Fury at betrayal of UCU conference decisions

Lecturers in the UCU union are furious after their union leadership last week overturned many democratic decisions taken at their annual congress last month.

UCU congress delegates rejected plans from general secretary Sally Hunt to change the union’s structures.

They voted for a motion that criticised her use of surveys to derail struggle and sidestep debate.

At the union’s national executive committee (NEC) last week Hunt said the motion was unworkable. The NEC voted to support her, effectively overturning the vote at congress.

The NEC also voted to set up a commission to look at union democracy—even though Congress voted to elect a commission from amongst delegates. The new commission would be made up of supporters of Hunt.

Members of the UCU Left, which Socialist Worker Party members are part of, and others voted against the moves.

For more information see the UCU Left website

Lecturers at Lambeth College in south London were set to strike on Friday of this week. They plan to walk out for an hour from 9am over lesson observations.