Simon Courtenage (University of Westminster)

Principal Lecturer, School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Westminster

Election address

I am a principal lecturer in Computing at the University of Westminster, where I have taught for the last 25 years. 

Soon after I joined my university in 2000, I joined the union, when it was NATFHE.  I  soon became branch secretary, and then branch chair.  I have been membership secretary, communications officer, and treasurer.  I have helped members facing redundancy and disciplinary investigations.  I have been active in the governance of my university, as a staff governor on our governing body and as a staff representative on our Academic Council, which oversees academic policy.  In both cases, I represented our members' interests to our Vice-Chancellor, our senior management, and our governors, often as a lone voice. 

I have supported our union and our members in my university, and now I want to do the same nationally, which is why I am putting myself forward for a position on the National Executive Committee. 

As someone who has worked in a post-92 university for so long, I have seen the crisis in post-16 education close up.  We have fought hard against attacks to our jobs, our national contract and agreements, our pensions, our workloads, and our pay.  I have also studied and worked in pre-92 universities (UCL and KCL) as a PGR and researcher.  Currently, I am studying as a PGR at University of Warwick.  So I know what life is like on both sides of 1992. 

Employers will try to divide us locally, for example, with "fire-and-rehire" attacks on contracts and TPS membership.  We must unite UK-wide and the union needs to throw its whole weight, as a member-led, member-mobilising union, behind each fighting branch so that employers know they cannot pick us off one by one.  I will do all I can on NEC to make this happen. 

I became a member of a trade union because I wanted to help myself and my colleagues have power over our working lives.  But this is just one tiny part of the wider struggle for human rights, which, in our time, takes in the fight against genocide in Gaza, as well as for transgender rights.  As a member of NEC, I will continue to campaign for the rights of Palestinians and for equality, including migrant and LGBTQ+ rights, because I believe that as a trade union, we need to give our support and our strength wherever rights, and people, are in danger. 

I am a member of UCU Left, and I urge you to vote for other UCU Left candidates standing in these elections, especially our two fantastic VP candidates: Regi Pilling for VP Further Education and Sean Wallis for VP Higher Education. 

Thank you for your vote.