Andrew Feeney (Northumbria University)

post-92

Election address

I have been an active trade unionist and workers' representative in various countries, including Spain and Colombia. I am now a senior lecturer in linguistics at Northumbria University, and Vice Chair of Northumbria UCU. I was last on the NEC in 2006 when Northumbria won a local dispute over redundancies and privatisation. Nearly 15 years later, Northumbria are again in dispute and are the first branch of any union in the country to win a ballot for action over COVID-19 issues. As an elected officer of the branch since 2000, I would bring to the NEC my experience of these disputes and organising a strong branch focused on members' priorities. I have undertaken a wide range of union duties, including representing individual members, negotiating policies, attending regional meetings and national congress, and helping lead and strengthen the Branch, as part of the wider collective.

The recent conduct of many VCs in the health crisis has been lamentable but not surprising. These would-be CEOs have been craven in their abject failure to defend academic values. From tuition fees to the REF and TEF, they have capitulated to successive governments and have embraced the idea of Universities as little more than degree retail outlets; they persist in their mission to de-professionalise our members, undermining autonomy and expertise. Members, non-members, students and the public need to know that UCU is the true champion of quality in education when it demands better resources and fair workloads for all its members. To achieve these outcomes, it is vital that we retain national bargaining and protect the national contract in post 92 institutions.

In order to resist attacks on our rights at work, unity and solidarity must permeate UCU. We will only win the challenges ahead if we learn the lessons from past disputes and ensure we retain a membership that is engaged and united, and an NEC focused on the concerns that matter to our members. This must include a more creative use of tactics in the fights ahead; we cannot just rely on assessment bans and sporadic strike days.

We must also ensure that the NEC focusses on our members' interests, not narrow political agendas. I am asking for your support to enable me to ensure that UCU thrives as a member-led, fighting union that, crucially, is united. I will use my position to ensure the attention of the NEC is firmly directed on what I see as the priorities of the union:

• enhancing our progressive equality agenda
• defending the values of higher education and resisting commercialisation 
• protecting national bargaining
• building an active membership at branch, regional and national level
• defending members from bullying, micro-management and the erosion of terms and conditions