#UCUTransformed2019

Building a democratic, activist-led UCU

2 November 2019, 11-5pm (doors open for registration at 10.30)

What a difference a year makes!

One year on from the great USS HE Pension strikes of 2018 and the wave of Further Education strikes that have continued, UCU is gearing up for another strike wave in Higher Education. Nottingham College strikers are in a mammoth fight to stop pay cuts and skyrocketing workload.

Meanwhile the Tory government is in deep crisis, and climate strikes are spreading across the globe.

New struggles bring new questions. What role should UCU activists play? What type of union do we need? How do we encourage and organise a new generation of activists in our union? UCU has had major democratic debates, culminating in a new General Secretary and a commission on Democracy. But how do we organise our branches and Regions to be more effective – and more democratic?

Most of all, how do we organise a bigger, stronger union movement, one that demands people before profit, unites staff and students, and is capable of stopping the market madness in education once and for all?

Come to this one-day conference to debate the future of UCU. It is time to organise the future of our union.

Hosted by UCL UCU. Called by London Region UCU, supported by Branch Solidarity Network, UCU Left and others.

Updated timetable

10.30am-11.00am Registration

11.00am-11.30am Welcome – After the Ballots: GTVO and building the strikes – James Richards (Herriot Watt)

11.30am-12.30pm Workshops

1. Work till you drop? Pensions, cuts and USS Round Two - Deepa Driver (Reading, NDC chair) and Carlo Morelli (Dundee, UCU Scottish President)
2. Organising a united pay fight in Higher Education – Bruce Baker (Newcastle), Mark Abel (Brighton) and Linda Cronin (Roehampton)
3. One hundred years of Adult education: the fight for a hundred more – Jan Koene (Sutton College) and Naina Kent (Hackney ACE)
   

12.30pm-1.00pm Lunch

1.00pm-2.00pm Climate strikes, UCU and fighting for the future. Can we win free education and socially-responsible science? – Sean Vernell (CCCG, UCU VP FE), James Price (UCL) and the Campaign Against Climate Change TU group

2.00pm-3.00pm Resisting casualisation and uniting the union. How do we use the unity of strikes to win members to secure contracts? – Liz Lawrence (Sheffield Hallam retd), Lesley Kane (Open) and Feyzi Ismail (SOAS)

3.00pm-4.00pm Equality, from resistance to liberation. How do we win members to defend equality rights? Can we defend migrant students and staff? – Dima Chami (Leeds), and others

4.00pm-5.00pm Organising to win: how to turn the tide of marketisation in post 16 education – Vicky Blake (Leeds, UCU Vice President), Nottingham College Strikers and more

Latest info: UCU London Region website