Presidents,

Congress,
 
Sally Hunt, general secretary.

________________________________

It has been one hell of a year…….

……………and I would like to start by saying thank you to our members…..

…..and indeed our long suffering staff ……for their strong support.

With your help, our first twelve months has seen the new union make its mark:

Congress:
•	We have defended ESOL students and staff
•	Fought privatisation in HE and FE;
•	Pressed employers to meet previous commitments to pay modernisation
•	And we’ve Tackled government over their “Extremism on campus” proposals
•	We’ve Stood up for the future of science at Reading and beyond
•	Launched a new Life Changers campaign promoting our members’ work to the public
•	We’ve Defended staff and students at Bath and beyond against the BNP
•	We’ve Merged former AUT and NATFHE branches to create united branches 
•	Embedded DAN - our Developing Activist Network which finds the delegates and union officers of the future 
•	 We’veIncreased our public affairs lobbying at Westminster and enhanced our support for UCU members in the devolved governments too.

We have done all that my friends, and not always – it has to be said - under the easiest of circumstances

But, today…..the first day of our first congress is a day to really look forward not back.

I hope today…….
……is the day……….

………….that we really begin to build a new union.

So I want to talk about the future - about what I believe UCU can be.

And after the last year, I don’t think we have a moment to lose, do you?
We meet in a political and industrial environment as challenging in its way as any faced by our predecessors.

Our new union needs new strategies to meet these challenges because our new union faces a new set of problems.

This government increasingly sees us as instruments of economic policy………and ignores the wider benefits to society that universities and colleges provide. 

They intervene in the curriculum in the name of quality;

They direct funding towards some and away from others in the name of the so called skills revolution

They choose to protect some subject areas while throwing others to the wolves; 

Congress, 
There has never been greater government interference in our professional lives than today.

And yet while government wishes to increase its control it wishes to do so by contributing progressively less from the public purse……..

That is why students now pay top up fees in our universities.

That is why adult learners are paying progressively more for a second chance. 

And that is why we face the beginnings of privatisation in both sectors.

Their mantra is control more; yet spend less…….

I think our members deserve better.

Still worse is the inability of government to meet its own policy objectives, to join up the dots.  

Even where the policy is right, the end result so often is wrong…..

Take ESOL where social cohesion is championed, but access to courses restricted.

Crazy.

Take health where community care is prioritised, yet our members, who train our nurses are made redundant to fund NHS deficits.

Shameful.

Take science where despite warm words from ministers we are still shutting labs here almost as fast as they are building them in China.

Appalling.

And take lifelong learning - at the heart of government’s agenda so they say…..
……yet the latest cuts have seen a 17% reduction in adult learners last year.

This is not an education policy; it is a catalogue of misaligned objectives….
….each with unintended…..
……but entirely predictable consequences.

On the ground, the reality of government policy for too many of our members is job insecurity, increased casualisation and higher workloads.

We may have a new union Congress….
……but some things stay the same.

Our employers, as ever, take their cue from their political masters.

In both sectors our challenge is to secure meaningful bargaining; and our job is to protect our members whatever the difficulties.

So this week I have a message for Harlow College and others. 

You do not improve quality by handing out redundancy notices to your staff…….

The members there have my…..and I am sure – your - full support.

But Congress, support is not enough.
Our new union must challenge these policies with an alternative vision.  

Let me tell you where I stand.

I believe that post-16 education is central to the health not just of the economy but of our wider society.

I believe in the power of education to change lives – I see our members do it every day……..
……..And I will never stop arguing that if we give people genuine access to education, they will do extraordinary things.
_____________
That’s why I have helped to launch the Life Changers campaign. Go and see the stand in your lunch break.

It celebrates staff and students who have made a difference and it showcases our values in a way that the public can understand.

Like our campaign to save ESOL courses it places the union firmly on the side of the learners and promotes education as something worth fighting to protect……

That’s why I am so delighted that Joe Baden of the Open Book project and Dick Hobbs of the LSE chosen by their peers to win our two Life Changers grants…..

…….. have agreed to be ambassadors for the union’s campaign.

Both are relentless advocates of the possibilities provided by further and higher education….both are champions of talent so often hidden from view.

Both embody everything that this union is about, and I am grateful for their help.

There are many lessons from this but mine is that we have a lot to be proud of and we should shout louder than we do.  

With your help I intend to do just that.

The celebration for Life Changers was also the last formal event I attended with Paul Mackney as my fellow joint general secretary.

I know he enjoyed seeing our magnificent members in the spotlight as much as I did….

……..especially the honouring of those ESOL staff he has fought so hard to defend in recent months.

I hope this week congress will acknowledge Paul’s unique contribution - to NATFHE of course - but also to the creation of our new union.

We have had our disagreements – sometimes very public - but he has been a good friend and colleague to me and a fine servant to our members.  

On behalf of us all, thank you Paul.

……….
Congress, our public campaigns must place the union at the heart of the debate about what education is for, but we have more to do than that.

Our members want their new union to be better at ground level too.

This means:

providing effective individual representation when members need it; 

It means….improving the support we provide to our hard pressed branches …

It means… making sure our staff are on the front line supporting members…

It means us making choices about how we use our members’ money…

And congress we have to get this right…

Because if Life Changers and the ESOL campaign represent the face we show the public; how we deal with an individual’s problem will determine our reputation among our members themselves.

Our new union must also meet enormous challenges in how we negotiate for our members….

…..and we must address a new agenda from the new generation of staff.

Pay remains a seminal issue – a reference point for the respect with which we are held in society…..

……….and we need to press both HE and FE employers for a greater share of income to be spent on staff.

Yet I was struck at a recent training session for new activists by how important other issues were to them ……

These new members are looking to the new union to do more on work life balance, and on job quality……… 

……….But most of all on job security.
Congress our members have waited long enough.

And, during the election campaign I argued that we needed a new approach to tackle this problem at its source – with the funding bodies. …..

I intend to keep this promise.   HEFCE, LSC and the rest must make public money conditional on providing acceptable working conditions, including job security.

Congress a new approach for a new union .

And there is a wider point here.

You and I have criticised government and the employers for their lack of strategic vision.

Yet, we will not be able to challenge this unless we are prepared to take our own advice.

Congress a new union needs new thinking.

I counted forty five different motions and amendments on our agenda this week which call for campaigns of one kind or another.

I can pretend that we can do them all, but with limited resources we will surely end up spread far too thinly.  

Is that really a good use of your and your members’ subscriptions?

I don’t think so.  

To meet the future head on we have to prioritise.  

And the best way to do this is to focus on what our members actually want us to do.

Members tell me that what they want is:

Better representation when they have a problem
Credible advocacy on behalf of their professional interests; and Effective negotiations to improve conditions

It doesn’t seem much to ask….

…..and that is what I think we should do.  

How we do it is the key question.  

Which brings me back to this week’s agenda.  My views are well known.

For example, personally I simply do not believe that the majority of our members support an academic boycott of Israel or that they believe it should be our major priority.

Most want us to retain dialogue with trade unionists on all sides – to talk to all sides,  not just those we agree with.

It’s the same approach we take in Zimbabwe.
It’s the same approach we take in Colombia……
And it’s the approach I think we should take here.

The same goes for motions which seek to fundamentally alter the rules voted for by members in overwhelming numbers in the merger ballot.  

Seeking to turn the clock back either to the good old days in AUT or NATFHE is not what our members voted for.

I hope that Congress gives the new rulebook a chance before we seek to make fundamental changes to what our members agreed.

That is my view, others may disagree and that is what this Congress is all about.
But we in this room – including me - don’t have the monopoly on wisdom…...  
We know that a lot of the best ideas come from our branches and from our members and I think we should take advantage of that.
My intention therefore is to 
…………seek members’ views on what they think we do well,  and  more importantly, what they would like us to do better
…………..to get views from  all 650 branches on what support they need from our regional and head offices
………….to ask UCU staff their views,  their ideas for how we provide a better service……
Members.
Branches.
Staff.
Everybody has a stake in building our new union and I hope all will play their part as we put new strategies in place to meet the challenges……...

This is an exciting time Congress. 
But to really solve our problems….
To really create a new union that members can be proud of, 
We will all – whatever our politics or priorities – 
have to put our heads together to do even better for members. 
We need to leave the name calling and political infighting behind and move forwards.
So I ask all of you – wherever you cast your vote - to join me in accepting shared responsibility for our future together.
We have the opportunity to create a union fit for the twenty first century. 

Built from NATFHE and AUT of course but with its own recognisable new character…..

Taking pride in the excellence of our service when individual members need help.

Committed to improving conditions at work and; 

……….underpinning everything

Being the voice for those who see education as something worthwhile in itself.

Congress, it’s the chance of a lifetime.

Together, lets grab it with both hands.