From Dyfrig Jones

UCU NEC election 2023 — Voting Recommendations

From Dyfrig’s Medium blog: here

This meant to be a short blog with my recommendations on how to vote in UCU’s NEC elections, so I’m going to avoid writing a long preamble. I think that the union has been in a bit of a mess over the past few years, and I think that the best way of sorting this mess out is to try and elect new people to the NEC.

NEC ballot papers will start to arrive in the post today. These will include members election statements, but I know from experience that choosing how to cast your ballot can be quite daunting — election addresses are rarely direct, and you find yourself trying to judge a candidate’s political leanings by reading between the lines.

The following is a list of people that I think hold reasonable, pragmatic views on the key questions facing the union. They are people who — as far as I know — argued against the current NEC’s plan for indefinite strike action. Some of them I know personally, some I know from their social media presence. If I have misrepresented anyone in this list, then I am happy to amend it on request — and if any candidates want to make the case for being included, then they’re also welcome to get in touch.

If you’re a UCU member, please make sure to vote in these election, and vote for the candidates listed below.

EDIT: I was asked on Twitter to explain a bit more about why I support these candidates. I have written a separate post here, which explains why I think some of the current members of the NEC have made some staggeringly bad decisions, and we need to replace them with people who will make better decisions.

UK-wide elections

Vice President and Treasurer

Please, please, please, in the name of all that is good and holy, vote for Emma Battell Lowman for Vice President, and David Harvie for Honorary Treasurer. No second preferences. These are both vitally important posts, and we need to ensure that Emma and David are elected.

UK-elected members HE (4 seats; to include at least one post-92, one academic related)

Every HE member has a vote here, regardless of where in the UK they live.

Recommend that you rank 1st, 2nd or 3rd: Adam Hansen, Dyfrig Jones, Jak Peake

Recommend that you rank 4th, 5th, 6th or 7th: Francis Clarke, Rebecca Harrison, Chris O’Donnell, Caroline Proctor

Do not recommend that you vote for any other candidates

UK-elected members FE (2 seats)

Recommend that you vote for Jackie D’Arcy, and no other candidates

Representatives of disabled members (2 seats; one HE member and one FE member to be elected to include at least one woman)

Recommend that you vote for Bijan Parsia, Em Campbell and no other candidates

Representatives of LGBT+ members (2 seats; one HE and one FE member to be elected)

Recommend that you vote for Mark Pendleton and no other candidates

Representatives of black members (2 seats; at least one woman to be elected)

Recommend that you vote for Jak Peake and Victoria Showunmi, and no other candidates

Representatives of migrant members (2 seats, at least one non-EU member to be elected)

Recommend that you vote for Vivek Thuppil and no other candidates

Representatives of casually employed members (2 seats; one HE member and one FE member to be elected)

Recommend that you vote for Matilda Fitzmaurice and no other candidates

Geographically-elected members of the National Executive Committee

Midlands HE (3 seats)

Recommend that you vote for Emma Battell Lowman, Francis Clarke, Caroline Proctor and no other candidates

North West HE (2 seats)

Recommend that you vote for Philippa Browning and Michael McKrell as either 1st or 2nd preference

Recommend that you vote for Lucy Burke as 3rd preference, and do not vote for any other candidates

North West FE

Recommend that you vote for Helen Kelsall and no other candidates

South HE (4 seats to include at least one woman)

Recommend that you vote for Rebecca Harrison and no other candidates

South FE (1 seat)

Recommend that you vote for John Fones and no other candidates

Scotland HE — UCU Scotland President

Recommend that you vote for Chris O’Donnell as 1st preference, Jeanette Findlay as 2nd preference, and no other candidates

Honorary Secretary UCU Scotland

Recommend that you vote for Chris O’Donnell as 1st preference and no other candidates

The Campaign for UCU Democracy welcomes points of view on the democratic structures of the union and who would best serve the union in these positions. If you would like to comment on anything in Dyfrig’s post, please do so below.