Eurig Scandrett

Eurig Scandrett, Queen Margaret University

Election address

Senior Lecturer, Sociology, Queen Margaret University

There is a crisis in Scottish Higher Education: a business model based on excessive workloads and casualisation; unaccountable governance, managerialism and de-professionalisation; underfunded teaching, research and scholarship leading to increased privatisation; cuts to jobs, departments and programmes.

UCU is at the forefront of the fight against the crisis.

I have been part of the leadership of QMU branch for nearly twenty years, during which time

• I negotiated recognition for UCU,
• branch membership doubled,
• we prevented compulsory redundancies,
• we reversed 100% deductions for MAB,
• carried out workload inspections,
• negotiated for workforce planning as a control measure against workplace stress,
• and represented dozens of UCU members.

I have been Branch President, Vice President, Health and Safety Representative, Workload Representative, Sustainability Representative, Negotiator and Caseworker.

In UCU Scotland have been Vice-President, Scottish Executive and Congress Business Committee member, active in the education committee, the post-92 working group and the health and safety reps network. I participated in the Transforming UCU course and Jane McAlevey's Organising for Power. I represented UCU Scotland on the Just Transition Partnership from its inception and have a long-standing involvement with Scottish Hazards campaign. With over 30 years of experience as an activist in the environmental and peace movements and international solidarity, I led a trade union delegation to Bhopal in solidarity with the survivors of the industrial disaster, and I am active in the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign. I am a pro-feminist man and support women's sex-based rights. I am a member of the Jimmy Reid Foundation project board. I also sing bass in a political choir, which is an asset on the picket line!

I am not part of any UCU faction.

We need a different model for HE in Scotland, one based on cooperation and collegiality, strong working conditions and accountable governance, academic freedom and social responsibility, critical thought and active engagement, and as partners in the just transition to the post-fossil economy. With union-organised university workers in the leadership, we can build that vision.