From Adam Ozanne

The decision by HEC on Friday 17^th March not to consult UCU members on the UCEA and UUK offers on Four Fights and USS – despite an informal 48-hour e-survey of members and BDM held the day before both showing majorities favouring consultation – has caused consternation and a storm of social media criticism of the General Secretary, of the way the e-survey and acrimonious BDM were conducted, and of HEC.

HEC’s decision raises issues that are fundamental to union democracy. Without going into whether the UCEA and UUK offers should be accepted or rejected or the arguments over the design of the e-survey questions and how the BDM was used to (as HESC motions put it) “give a steer” to HEC, we believe UCU members have the right to know how their elected representative on HEC voted on this crucial question regarding consulting the membership. Therefore, for the sake of transparency, democracy and accountability, we – that is those supporting the Campaign for UCU Democracy – publish below how we understand individual members of HEC voted.

First though, here is a reminder of the results of the e-survey and BDM. Individual members and branch delegates to the BDM were asked to answer “Yes” or “No” to the following question:

“Do you support UCU members now getting a vote on the negotiated proposals that have been reached, and pausing strike action (ASOS would continue) whilst this consultation takes place?”

Informal e-survey results

Turnout: over 36,070 members voted, that is around 50% of HE members.

• 67% were in favour of consulting members
• 33% were opposed to consulting members

BDM results

• 52% were in favour of consulting members
• 32% were opposed to consulting members
• 16% abstained from the vote

HEC was advised by Jon Hegerty, UCU’s Head of Bargaining, that if they voted for a formal consultation, members would be balloted separately on the USS and 4 Fights disputes; and was then invited to vote on the following question:

“Should the proposals agreed with UCEA and UUK relating to the USS and Four Fights disputes be put to UCU HE members in a formal consultation?”

19 members voted “Yes” and 22 voted “No”. We believe this is how individuals voted but any member of HEC whose vote has been recorded incorrectly may leave a reply in the comment box below and it will be changed. (N.B. One member of HEC, Robyn Orfitelli, was absent.)

For consulting members	Against consulting members
Justine Mercer	Vicky Blake
Steve Sangwine	Marian Mayer
Victoria Showunmi	Bee Hughes
Ben Pope	Khizer Saeed
Emma Rees	Julie Hearn
Jo Edge	Maria Chondrogianni
Emma Kennedy	Kyran Joughin
Esther Murray	Sean Wallis
Emma Battell Lowman	Rhiannon Lockley
Chris Grocott	Matt Perry
Laura Chuhan Campbell	Saira Weiner
Joanna de Groot	Linda Moore
Philippa Browning	Ann Swinney
Sally Pellow	Deepa Govindarajan Driver
Lena Wånggren	Aris Katzourakis
Ann Gow	Mark Abel
Andrew Feeney	Vida Greaux
Bijan Parsia	Grant Buttars
Chris O’Donnell	Peta Bulmer
	Rhian Elinor Keyse
	Marion Hersh
	Lesley McGorrigan

To those who follow NEC elections carefully and who have read An un-common guide to UCU’s NEC elections, factions, slates and independents, it will be apparent that the “For” column consists of those elected from the UCU Commons and UCU Agenda/Independent Broad Left slates plus one independent, Lena Wånggren, while the “Against” column consists of fourteen members of the UCU Left faction plus eight UCU Left-leaning independents (“UCU Left-Lite”, perhaps). The “Againsts” also include at least six (Sean Wallis, Saira Weiner, Bee Hughes, Mark Abel, Matt Perry and Julie Hearn)^[1] current or past members of the Socialist Workers Party which set up and controls UCU Left – see UCU Left, the Socialist Workers Party and National Executive Committee Elections.

A more detailed account of the e-survey and BDM, the UCEA and UUK offers and the HEC meeting, including a copy of the advice given to HEC by Jon Hegerty and motions they will submit to HEC on March 30, has been provided by UCU Commons members of HEC and can be found here.

An open letter has also been produced by UCU members of Campaign for UCU Democracy and UCU Commons, calling for member consultation on the UCEA and UUK offers on pay and conditions and the USS pension respectively. Those minded to call on HEC to offer member consultation on the offers may wish to sign it.

^[1] Note: Grant Buttars was mistakenly included in the original list of current or past SWP members above. Grant is in fact a member of Revolutionary Socialists of the 21^st Century (rs21), which was set up by former members of the SWP after the 2012 Comrade Delta affair (Kelly, John. Contemporary Trotskyism: Parties Sects and Social Movements in Britain. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge Taylor & Francis, 2018: p.68), but has never been a member of the SWP. My apologies to Grant for the misunderstanding.