believes:
The coupling of the four fights and USS campaigns is strategically important.
That the joint statement on UUK and UCU collaboration toward USS benefit restoration is not an ‘offer’ in the commonly understood sense of the term.
An e-consultation vote to ‘note’ the joint statement on UUK and UCU collaboration could be used to stand-down or otherwise undermine the USS dispute.
An e-consultation ‘no’ vote on the joint statement on UUK and UCU collaboration would put pressure on individual employers, and increase political pressure on USS to resolve the dispute.
That notification of the forthcoming marking and assessment boycott should be in support of both four fights and USS disputes.
UCL UCU resolves:
To preemptively email a statement, including this motion as an Appendix, to all UCL UCU members encouraging a ‘no’ vote in any e-consultation on the USS statement.
To use social media to encourage UCL UCU members to vote ‘no’ in any e-consultation on the USS statement.
To mandate delegates to the 19 April 23 Special Higher Education Sector Conference to support motions HE2, HE4, HE5*, HE10 and HE11, and oppose motions HE3 and HE9.
* Explanatory note: HE5 is a composite motion which includes a motion submitted by UCL UCU. See relevant motions mentioned above in the first report of the SHESC Congress Business Committee.
<Back to Top>Motion on censuring the GS’s approach to the disputes - Passed 28 March 2023
UCL UCU notes:
UCU's elected negotiators were marginalised in the later stages of negotiating
UCEA's Four Fights "offer" did not improve on the previously rejected offer
Constitutionally, the elected HEC, not the GS, determines when and how members receive offers in disputes
The 48-hour e-survey was poorly worded and circulated shortly before emergency BDM and HEC meetings, limiting branches’ opportunities for discussion. Both meetings also restricted discussion
HEC options for voting were restricted, but the majority opposed consulting now
Unison rejected UCEA's "offer" and are balloting for further industrial action
The GS’s messaging breaches UCU rules, procedure, and policy
UCL UCU believes:
Presenting this "offer" as a gain or consulting on it are serious errors
Plebiscitary ballots are not fair consultations, against UCU rules and policy, and incompatible with UCU's democratic structures
This is no way to run a dispute
UCL UCU resolves to censure the GS's approach.
<Back to Top>Motion for a UK-wide MAB strategy driven by branches - Passed 28 March 2023 (and approved for SHESC by ranked vote)
SHESC notes and reaffirms the core strategy set out in Motions 5 and 6 carried in both SHESCs April 2022.
SHESC calls on branches to ready members for a marking and assessment boycott (MAB) explaining that it will require a higher level of organisation than hitherto, with daily strike committee meetings open to all members to:
Organise the MAB, fundraising and salary sharing
Decide whether strike action for punitive deductions should be taken or called off
Send delegates to BDMs (or national strike committee meetings)
notify to the employers a series of 10 days of strike action commencing in late April to support the ASOS
fortnightly: call BDMs with voting powers (or national strike committee meetings)
in consultation with branches, call off strike action in 10 day units if the employers agree not to make punitive deductions
Motion on the ever-increasing casualisation and insecurity in HE needs addressing urgently - Passed 28 March 2023 (and approved for SHESC by ranked vote)
SHESC notes that:
insecurity is one of the "Four Fights", alongside pay, inequalities, and workloads
insecure employment in HE continues to grow. 66% of research staff and 43% of teaching-only staff are on fixed-term contracts, and women, people with disabilities, and people from ethnic minorities are disproportionately included.
the outline agreement reached at ACAS as a basis for future negotiations with the employers does not explicitly include anything to address casualisation and insecurity, other than a brief remark on zero hours contracts.
SHESC believes that insecurity is key in the Four Fights and must be explicitly addressed in any resolution to this dispute.
SHESC resolves to insist that any future negotiations and agreements cannot be reached or resolved without the inclusion of concrete proposals to address insecurity.
<Back to Top>Motion on instructing our delegates to the next BDM - Passed 28 March 2023
UCL UCU resolves to instruct our delegates attending the Branch Delegates Meeting on 29 March to:
Vote ‘no’ to putting the current UCEA proposals to the membership for formal consultation;
Vote ‘no’ putting the current commitments in UUK statements on USS to the members for formal consultation;
Vote ‘no’ to terms of reference for talks if these require us to give up our pay dispute for a year;
Vote to support a Marking and Assessment Boycott starting on 17 April 2023 (if the re-ballot is successful).
HESC Motion: For a long reballot over the Summer to permit industrial action at the start of Term - Passed 14 March 2023
HESC resolves to ballot members for industrial action in a long ballot commencing as soon as possible and ending in September 2023 over the outstanding USS and JNCHES disputes, in order to be able to take strike action from the start of the Autumn Term.
<Back to Top>Congress Motion: Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill - Passed 14 March 2023
Congress notes that:
In January, the government introduced the “Strikes (Minimum Service Levels)” Bill, which further restricts the right to strike, making existing anti-TU legislation worse, among the worst in Europe.
Unless we fight it, it will become universal; another attack against working and civil rights.
Union leaders, including ours and the TUC took unacceptably long to organise action, in what should have been an immediate, militant response against this new assault.
Congress resolves that:
The NEC organise an ongoing, high-profile, high-priority campaign to stop its enforcement and to repeal ALL anti-trade union laws that plague Britain and the working class.
We stand together and coordinate with sister unions, especially those targeted now and those next on the list (healthcare, education, civil servants, etc).
We must stop being reactive and deferring vital action to the TUC leadership; we must go on the offensive today
Motion on Increasing days covered by local hardship (strike) fund - Passed 23 February 2023
UCL UCU notes:
UCU is currently covering 11 days of the current 21 days of strike action from the national Fighting Fund.
We currently have nearly £160,000 in our local hardship fund.
UCL UCU resolves:
To permit applications to the branch hardship (strike) fund from UCL UCU members in good standing for any strike dates that are not covered by the National UCU Fighting Fund;
To cap total payments at £125,000 (approximately 80% of the total local hardship fund) for the current round of strikes, in order to keep funds in reserve for a Marking and Assessment Boycott, pending monthly reviews of the hardship fund budget & balance.
To prioritise the claims of members earning less than £30,000 when payments are made by taking their claims first in monthly batches.
To encourage colleagues to make donations to the branch hardship (strike) fund.
Motion on Striking on 15 March Budget Day - Passed 23 February 2023
UCL UCU notes:
15 March is Budget Day.
The NEU and PCS unions have both called national strikes on that day.
The NEU has called a national demonstration and carnival in London, with a march from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square.
UCL UCU believes that we should strike together with other unions where possible, and that Governments can and should act to cut price inflation.
UCL UCU therefore resolves:
To call on HEC to call March 15 as a strike day.
To encourage members to join the demonstration called by the NEU, and to advertise it widely.
#NoSellout - Passed 23 February 2023
UCL UCU notes that:
The employers’ offers on pay and conditions and USS are not strong enough to justify a pause of action: there is no improvement with respect to the 5-6% pay offer that union members have already rejected; vague promises to discuss casualisation and workload frameworks do not constitute an offer; and the restoration of our USS benefits and reduced member contributions are still conditional on the outcome of the upcoming valuation.
No branches and only one officer were consulted before pausing the action.
UCL UCU believes that:
Pausing the strike action now weakens us in the dispute with the employers and damages the prospects of the ongoing negotiations to deliver an outcome in our favour.
We are in this action to win, and the current UCEA proposals have no new concessions of any substance.
The current offer on pay does not deliver: our lowest paid colleagues still stand to lose around 10% of their wages’ value against RPI over the 2 years 2021-2023, and UCU members face a 15% real-terms pay cut.
Members’ control of the dispute through regular strike meetings that can hold negotiators to account is the only way for it to be effective, by uniting members, all campus unions, and students around our demands.
Maximum pressure has to be exerted on the employers now, in order for negotiations to be effective, and we are willing to do this.
What has paved the way to the current situation is a lack of strategy: what constitutes a good offer, how we respond to various outcomes of interim negotiations, what are the checkpoints for escalation, etc. Instead, confining the discussion solely to the number of strike days and indefinite strike tactics, takes any meaningful control of the dispute away from the members.
UCL UCU resolves to:
Call on the UCU HE officers and HEC members to reinstate action if possible, and contribute in the discussion to find ways to keep up the momentum of our struggle.
Support the ‘unofficial’ Branch Delegates Meeting called by London Region UCU on Thursday 23 February (4-6pm) and elect two delegates to attend.
Support the protest outside the HEC meeting at UCU HQ on Friday 24 Feb from 10am.
Organise protests at the UCEA/UUK offices and around campuses in the Bloomsbury area the upcoming 2 weeks, in coordination with students, other campus unions, and nearby UCU branches.
Support other major action by workers, by sending solidarity messages and encouraging all members to join protests and picket lines:
The IWGB at UCL, who were planning to strike with us on 1 or 2 March.
The nurses at UCLH who will be on strike on 1 and 2 March.
The Camden NEU demonstration on 2 March.
Call on the HEC to call strike action in conjunction with the NEU and PCS on Budget Day, 15 March.
Call under Rule 16.11 for a Special Higher Education Sector Conference to debate and direct the future of our disputes. Notice for this SHESC should be issued as soon as the number of branches requesting it reaches twenty.
Continue building our own branch’s organising and membership strength, by focussing on research and academic related/professional services staff and coordination with the Student Union and other student organisations, and other campus unions, including outsourced workers.
To support the campaign for a reballot, but not to the exclusion of industrial action under the present ballot.
To call on the HEC to support talks with the employers, but without conditions (such as the condition that we stop/pause our strike action).
Motion calling on HEC to serve notice on employers for March strike days - Passed 23 February 2023
UCL UCU notes that following the 2-week suspension of strike action announced by the General Secretary, the next scheduled strike day is not until March 16. This is almost 2 weeks after the end of the suspension and amounts, in practice, to a suspension of close to 4 weeks. By that time any remaining strike action before the end of Term and the Easter break will have lost most of its potential leverage.
UCL UCU calls on HEC and HE officers with immediate effect to serve notice to employers of additional strike days including Monday 13, Tuesday 14 & Wednesday 15 March, and following week, Thursday 23, Friday 24 March. This needs to be done now in order to comply with the 2-week notification period, and will serve to keep the pressure on employers who might otherwise feel relaxed about riding out the rest of Term. These strike days can be stood down should members agree to an offer when one eventually is put to a vote.
Motion on Donating to USS Legal Action - Passed on 05 January 2023
UCL UCU notes:
A critical element of the campaign to restore our USS benefits, worth on average £8000 to every USS member between 2022 to 2024, is the legal case brought by members Neil Davies and Ewan McGaughey.
They are currently fundraising £350k to take their case to the Court of Appeal. Previous rounds of fundraising have been generously supported by UCU branches up and down the country, including our own.
These branch donations have substantially alleviated the financial burden on individual members and allowed the case to proceed to this stage.
Since the High Court hearing, the USS CEO has announced his resignation, USS is now reporting a surplus and has published more information about its climate change plans.
UCL UCU believes that:
As UCL UCU has previously made a donation to this effort, hence there is nothing unusual about the present proposal.
There is a need for a second instalment, based on the stage reached by the court case.
UCL UCU has played no role in the development of the case which is being handled by Neil and Ewan.
Making a fresh contribution will allow their action to proceed.
It is essential to legally test the principle that the managers of a pension scheme such as USS are not at liberty to alter its framework in a fundamental way.
UCL UCU resolves:
To call on the branch committee to act on the Conference and the NEC’s democratic decisions by further supporting this legal action;
To provide £3000 support to the legal case as several other branches have done for the most recent round of funding;
To circulate the crowd funder to members in the branch;
To call on the national officers to enact the lawful decisions of our delegates at Conference and the NEC.
Motion on HEC proposed strategy - Passed on 05 January 2023
UCL-UCU favours:
A strategy of all-out discontinuous indefinite strike action, involving taking industrial action on 4 rotating working days a week, starting in February and continuing until members vote to end the action, or the ballot mandates expire.
A Marking and Assessment Boycott starting on the 23 January.
Immediately announcing our intention to re-ballot to renew our mandate for further action.
UCL UCU calls on HEC and HE officers to ensure that in order to maximise impact and focus efforts, branches are consulted to ensure that strike action is not called in Reading Weeks.
NB: the HEC proposal is for the MAB in Jan to target summative assessments.
<Back to Top>Motion on Donating to the IWGB strike fund - Passed 22 November 2022
UCL-UCU notes:
Our outsourced colleagues at UCL who are represented by the IWGB have voted for strike action in pursuit of £15/hour minimum wage and union recognition.
UCL-UCU has a proud tradition of solidarity with our campus trade unions and has support previous strikes by other unions on campus.
UCL-UCU resolves:
To make a £2000 donation to the IWGB Universities Branch strike fund.
Motion on Industrial Action - Passed 27 October 2022
UCL UCU notes the brilliant ballot results giving us the ability to take action in every university.
UCL UCU believes that:
A strong ballot result without action will not be enough to defeat the employers.
Coordinating our action with other unions will increase our leverage.
UCL UCU proposes that industrial action takes the following form:
Take strategic strike action before the Christmas break, maximising co-ordination with CWU.
A national demonstration to UCEA talks on 30 November.
Working to contract and other forms of ASOS to begin as soon as possible.
A marking & assessment boycott to start 1 December.
Punitive deductions to be met with sustained strike action, backed by financial support from all other branches.
Notification of future action before completion of existing action.
A BDM to be called in January: should discuss next steps, including the possibility of all-out strike action if the employer has not moved following the initial phase of action.
Escalating strike action to begin week beginning 6 February (or earliest date when all universities are teaching) coordinated with other unions where possible, starting with 3 days (week 1) 4 days (week 2) 5 days (week 3), pending discussion and approval at the January BDM mentioned above.
For the General Secretary to approach other unions to actively seek co-ordination and report back results.
A call should go out asking all UCU members to resign from external examiner roles at other institutions. They should be encouraged to do so as soon as possible as their agreements may include notice periods.
Motion on Industrial Action (2) - Passed 27 October 2022
UCL UCU notes:
The need for escalating our struggle in response to the coordinated attack on our income and living conditions, by employers and the government.
The encouraging rise of class struggle in several sectors and industries in Britain and all over Europe, which shows that real power lies with the workers.
The clear majority in favour of an enduring struggle across the sector, throughout this academic year, following the experience of last year’s disputes, which led to wide discussions amongst members about the vision and a winning strategy for the union.
UCL UCU believes:
That the success of our struggle is not merely a matter of action days, key dates and tactical pressure, but primarily depends on:
Our ability to organise the mobilisation and participation of the majority of our members, from across roles (academic, research, teaching, and academic-related/ professional services staff).
The coordination with non-UCU university staff, with our students, and with workers of other sectors.
The content and the orientation of the struggle, aligning our demands with the need for dignified living conditions and free education for all, against the devastating market models served by the policies of governments and the political parties who support them.
UCL UCU proposes:
Sustained escalating action in local, regional and national level, combining as necessary strikes, ASOS, rallies and any other effective form of protest, to ensure continuity of our struggle, maximal impact to the employers and maximal mobilisation of our members.
Such action to be coordinated with other university staff unions and students, as well as unions of other sectors, including coordinated strike days.
Membership control of the organisation of our struggle and the decisions that need to be taken, by establishing branch General Meetings as the heart of the Union and its struggle, and empowering regular, decision-making reps meetings at the local, regional, and national level.
EDI Disability support at UCL - Passed 12 October 2022
UCL UCU believes:
That the position of the UCL Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) manager for disability should be a permanent one, given UCL’s recent press release with a target to improve the mental health of disabled staff by 8% on its staff survey.
Without any permanent members of staff in EDI focused on disability, hitting this target is going to be impossible.
Failing to adequately resource this target only serves to make disabled staff feel more marginalised, making it more difficult to address their many concerns.
UCL UCU resolves to call on UCL:
To ensure permanent – and sufficient – resourcing for disability specifically is put in place.
To request that a permanent EDI Manager for Disability Equity at an appropriate Grade level, managing the whole program of work for both staff and student disability equity, and any complex casework.
To request that UCL have a permanent Project Officer (at an appropriate grade level) role for reasonable adjustments (dealing with all queries to do with reasonable adjustments including inbox management, workplace needs assessments, access to work administrative support for staff, general support for Disabled/Neurodivergent staff), providing support for reasonable adjustments training.
To request a permanent Project Officer (at an appropriate grade level) managing individual schemes and programs (e.g. external accreditation programs like Disability Confident, Business Disability Forum, general Disability Equity initiatives.
To request a fixed-term Project Officer (at an appropriate grade level) ASAP with the specific remit of supporting UCL’s return to campus/roll out of the new hybrid working policy.
We can win the ballot because we can win the dispute - Passed 12 October 2022
UCL UCU notes:
The increasing number of unions taking action over the cost-of-living crisis, and the growing coordination between unions.
Previous Conference decisions in favour of hard-hitting escalating action rather than token strike days.
The success of last summer’s marking and assessment boycotts.
UCL UCU believes:
That while we aim for a huge majority on a big turnout, 50%+1 is enough to call hard-hitting escalating action.
Only serious industrial action will shift the employers.
UCL UCU calls for (and instructs any of its delegates to support):
Democratic control of the dispute via branch delegate meetings that are empowered to discuss motions from branches.
Hard-hitting, escalating strike action backed by ASOS, including escalating to a marking and assessment boycott.
Strengthening the UCL-UCU hardship fund (strike fund) and support for members - Passed 22 September 2022
UCL UCU notes:
That the cost-of-living crisis and the continual rise in inflation is affecting our members who have faced an average 24% cut in salary over the past twelve years.
That UCL UCU branch have already contributed £50,000 to the central UCU fighting fund and have now been asked to contribute above this amount in recognition of likely strike action in 2022/23.
UCL UCU believes:
That UCL UCU members need reassurance because they are tired and worried that they may not be able to afford to strike due to financial pressures and familial tensions.
UCL UCU resolves:
That the UCL UCU branch should transfer £50,000 from our group account to our hardship account, in preparation to support our members in industrial action.
That, during future strike action, the UCL UCU branch should increase the exceptional hardship payment from £75 to £100.
2021/22
Solidarity with in-housing campaigns - Passed 29 June 2022
UCL UCU notes:
Since UCL decided to outsource cleaning, security, and catering services a decade ago, workers have seen a significant decline in pay and conditions. Previously UCL security staff were paid over £15/hr. Now workers are campaigning actively to be brought in house and for fair pay.
UCL UCU supports:
The IWGB and UNISON campaigns calling for UCL to end outsourcing, zero hours contracts, and poor pay.
The IWGB campaign for fair pay for security guards, cleaners and porters at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).
The Condemnation of LSHTM's targeted suspension of unionised workers.
UCL UCU resolves to:
Publicly support both the IWGB and UNISON campaigns (e.g. on social media, in regular communications with members)
Circulate information about the campaigns and actions members can take on an ongoing basis and, in the first instance, by 5 July.
Publicly support IWGB's demand to be recognised by UCL, and put pressure on UCL accordingly.
Actively work to encourage dialogue and collaboration between UNISON and IWGB.
Donate £1000 to the strike fund of the LSHTM workers (if sufficient funds are available), who announced on 20th June that they have voted to go on strike for an end to discrimination and for fair pay.
In the event of a strike related to any of these campaigns and in the case that sufficient funds are available, make a donation to the relevant strike fund(s) to show our solidarity.
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International solidarity - PAME congress - Passed 29 June 2022
UCL UCU believes that international solidarity is at the core of our Trade Union practices. We have plenty to learn by sharing experiences with other trade unions around the world, especially ones with experience and victories in hard-won struggles and industrial actions, and plenty to give by actively supporting them.
The All-workers Militant Front in Greece ("PAME") is one such grassroots organisation, that brings together unions and individual trade unionists from all sectors, under a militant workers movement. Their congress in Piraeus, Greece, on June 17-19, welcomed participants from Greek and international Trade Unions, to discuss their experiences, make connections in common struggles, and show their solidarity.
UCL UCU resolves to cover the travel expenses for one delegate to this conference, to the amount of £620.
Solidarity with QMU UCU - Passed 29 June 2022
UCL UCU notes that whereas over 15 branches have settled Marking and Assessment Boycotts and won gains without a penny being deducted from participating members, Queen Mary University of London (QMU) UCU members are facing the threat of 100% pay deductions in July.
UCL UCU resolves to pledge up to £10,000 from our hardship fund to QMU UCU should this become necessary, and to encourage members to donate up to a day's pay directly to the hardship fund of QMU.
<Back to Top>For consistency on Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) - Passed 19 May 2022
UCL UCU notes:
Legislation in UK rendering Boycott Divestment and Sanctions campaigns unlawful for public bodies unless consistent with Government policy.
the B’Tselem, Yesh Din, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch reports, as well as the Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Territories designating the situation there as one of apartheid and highlighting systematic Israeli anti-Palestinian discrimination - widespread seizures of Palestinian land and property, unlawful killings, forcible transfer, drastic movement restrictions, and the denial of citizenship;
The Designation of 11 Palestinian human rights organisations as ‘terrorist’ by the Israeli state;
The Israeli Ministry of Defence intention to isolate Palestinian universities, undermining Higher Education (and academic freedom) by limiting the number and disciplinary specialisms of foreign scholars permitted work visas;
Trade union support for protest forms, such as BDS, in the UK as means of opposing the occupation of Ukraine.
Calls for institutional boycotts of state-funded academic institutions in Russia as a response to the occupation of Ukraine and war crimes.
UCL UCU believes:
Boycotts and divestment campaigns in relation to institutional ties with Russian state-sponsored academic institutions are legitimate forms of protest and opposition to the occupation of Ukraine;
By consistency, BDS campaigns are legitimate forms of protest and opposition to other violent occupations and violations of civilian populations’ human rights.
UCL UCU resolves:
To mandate its Congress delegates to support Dundee University UCU motion SFC21, calling on UCU to:
a. join the campaign against anti-BDS legislation;
b. make forceful representations to the Israeli Embassy, affirming Palestinian universities’ membership of the global scholarly community;
c. reaffirm Congress’ 2010 opinion on BDS and academic boycott;
d. immediately invite all members to consider, given reported crimes against humanity, the moral and political consequences of any relationship with Israeli institutions.
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Finance and Solidarity - Passed 05 May 2022
UCL UCU notes:
The UCL UCU branch currently holds £X in the general account and £Y in the local hardship fund.
UCU is about to call industrial action in 41 branches including a marking boycott, and further action will probably be needed in the autumn.
In order to support this action there is a call on branches like ours to make a significant contribution to the national fighting fund.
UCL UCU resolves:
To contribute 24.6% of the funds in the general account to the national fighting fund.
To top up the branch hardship fund with 9.8% of the general funds.
Amounts (1) and (2) were determined during the EGM and were not to exceed a pre-set total.
To set up a GoFundMe process to permit members to donate days of pay for members in branches taking the marking boycott, and to call on members to participate.
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Amendments to HE Sector Conference motions - Passed on 05/05/22
a) Amendment to HE1: USS: Higher education committee
Existing text:
HE Sector conference notes the report and approves the recommendations of the SWG contained in UCUBANHE80 (SWG June 2022).
Add at end:
Noting the positive improvement in the USS monitoring position due to increases in the Bank of England base rate, UCU resolves to urgently campaign to prioritise the diversion of deficit recovery contributions into pension benefits in the short term as part of our industrial and political strategy to defend our pensions. (51 words)
b) Amendment to HE5: Effective industrial action on Four Fights and USS
Existing text:
Conference notes:
Decisions taken at previous Conferences, and repeatedly expressed at Branch Delegate Meetings, to maintain the link between Four Fights and USS.
The successful action by UCU members at the University of Liverpool last year, which involved both periods of sustained strike action, and a marking and assessment boycott.
That brief periods of strike action (1-3 days) are ineffective.
Conference resolves:
a. To maintain the link between the two disputes until sufficient progress is made in one or both to justify separation.
b. To call escalating strike action and a marking and assessment boycott over both disputes.
c. To allow limited local variation, to minimise as far as possible strike action on unproductive days, while maintaining maximum effective action overall.
d. To respond to 100% pay deductions for ASOS by immediately calling further strikes.
Add at end:
e. To commence disaggregated reballots in all branches over both disputes from as soon as possible in June to as late as possible in September;
i. with end dates timed to permit action in induction week,
ii. with both disputes in the same envelope where possible, and
iii. to liaise with branch officers immediately to identify induction week dates.
Where branches have strike mandates until October, the end date may be extended accordingly. (72 words)
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Amendments to Congress motion and Late Motion - Passed on 05/05/22
a) Amendment to SFC18: Oppose the invasion of Ukraine - for peace not escalation
Existing text:
Congress stands united in our condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We declare our support for the human rights of those under occupation or suffering oppression.
Congress resolves to:
Call on the UK Government to allow unconditional entry to the UK to refugees displaced by and fleeing this conflict, regardless of nationality, ethnicity, or citizenship.
Congress further resolves to:
a. Offer our solidarity to any colleagues and students directly and indirectly affected by these events.
b. Support all those calling for peace, including those in very difficult circumstances in Russia and Belarus, and to call on all governments – including our own – to bring about a peaceful end to this war.
c. Call on UK universities to facilitate the resettlement of refugee staff and students.
Add at end:
d. Call on UK universities to suspend all institutional cooperation and funding arrangements with all state-funded academic institutions in Russia, and in particular those whose leadership signed a statement by the Russian Union of Rectors dated 4 March 2022 endorsing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Congress supports constructive engagement with Russian colleagues and students on an individual basis, in particular those who may be suffering from, or in danger of suffering from, persecution in Russia. (75 words)
b) Congress Late Motion: The ‘Rwanda Plan’ and the Nationality and Borders Act
UCL UCU notes:
The ‘Rwanda Plan’ for offshoring asylum seekers and the Nationality and Borders Act effectively end the right to claim legal asylum in Britain and threaten the citizenship rights of 6 million people, and marks a huge escalation of the government’s racist ‘hostile environment’.
Lethal ‘Pushbacks’ in the channel, deportations and fundamental attacks on the rights of refugees must be opposed.
The Ukraine war and the Afghan crisis have exposed once again the government’s failure to respond adequately to humanitarian crisis.
UCU resolves to work with refugee solidarity and anti-racist organisations to oppose the offshoring of refugees and the Nationality and Borders Act.
UCU believes visa restrictions should be waived for all those fleeing war, whatever their nationality.
UCU will campaign to say ‘All Refugees welcome here’.
<Back to Top>Special HE Sector Conference Motion: Industrial action plan - Passed 05 April 2022
HESC resolves UCU will:
Identify summer term dates with each branch.
Call a boycott of all summative marking from the start of summer term.
Notify each employer of an initial two-week strike period from week 3 of term, stating that strikes may be avoided depending on the employer’s conduct, in particular that if the employer insists on disproportionate pay deductions for participation in ASOS then strikes will not be stood down.
Notify further two-week strike periods to each employer prior to each subsequent strike.
Ask branches to delegate two officers to coordinate with ROs and Head of HE to enact this plan.
Call weekly Branch Delegate Meetings with voting powers to continually monitor the national situation.
Ask members not taking ASOS to pledge a day’s pay a week to local hardship funds.
Call an emergency appeal for the national Fighting Fund.
[150 words]
<Back to Top>Congress Motion: Oppose the invasion of Ukraine - for peace not escalation - Passed 17/03/2022
Congress stands united in our condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We declare our support for the human rights of those under occupation or suffering oppression.
Congress resolves to:
Call on the UK Government to allow unconditional entry to the UK to refugees displaced by and fleeing this conflict, regardless of nationality, ethnicity, or citizenship.
Offer our solidarity to any colleagues and students directly and indirectly affected by these events.
Support all those calling for peace, including those in very difficult circumstances in Russia and Belarus, and to call on all governments – including our own – to bring about a peaceful end to this war.
Call on UK universities to facilitate the resettlement of refugee staff and students.
(122 words)
<Back to Top>HE Sector Conference Motion: Defend Education - Fight for the Future - Passed 17/03/2022
Conference notes:
The student tuition fee cap freeze of £27,295 for post-2012 English and Welsh graduates, with RPI+3% over 30 years.
2023-entry graduates will repay RPI-rated student loans above a salary threshold of £25,000 - for 40 years.
Additional proposals for minimum exam entry requirements for undergraduates, and caps in student recruitment for courses without ‘well paid graduate jobs’.
The existing marketisation process is creating university ‘winners and losers’, job losses and course closures, and undermining national bargaining.
Conference resolves:
To build a UK-wide campaign against these changes and for a sustainable funding model without fees and loans, and approach the NUS, the TUC and individual trade unions, and campaigning organisations such as the CDBU, CPU and HE Convention for support.
To call national demonstrations in Autumn 2022 in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast under the slogan ‘Defend Education - Fight for the Future’.
(150 words)
<Back to Top>Additional payment availability from local hardship fund - Passed 17/03/2022
UCL UCU notes:
The National Officers of the UCU have decided that the central UCU Fighting Fund be used to support the forthcoming round of industrial action in pursuit of the USS and Four Fights campaigns.
For eligible members, the sum of £50 can be claimed for the second and subsequent days of strike action for members earning £30,000 gross or more per annum, and the sum of up to £75 for the second and subsequent days of strike action for members earning less than £30,000 gross per annum.
These payments are subject to a cap of 11 days, which will be kept under review.
That the amount claimed cannot exceed loss of earnings.
UCL UCU resolves:
To use monies in the local UCL UCU hardship fund to support claims for the first day of industrial action, and to pay the same amounts to eligible members as the national UCU Fighting Fund (as set out in ‘notes’ point 2 above) i.e. £50 or £75.
A one-off additional payment of £75 be available to members experiencing exceptional hardship i.e., having difficulty paying essential bills such as rent or mortgage, Council Tax, food, and utilities.
That the eligibility criteria for claiming from the central UCU Fighting Fund apply to the local UCL UCU hardship fund.
Strike Deductions and Student Hardship Funds - Passed 17/03/2022
UCL UCU notes:
Where UCL has budgeted for full staff costs, any deductions from staff wages represent a saving on agreed budgets and additional funds.
Historically, strike pay deductions have been donated to the Student Hardship Fund, now known as 'UCL Financial Assistance Funds'.
The importance of solidarity between staff and students in campaigning for a fairer university in the Four Fights dispute.
UCL UCU resolves:
To call publicly on the Provost to confirm that deductions from staff wages for strike action or ASOS are added to the existing funds for the UCL Financial Assistance Funds.
That the total amount deducted and donated is made public to staff and students.
To campaign jointly with the UCL Student Union towards this goal.
Explanatory note: in the case of research staff funded by fixed term grants, unspent salary costs are retained by the Principal Investigator and should be spent on extending their contracts and deadlines.
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Oppose the invasion of Ukraine - for peace not escalation - Passed 11/03/2022
UCL UCU stands united in our condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We declare our support for the human rights of those under occupation or suffering oppression.
UCL UCU resolves to:
Call on the UK Government to allow unconditional entry to the UK to refugees displaced by and fleeing this conflict, regardless of nationality, ethnicity, or citizenship.
Offer our solidarity to any colleagues and students directly and indirectly affected by these events.
Support all those calling for peace, including those in very difficult circumstances in Russia and Belarus, and to call on all governments – including our own – to bring about a peaceful end to this war.
Call on UK universities to facilitate the resettlement of refugee staff and students.
Call on UK universities to suspend all institutional cooperation and funding arrangements with all state-funded academic institutions in Russia, and in particular those whose leadership signed a statement by the Russian Union of Rectors dated 4 March 2022 endorsing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. UCL UCU supports constructive engagement with Russian colleagues and students on an individual basis, in particular those who may be suffering from, or in danger of suffering from, persecution in Russia.
Call for an urgent meeting of branches to discuss the USS and Four Fights disputes - Passed 10/02/2022
UCL UCU notes:
HEC did not approve any of the strike proposals presented to branch delegates on 18 Jan 2022.
HEC appears to have decided on a course of action that members have not been able to evaluate.
To win our disputes, we need a clear strategy that branches have been able to assess and input into.
UCL UCU resolves:
To call for an urgent meeting of branches with a strike mandate so we can coordinate and propose industrial action strategy.
To send delegates to such a meeting, whether organised centrally by UCU or by branches themselves.
To advertise the meeting on the evening of 21 Feb called by the UCU Solidarity Movement to discuss next steps.
Support 'Stop the Silvertown Tunnel' Day of Action - Passed 10/02/2022
UCL UCU notes:
There is a climate emergency that requires urgent action.
That transport is a leading cause of UK carbon emissions.
The Mayor of London has proposed traffic reduction targets to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030.
These targets are unobtainable if the Silvertown Tunnel, currently the largest new road construction in the UK, goes ahead.
UCL UCU believes:
That trade unions have an important part to play in challenging a project which will only increase private road traffic.
UCL UCU resolves:
To raise awareness of the issue amongst members.
To send a letter demanding the Mayor of London ‘pause and review’ the Silvertown tunnel project immediately’.
To support the Stop the Silvertown Day of Action on 26 February.
To join the Stop the Silvertown Tunnel Coalition campaign.
Solidarity with United Voices of the World Union - Passed 10/02/2022
UCL UCU sends its solidarity to the United Voices of the World Union and resolves to donate £1,000 to their strike hardship fund for the Great Ormond Street Hospital strikers.
<Back to Top>Calling a Special Higher Education Sector Conference on the disputes - Passed 27/01/2022
UCL UCU notes:
That we are in the fight of our lives over USS and the Four Fights, with a threat to wreck the pension scheme in pre-92 universities and runaway inflation. Casualisation and workload are spiralling out of control due to the consequences of universities adapting to covid conditions, and structural inequality is worsening.
That UCU’s nationally agreed strategy is to keep the action on USS and Four Fights together and to prosecute both disputes concurrently. This was recently reconfirmed by Motion 12 at the last September Higher Education Sector Conference.
That Branch Delegate Meetings on the two disputes both reported a desire for escalating and effective strike action.
UCL UCU resolves:
To call on the UCU HEC to call a Special Higher Education Sector Conference (SHESC) to discuss and take decisions on the USS and Four Fights disputes.
As per 16.11 of the union's rules, this branch calls for a Special meeting of UCU's Higher Education Sector Conference to take place at the earliest opportunity in order to discuss and take decisions on the Four Fights and USS disputes.
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Keep strike action effective and united - Passed 27/01/2022
UCL UCU notes:
That the USS dispute is at a crunch point.
The General Secretary’s email to members on Friday was unclear as to whether or not action would be conducted across both disputes, and suggested that “regional rolling action” would be proposed.
That in the USS reballot, UCL UCU failed to reach the participation threshold of 50% set by the Trade Union Act 2016, but achieved a Yes vote of 85%. However, UCL UCU has a live strike mandate over the Four Fights.
That UCU policy, repeatedly confirmed by delegates at UCU’s sovereign body, the HE Sector Conference, is that both fights should be prosecuted together, most recently, Motion 12 (Leeds) in September 2021. Part 4c states that ballots and action will be taken concurrently.
UCU Conference has not discussed regional rolling action, but the UCU Commission for Effective Action emphasised the need for serious national effective action.
That acting over the Four Fights on a USS strike date is a lawful tactic that is strengthened if all branches do the same.
UCL UCU resolves:
To formally write to UCU Higher Education Committee Officers asking that they ensure UCL UCU be called out on strike over the Four Fights on dates when branches are called out on strike over USS, and to write to other branches in the same position as us encouraging them to do likewise.
To seek to ensure that strike action is conducted on a coordinated UK-wide basis as far as possible, allowing for local variation around term dates/reading weeks where necessary.
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Solidarity with Students / NUS Demonstration - Passed 27/01/2022
UCL UCU resolves to:
send our thanks to the UCL Student Union for their referendum result.
call on members to show their solidarity with students and mobilise to support the NUS Demonstration on March 2nd, 2022, under the banner ‘A New Vision for Education’.
formally ask UCU Higher Education Committee Officers to agree that, if we are in a position to progress the Four Fights dispute with a strike, that UCU calls a strike day to coincide with this demonstration.
Four Fights and USS Future Industrial Action - Passed 17/01/2022
UCL UCU notes:
Up to 100 branches could have a mandate for industrial action when results are announced.
The twin disputes strategy is successfully mobilising members across HE for both strike action and Action Short of Strike (ASOS). In addition, UCU is again seeing a new surge in membership indicating growing support for our demands among ever wider layers of HE staff.
Despite the high levels of support for industrial action, including similar proportionate votes for action in branches that missed the anti-union threshold, and three days of action in Term 1, employers in HE have failed to seriously engage in the issues at the heart of the two disputes.
HE institutions have record levels of income but continue to pursue maximising surpluses over student or staff wellbeing and educational quality. At the same time student debt is growing at ~£18bn a year, reaching £160bn by the end of the 2020-21 academic year.
UCL UCU believes:
The cost-of-living crisis raises the importance of the Four Fights dispute, and our dispute therefore has new relevance for other trade unions and workers.
The 28th of February deadline for confirmation of the benefit cuts and cost increases in USS makes for urgency in calling industrial action.
Employers are prepared to wait out action which is time limited.
Strike action combined with ASOS provide the union with maximum leverage on employers while limiting the extent to which employers can place pressure on members to reschedule or replace lost work.
The causes of our disputes are not due to lack of funds in the sector, but the use of those funds to sustain a system that treats HE as a profitable market instead of a provider of education and knowledge generation that benefits all. Marketisation, student debt and privatisation, and their impact on staff and students, highlight the broken nature of the model of HE operating across the whole of the UK.
UCL UCU calls:
For future action to be escalating in the three weeks prior to the 28th of February deadline and with further action from from the 28th of February deadline, for both disputes.
For forms of ASOS to be considered and the most appropriate undertaken, and for preparations for a reballot of branches to be made to allow action to be continued into the exam and graduation period, where necessary.
For establishing compulsory levies in non-striking branches to sustain action in the striking branches and for an appeal to the trade union movement to show solidarity by donating to the UCU strike fund.
On branches to organise local/city wide staff student and community assemblies to build support for the defence of our living standards and pensions across the wider trade union movement.
On branches to support, publicise and send delegates to the UCU Solidarity Movement Conference on 29th January.
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