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Current NEC members would have kept voting rights under leaked proposal
A proposal that would have seen members of the University and College Union’s decision-making body who were ousted in membership elections last month cling to their seats has been thrown out before it could be voted on.
Worried members had called the move "a coup" as well as “incredibly problematic and undemocratic”. The motion, put forward by the UCU Women Members’ Standing Committee and seen by Research Professional News, called on the National Executive Committee to allow current members to keep their seats until the union’s annual congress has been held, so that members have continuity during the coronavirus pandemic.
But UCU president Douglas Chalmers ruled the motion “out of order” as it was “fundamentally and absolutely undemocratic” and so it will not go before the NEC in a 1 May meeting. Chalmers said the motion seemed to be “a total misunderstanding” of the union’s rules around membership of the NEC. “If we can’t be democratic within the union movement then who can we depend on?” he told Research Professional News.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said she was “glad” the motion had been ruled out of order. “I think it’s not really up for debate that the motion if it had passed would not have been in the best interests of democracy” for the union, Grady said.
But Vicky Blake, incoming president-elect and co-signatory for the proposal, said there had been confusion and it was “disappointing to see it overplayed”. “WMSC had already indicated to the president that it intended to withdraw the problematic clauses, which were drafted in haste and did not correctly represent the committee’s view. This was a simple case of confusion not conspiracy and it’s disappointing to see it overplayed in this way,” she said.
Congress was due to take place on 27-29 May but has been put on hold due to the coronavirus. However, it had already been decided that incoming NEC members would take their seats from May. Elections for a new cohort of NEC members took place in February and March, resulting in losses for the UCU Left group.
The proposal suggests that the “democratic principles of our union are under threat” and postponing congress “may hinder all equality committees’ essential work”.
As a result, the proposal says UCU members “will be best served if the NEC is extended to include current and incoming elected members” with full voting rights until the 2020 congress takes place. If the proposal had been passed at an NEC meeting on 1 May, it would have meant both newly elected NEC members and those who lost their seats in the membership elections would have been able to vote on motions.
Members would also have been able to attend congress with full voting rights. But a separate UCU document explains members of the NEC who have been voted out can only attend congress as observers.
Incoming NEC members do not take up their seats until the end of May and so could not have voted on the proposal during the 1 May meeting. An incoming NEC member told Research Professional News the proposal was “incredibly problematic and undemocratic” for the union. “It’s like the current NEC members are imposing themselves on the next NEC cycle”, they said, adding there was a “serious question of democratic deficit and transparency” raised by the motion.
On Twitter, fellow incoming NEC member Claire Marris said the proposal represented a “coup” of the decision-making group, allowing those who lost seats to “keep their control” of the UCU’s “most powerful committees”.