Roddy Slorach (Imperial College London)

Roddy Slorach (Imperial College London) 

Election address 

I work as Senior Disability Advisor at Imperial College London and am one of several academic-related staff on our branch committee. I was re-elected as Branch Secretary at this year's AGM and have helped build our reps' network over the years.   

I've taken an active interest in disability issues for many years, have published a book on the history and politics of disability and was previously active on the UCU Disabled Members Standing Committee. As one of the Health and Safety reps at Imperial, I have worked to hold our management to account, particularly on its COVID policies.   

Over the last five years, I have worked with activists in other branches to build the UCU Solidarity Movement - a vital network for building support for disputes across UCU which also provides an important forum for grassroots discussion.  

As a member of UCU Left, I want to build a member-led union that campaigns for a free public higher education system. The HE funding crisis is rooted in the marketisation of education. Escalating redundancies across our universities makes the revival of our "Four Fights" campaign an urgent necessity.   

I am proud of UCU's work in promoting equality. The growth of the far right in Britain demands that we take initiatives to challenge racism on campus and more widely, and to defend BAME staff and students. I stand for everyone's right to choose their gender identity and to have that identity respected.   

I have over the last year helped to strengthen links between staff and students at Imperial opposed to Israel's genocidal war on the Palestinians. Our union must defend freedom of speech and hold our employers and government to account for their links with Israel.   

UCU members did not vote Labour for more war, for bullying and harassing disabled people into work or for more austerity cuts. When it comes to redundancies too, disabled staff are often the hardest hit. Life under Labour is going to get harder - unless we fight for more. The revival of our "Four Fights" campaign is a vital first step in countering the growing fragmentation of the sector - and a prerequisite for addressing the continuing disability pay gap.   

As disability rep I will fight for a national executive which respects our democratic structures and provides effective leadership. I will campaign to strengthen the Equality Act by including disability in measurable equality objectives, for fully funded EHCPs and for an end to Labour austerity.  Now more than ever we must stand up for education as a public good and for a fully funded post-16 education sector.   

Please also vote for Rhiannon Lockley as Vice President and Deepa Govindarajan Driver as Treasurer.