Sally Pellow (University of Reading)

Woman

Election address

Union activity:

·       Branch Committee member since 2014

·       Branch Secretary since 2015

·       Attended Congress in 2017 and 2018

·       Regional Treasurer (South) 2017/18

·       Heavily involved in the local campaign at Reading against restructuring, including the organisation of a Vote of No Confidence in our then Vice-Chancellor.

·       Heavily involved in the GTVO campaign for the USS strike, resulting in Reading having the seventh highest percentage turnout in the country at 69.3%.

·       In both of the above campaigns, I ran the communications for the branch, and acted as first point of contact to members on campaign issues. I have a lot of experience in balancing the diverse views that are held across our membership base.

·       I am on the JNC at Reading, and one of the group negotiating on our current claim against management. I have been involved in a number of negotiations and in fighting restructurings.

·       I am not affiliated to any group across the Union.

·       I joined the Liberal Democrats because of their opposition to Brexit.

I am a senior systems administrator at the University of Reading - an academic related role. This means I meet UCU members daily in all grades and disciplines, and I hear about the issues that concern everyone.

Members are keen to be involved in areas that affect them directly, and are worried about precarious contracts, equality and welfare, as well as fair pay and benefits. Most of the members at Reading — and, I believe, at many other universities — would not prioritise many of the broader issues that are raised and discussed at Congress, at the Special Conferences and at NEC. Membership subscriptions should be spent on campaigning on the areas that members care about. I strongly disagree with the calling of special meetings and the creation of additional committees, at massive cost to the Union, especially where these are part of motions raised at short notice and where there has been no opportunity to canvas the wider membership. If we are spending members' subscriptions, we need to be accountable to them.

If you elect me to NEC, I will push hard for you to be given a full opportunity to be consulted on all motions, including late motions, raised for discussion by representatives and delegates; that the costs of any proposed special committees, meetings, or conferences are made explicitly clear to ail before these costs can be approved; and that the views of all members are represented fairly and proportionally.

I believe in the democracy of this Union and want to make sure that all voices are heard, not just those which are loudest. I will fight to keep the focus on matters which affect members directly.