Speech by UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt
29 May 2008
Speech to UCU Congress, 28 May 2008
Good morning Congress.
Sally Hunt, general secretary.
Let me first of all acknowledge what I know many of you here feel - that while UCU has had a good year, we can and must do better still.
The certainty and comfort provided by old affiliations has been replaced by the need to work together and to get to know each other better.
So the image of the year for me was to see so many HE members out on the picket lines providing support to FE colleagues on 24 April.
That is what UCU is about.
By all means let's celebrate the differences. But let's also note that our best work this year has come when we look beyond the labels of FE and HE, AUT and NATFHE and so on and focus on what unites us.
The fruits of this work of the National Executive Committee are there to see.
Our union is growing for the first time since merger.
We are at the forefront of campaigns to defend education from privatisation and the ravages of the market.
We have built enduring alliances with teachers and students which will be the foundation for our future struggle to redefine what education means, and what it is for.
We have set out a new campaigning agenda in FE aimed at achieving our long-standing goal of improved pay AND improved status.
We have defended the right of HE members to take action when they - NOT the employers - choose and of the UCU to represent the distinct interests of the academic team at the bargaining table.
But our achievements must not blind us to the challenges that lay ahead.
The National Executive has spent considerable time this year discussing two key challenges.
The first is provided by the Waddington report which made it clear what members priorities are in the workplace.
Waddington also raised major issues around:
the number of reps we have;
the variability of our recruitment policies at branch level,
How effectively we support branch officers;
At the same time the NEC considered a report on current union membership in every college and university.
It showed there are far too many non-members in both further and higher education - some 220,000 non-members in fact.
That many of these staff are hourly paid or fixed term and victims of the hire and fire culture which pervades our professions means that those who need us most are currently those least likely to choose to join us.
A sobering thought.
But this is a challenge that our union can and is rising to.
In response the NEC overwhelmingly passed the draft National Organising Plan.
Colleagues, the Plan seeks to frame the union's future strategy around the need to deliver for members at the workplace and beyond.
It makes the argument that growth in membership will come from confidence and confidence will come from industrial and political success.
It is another example this year of NEC colleagues from different traditions working together to find new solutions to our problems, rather than fixating on the past.
But, let me be clear. A National Organising Plan is for life, not just for Congress.
We have to leave Manchester this week and get started on the national and regional planning for the year ahead.
To utilise the new spirit of collaboration which the NOP embodies at every level.
To expand our training of officers and reps
To deliver against the bargaining objectives we set this week
To enable branches to become the local voice of our professions.
We CAN do it Congress.
And we must do it.
Because the landscape within which our members work is changing dramatically.
Further major reforms of FE and HE to make them increasingly demand led, employer dominated and market driven are underway.
The world will not wait for UCU to get its act together.
One statistic tells the story better than I ever could.
While public expenditure on post-16 education has risen 6% in ten years, private spending has gone up 80%.
With 30% of the system now privately funded, the market is taking over in front of our very eyes.
Our system, once the envy of the world, is now the most privatised in Europe.
It is easy to feel overwhelmed by these trends, to say that nothing can be done.
Yet our campaigning on ESOL, on ELQs, and against INTO and their fellow privateers shows that the politics of the market can be challenged.
And the collapse of Carter and Carter, the crisis in private provision of prison education show that privatisation is far from irreversible.
Since election, I have emphasised again and again that the defence of our profession will be a priority for me in UCU.
And our campaigning work around challenging the market is a defining moment in that defence.
Members want the union to put forward an alternate vision of education, to impress our values on the minds of the public.
The education system we want is one:
where every student can develop as an individual.
Where colleges and universities are communities of learning not simply upmarket training schemes
Where education is recognised to be about personal growth as well as personal achievement.
Where people can use study to change direction in their lives.
Congress, you won't create a system like this by increasing the financial burden on students and learners.
And that is why UCU will challenge any attempt to increase the cap on university fees or increase costs to college learners.
And Congress, you won't create a system like this by over working and under paying the life changers at the heart of education - the staff.
So this year we will seek to lead a debate about what education is for.
And we will do so through the "our schools, our colleges, our universities" campaign....
Building this strategic alliance with colleagues from the National Union of Teachers and also with the National Union of Students into a powerful coalition to challenge the market in education.
Our continuing work with NUT is a fitting tribute to Steve Sinnott who tragically died earlier this year.
Steve was a man with a passion for teaching and learning, with independent and generous spirit, and a deep commitment to the enduring values of the labour movement.
His belief that education can develop the hidden talents of everyone is at the heart of where you and I stand as we take this work forwards.
This week we are unveiling joint work with NUT on the 14-19 agenda, while in the weeks ahead we will be launching a joint agreement on membership, campaigning and sharing resources.
We represent different parts of the education jigsaw but UCU and NUT recognise that unions in this sector must work better together or see government divide and rule.
Congress, education is global. As is the fight against privatisation and the market. As the largest tertiary union in the world, UCU has a unique responsibility to speak out against the oppression of educators.
Freedom of thought and the freedom to learn are rights that are at the heart of democratic civil society.
As I have noted before, it is no surprise then that those who wish to oppress their citizens often single educators out for the harshest treatment.
Our international obligation is to provide meaningful solidarity wherever we can;
whether to teachers in Columbia in fear of their lives;
Lecturers in Zimbabwe warned to shut up or face the consequences; or
Students and staff in Palestine unable to get through checkpoints in order to continue study
I am convinced that our members want us to play this role.
But we must not forget that our credibility abroad derives in large part from our ability to represent members effectively at home.
Congress, we meet at a time of great change but I do believe our union can rise to the challenge.
Our underlying strength will be demonstrated by the vibrancy of our debates; by the comradeship we show each other and by our willingness to take the debate about education forwards.
Away from the Conference hall, as the Waddington report showed, our members will judge us by perhaps less lofty criteria.
They want us to make a difference.
To shift the balance of power in the workplace.
To make the case for education.
To defend our profession.
Together, let's make that vision a reality.
Sally Hunt, general secretary.
Let me first of all acknowledge what I know many of you here feel - that while UCU has had a good year, we can and must do better still.
The certainty and comfort provided by old affiliations has been replaced by the need to work together and to get to know each other better.
So the image of the year for me was to see so many HE members out on the picket lines providing support to FE colleagues on 24 April.
That is what UCU is about.
By all means let's celebrate the differences. But let's also note that our best work this year has come when we look beyond the labels of FE and HE, AUT and NATFHE and so on and focus on what unites us.
The fruits of this work of the National Executive Committee are there to see.
Our union is growing for the first time since merger.
We are at the forefront of campaigns to defend education from privatisation and the ravages of the market.
We have built enduring alliances with teachers and students which will be the foundation for our future struggle to redefine what education means, and what it is for.
We have set out a new campaigning agenda in FE aimed at achieving our long-standing goal of improved pay AND improved status.
We have defended the right of HE members to take action when they - NOT the employers - choose and of the UCU to represent the distinct interests of the academic team at the bargaining table.
But our achievements must not blind us to the challenges that lay ahead.
The National Executive has spent considerable time this year discussing two key challenges.
The first is provided by the Waddington report which made it clear what members priorities are in the workplace.
Waddington also raised major issues around:
the number of reps we have;
the variability of our recruitment policies at branch level,
How effectively we support branch officers;
At the same time the NEC considered a report on current union membership in every college and university.
It showed there are far too many non-members in both further and higher education - some 220,000 non-members in fact.
That many of these staff are hourly paid or fixed term and victims of the hire and fire culture which pervades our professions means that those who need us most are currently those least likely to choose to join us.
A sobering thought.
But this is a challenge that our union can and is rising to.
In response the NEC overwhelmingly passed the draft National Organising Plan.
Colleagues, the Plan seeks to frame the union's future strategy around the need to deliver for members at the workplace and beyond.
It makes the argument that growth in membership will come from confidence and confidence will come from industrial and political success.
It is another example this year of NEC colleagues from different traditions working together to find new solutions to our problems, rather than fixating on the past.
But, let me be clear. A National Organising Plan is for life, not just for Congress.
We have to leave Manchester this week and get started on the national and regional planning for the year ahead.
To utilise the new spirit of collaboration which the NOP embodies at every level.
To expand our training of officers and reps
To deliver against the bargaining objectives we set this week
To enable branches to become the local voice of our professions.
We CAN do it Congress.
And we must do it.
Because the landscape within which our members work is changing dramatically.
Further major reforms of FE and HE to make them increasingly demand led, employer dominated and market driven are underway.
The world will not wait for UCU to get its act together.
One statistic tells the story better than I ever could.
While public expenditure on post-16 education has risen 6% in ten years, private spending has gone up 80%.
With 30% of the system now privately funded, the market is taking over in front of our very eyes.
Our system, once the envy of the world, is now the most privatised in Europe.
It is easy to feel overwhelmed by these trends, to say that nothing can be done.
Yet our campaigning on ESOL, on ELQs, and against INTO and their fellow privateers shows that the politics of the market can be challenged.
And the collapse of Carter and Carter, the crisis in private provision of prison education show that privatisation is far from irreversible.
Since election, I have emphasised again and again that the defence of our profession will be a priority for me in UCU.
And our campaigning work around challenging the market is a defining moment in that defence.
Members want the union to put forward an alternate vision of education, to impress our values on the minds of the public.
The education system we want is one:
where every student can develop as an individual.
Where colleges and universities are communities of learning not simply upmarket training schemes
Where education is recognised to be about personal growth as well as personal achievement.
Where people can use study to change direction in their lives.
Congress, you won't create a system like this by increasing the financial burden on students and learners.
And that is why UCU will challenge any attempt to increase the cap on university fees or increase costs to college learners.
And Congress, you won't create a system like this by over working and under paying the life changers at the heart of education - the staff.
So this year we will seek to lead a debate about what education is for.
And we will do so through the "our schools, our colleges, our universities" campaign....
Building this strategic alliance with colleagues from the National Union of Teachers and also with the National Union of Students into a powerful coalition to challenge the market in education.
Our continuing work with NUT is a fitting tribute to Steve Sinnott who tragically died earlier this year.
Steve was a man with a passion for teaching and learning, with independent and generous spirit, and a deep commitment to the enduring values of the labour movement.
His belief that education can develop the hidden talents of everyone is at the heart of where you and I stand as we take this work forwards.
This week we are unveiling joint work with NUT on the 14-19 agenda, while in the weeks ahead we will be launching a joint agreement on membership, campaigning and sharing resources.
We represent different parts of the education jigsaw but UCU and NUT recognise that unions in this sector must work better together or see government divide and rule.
Congress, education is global. As is the fight against privatisation and the market. As the largest tertiary union in the world, UCU has a unique responsibility to speak out against the oppression of educators.
Freedom of thought and the freedom to learn are rights that are at the heart of democratic civil society.
As I have noted before, it is no surprise then that those who wish to oppress their citizens often single educators out for the harshest treatment.
Our international obligation is to provide meaningful solidarity wherever we can;
whether to teachers in Columbia in fear of their lives;
Lecturers in Zimbabwe warned to shut up or face the consequences; or
Students and staff in Palestine unable to get through checkpoints in order to continue study
I am convinced that our members want us to play this role.
But we must not forget that our credibility abroad derives in large part from our ability to represent members effectively at home.
Congress, we meet at a time of great change but I do believe our union can rise to the challenge.
Our underlying strength will be demonstrated by the vibrancy of our debates; by the comradeship we show each other and by our willingness to take the debate about education forwards.
Away from the Conference hall, as the Waddington report showed, our members will judge us by perhaps less lofty criteria.
They want us to make a difference.
To shift the balance of power in the workplace.
To make the case for education.
To defend our profession.
Together, let's make that vision a reality.
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