UCU Congress censures Jo Grady: For a fighting, rank-and-file broad left!

By ISA members in UCU

Below is an abridged article orginally published on socialistalternative.info

UCU’S ANNUAL congress took place at the end of May in Glasgow, at a crucial time for the union. The cost of living crisis has been affecting everyone, including education workers. In universities, the Marking and Assessment Boycott on pay and conditions has been underway for almost two months and is having an effect, potentially delaying student graduations at several institutions. In Further Education, there have been localised strikes on pay at many colleges.

Congress was dominated however by criticism of General Secretary Jo Grady. Multiple Higher Education branches submitted motions critical of Grady, ranging from censure to no confidence. This was a response to her actions in the Higher Education pay and conditions and USS disputes, where she repeatedly overturned strike strategy in favour of her own plans.

International Socialist Alternative members in UCU believe it was right to bring these motions in an attempt to hold UCU’s only full-time elected officer to account. We have explained that the General Secretary has been an obstacle to our union, through her bypass- ing of lay democratic structures such as the Higher Education Executive and our elected negotiators, and by unilaterally cancelling strike days. It is not an exaggeration to say that without these interventions, significantly more could have been achieved in the pay and conditions dispute.

Bureaucracy blocking debate

The debate over these motions was tense and ill tempered. Before the debate began, delegates were told that even discussing these motions created a legal risk for UCU because they represented an attack on the General Secretary’s employment rights. Outgoing President Janet Farrar made several speeches from the chair in defence of the GS, and during the debate took exception to comments made by one Socialist Alternative member, perceiving them to be overly critical of President-Elect Justine Mercer. Farrar temporarily expelled our comrade from the Congress, preventing them from voting. This could have been an opportunity to discuss what went wrong and how the union can function more effectively. Instead, it was clear that several national officers were focused only on minimising and dismissing delegates’ criticisms. This was underlined by the General Secretary herself, who used her right of reply to speak for over 15 minutes and dismissed the criticism as “bullying”.

The motion of censure criticising the General Secretary’s actions passed, with 155 votes in favour and 117 against (21 abstentions). However, the motion of no confidence fell, with 119 votes in favour (plus our expelled delegate!), 146 votes against, and 34 abstentions.

Understandably, some delegates felt they simply could not vote to get rid of a General Secretary in the middle of such a huge dispute. We sympathise with this perspective. However, recent disputes have demonstrated that we are not just struggling against the employers, but also against our own leadership.

Building

UCU in FE and HE

Aside from these controversies, the Congress was extremely productive. In the Higher Education conference, delegates passed a policy to better support the Marking and Assessment Boycott, which is progressing locally despite limited national support. There was a renewed commitment to campaigning against outsourcing and to unionise outsourced staff.

In the Further Education Conference, important decisions were taken to build on the localised strike action on pay in colleges like Kirklees, Leeds, Bradford and Manchester. UCU will hold a national disaggregated ballot on pay, to be launched in September. This provides an opportunity to generalise the struggle on pay in FE, and for