Annual General Meeting 2016

Minutes of UCL UCU AGM 2016

Tuesday 7 June 2016, Gordon House, 29 Gordon Square, 1-2pm.

1. Chair’s business: meeting advised catering is delayed. Report from Congress 2016 agenda item added to the agenda. 

2. Minutes of previous Annual General Meeting (11 June 2015): 

The Meeting agreed minutes are an accurate record of the meeting: proposed as accurate by Saladin Meckled-Garcia and seconded by Alun Coker

3. Matters arising: none

4. President’s Annual Report: 

Saladin Meckled-Garcia (SMG) gave his annual report orally.

The union does much work, which is not always visible, campaigning on national pay and organising action to defend terms and conditions for UCL staff, and behind the scenes the union works hard to assist individual members who have issues at work. An example has been the UCL HR proposed alteration to the policy covering staff terms at work by underhand manoeuvres. In the case of the Lecturers’ 3 year probation (staff covered by Statute 18 as well as HR policy procedure on Probation and Disciplinary etc.) HR wanted to introduce ad hoc procedures, effectively making it up as you go; the UCU resisted this.

Another example was where UCL wanted to ‘streamline’ the capability procedure and reduce the number of stages. At JCNG we resisted this alongside other campus staff unions. This would have weakened the unions had UCL been able to get this change through.

Just as with the Statute 18 campaign three years ago, UCL UCU has been at the forefront of the campaign against the Government’s attacks on HE. UCL UCU hosted the Second HE Convention, and an Alternative White Paper, including contributions from UCL staff, will be launched in Parliament shortly.

Lastly, we have been resisting attempts to introduce performance management measures into the university. We have seen the attempt to introduce benchmarking for teaching, contrary to academic freedom. Newcastle University is currently in dispute over attempts to impose a performance management process demanding that if staff did not bring in £50K funding they would be vulnerable to the equivalent of capability procedure. 

Thanks to all those that came to join the early morning picket lines, baked cakes and made banners and joined together to demand decent pay. 

5. Branch Equalities Officer, Ioanna Ioannou gave the following Congress 2016 report:

Congress agreed priorities on campaigning for more funding for HE and, in the context of both HE and FE under attack, to support all national initiatives to support HE.

UCU agreed to demonstrate alongside students under the campaign title “Save our Futures” in the autumn. Solidarity action agreed to support colleagues at London Met University. Congress also voted to support Convoys to Calais and Stand Up to Racism conference in October. 

There will be a demonstration in October outside the Conservative Party Conference and further action to pursue the HE Pay Campaign. 

The Chair thanked Ioanna for her report and also thanked members of the branch locally who had been involved in Academic Board and had helped challenge UCL in defence of staff.

6. The Chair welcomed comments and questions from the floor. 

Members raised the issue that some postgraduate students were crossing UCU picket lines as they were unaware that they could join UCU, and asked that the branch look to target postgrad students for a union recruitment drive. All tutors should be paid and the branch could develop work around anti-casualisation with PhD students that are working to contract.

The Chair advised members that UCL refuses to supply lists of staff to UCL UCU and so would not provide a list of Postgraduates. It was agreed to work with UCLU to contact all students regarding support for the strikes and explain that membership to UCU was available to postgrad students. 

Congress delegate, Nalini Vittal, added that Congress was a busy place and due to the Chair’s time management sometimes discussion had not always been possible. Regarding the strike action, there are assessments and exams even now, so some will find it hard to participate in ASOS and it will help if we could circulate some clear guidance to help members participate fully in the action.

There was a consensus that there should be an escalation of strike action and ASOS should run alongside this. 

The Higher Education Sector Conference ruled out a strike day for Clearing (seen as not effective at institutions such as UCL as places are oversubscribed). It was agreed to target some pay campaign activity on UCL Open Day on 17 June.

7. Accounts for year ending 31 August 2015: 

Ruth Dar (Treasurer) presented the accounts and noted to the meeting that expenses include salary and other expenditure associated with the full time administrator. 

Meeting agreed accounts unanimously, nem con – proposed as accurate by Ruth Dar and seconded by Alun Coker

8. Subscriptions for 2015-2016: 

Ruth Dar (RD) proposed that local subscriptions will remain the same as there is a healthy bank balance.

Meeting agreed, nem con – proposed by Sean Wallis and seconded by Philip Riebold.

9. Elections: 

Prior to the meeting members were invited to put forward nominations for all Branch Officer positions especially President, Vice President, Secretary, Equality Officer and Treasurer.

The Vice President addressed the meeting regarding elections of Officers and Executive Committee members. Meeting was advised that other members can be co-opted onto the EC during the year. 

Committee member, Alun Coker, chaired the meeting for election of officers.

i) It was noted that the following Branch Officers were standing for re-election:

Secretary: Tony Brown (ISD)
The meeting unanimously voted in favour of this candidate, nem con. Duly elected – proposed by Saladin Meckled-Garcia and seconded by Nicola Countouris.

Treasurer: Ruth Dar (ex-Library)
The meeting unanimously voted in favour of this candidate, nem con. Duly elected – proposed by Saladin Meckled-Garcia and seconded by Nicola Countouris.

President: Saladin Meckled-Garcia (Political Science)
The meeting unanimously voted in favour, nem con. Duly elected – proposed by Alun Coker and seconded by Nicola Countouris.

Co-Vice-President: Sean Wallis (English)
The meeting unanimously voted in favour, nem con. Duly elected – proposed by Saladin Meckled-Garcia and seconded by Nicola Countouris

Equalities: Ioanna Ioannou (CEGE)
The meeting unanimously voted in favour, nem con. Duly elected – proposed by Saladin Meckled-Garcia and seconded by Nicola Countouris

ii) It was noted that the following Branch Officer was not standing for re-election:
Co-Vice President: Geoff Williams (Speech, Hearing and Phonetic Sciences) 

The meeting then considered the composition of the Executive Committee (EC). The following members had pre-notified that they wished to stand for re-election (noting that Branch Officers are EC members):

iii) Current Executive Committee (EC) members standing for re-election:

  • Sue Chick (MSSL)
  • Nicola Countouris (UCL Laws)
  • Richard Pettinger (Management Studies Centre)
  • Martin Fry (Engineering)
  • Alun Coker (Centre for Amyloidosis and Acute Phase Proteins)
  • Andy Fugard (Clinical, Educational & Health Psychology)
  • Majella Lane (School of Pharmacy)
  • Helen Donoghue (Infection)

These were voted on in a block vote: re-election of existing EC. The meeting unanimously voted in favour of these candidates, nem con. Duly elected – proposed by Saladin Meckled-Garcia and seconded by Susan Michie.

iv) EC members not standing for re-election:

  • Jesse Oldershaw (ISD – IT for SLMS Life Sciences)
  • Jenny Head (Epidemiology)
  • John Nicholas (ISD)
  • Iain McKay (ISD)
  • Nalini Vittal (Centre for Prep Studies)
  • Susan Michie (Psychology)
  • Harry Stopes (Post Graduate)

The Secretary advised the meeting that some previous EC members had left UCL and that Susan Michie had finished her term on the NEC and due to pressure of work was stepping down.

The meeting acknowledged and thanked the outgoing EC members for their contributions to the branch.

v) Ex-Officio members of the EC due to UCU National Executive Committee membership:

Sean Wallis (English) – UCL UCU Immediate Past President

10. Motion for debate at UCL UCU AGM 2016:

Sean Wallis introduced a motion for debate – see Appendix 1. This centred on dates of the next strike action. There was a discussion amongst members regarding taking action to coincide with the teachers strike on 5 July and then in the autumn. Members emphasised that it was important that gender pay gap demands were prioritised and that locally pressure should be put on UCL regarding parity for women and BME staff in terms of pay. 

The motion was put to the meeting and was passed with votes overwhelmingly in favour, none opposed and 5 abstentions – proposed by Sean Wallis and seconded by Nalini Vittal.

The chair thanked members for attending and closed the meeting.

Appendix 1. Motion for debate at 2016 AGM

Motion for debate on current national HE pay campaign

UCL UCU notes:

  • the strikes on 25 and 26 May had a demonstrative impact in putting our pay campaign, and the issues of the gender pay gap and casualisation, onto the national agenda
  • on Tuesday 5 July the NUT in England plan to be on strike, and if the strike goes ahead there will be big demonstrations and rallies in most towns and cities
  • this date provides an opportunity for the UCU to position our HE pay campaign as part of high-profile joint action on 5 July to defend education and the staff who deliver it, from nursery and primary schools up to university level
  • this would permit branches to hold joint rallies and protests with the NUT, and UCU officers, nationally and locally, can speak jointly with the NUT at local and regional events
  • such action can highlight the fight to defend pay, conditions and education from ‘Cradle to Grave’, grab media headlines and build momentum for more possible joint action with the NUT in the autumn term.

UCL UCU resolves:

  • that our locally-nominated strike day will be on 5 July in co-ordination with strikes by teachers in England (NUT)
  • to call on sister HE branches to do likewise, except where they have already nominated other dates
  • to call on UCU Higher Education Committee (HEC) to work closely with the NUT to co-ordinate action, protests and rallies in every area where UCU branches choose to take action on 5 July.

In addition, UCL UCU calls for:

  • HEC to organise a national day of protest by UCU members on 18 August (Clearing Day) with demonstrations and meetings on campuses and or regional events, alongside other campus unions and NUS where possible
  • an outline programme of further industrial action for the Autumn to be prepared by HEC and announced as soon as possible to the membership.

UCL UCU supports:

  • an escalating programme of action in the Autumn, including strike action that escalates from an initial 1 day strike in October (week 3), to 2 days (week 4), 3 days (week 5), and step up to 4 and then 5 days of strike action – and a setting and marking boycott integrated into this escalation strategy
  • the decision of UCU Congress that any punitive deductions should be met with an increased escalation of strike action at both a local and national level.

In line with such a programme of action, we call on the HEC to initiate a series of regional briefings as early as practicable next term, and for a speaking tour by national officers and NEC members, to maximise support for this plan of industrial action.

UCL UCU further believes it is crucial that alongside the 5% pay demand, the issues of the gender pay gap and the fight against casualisation remain central to the union’s agitational materials, and congratulate the national union for announcing plans for a joint UCU/NUS protest in the autumn term.

*ENDS*