UCU: Defend national HE bargaining!

Motion

Motion text: HESC notes
1. The dispute at BCU which has been outside national pay negotiations since the 1980s; isolating the branch and producing inferior terms and conditions
2. BCU management’s continual refusal to rejoin
3. University of Gloucestershire, Nottingham Trent University and Staffordshire University have left or indicated they will leave national pay negotiations
HESC believes
a. National negotiations are vital for UCU collective bargaining, to prevent sector fragmentation and undermining of national terms and conditions
b. Fragmentation of national negotiations is a fundamental threat to the future of HE
c. Branches fighting outside of national bargaining must be supported as a key line of resistance to fragmentation
HESC resolves
i. Risk to national bargaining to be dealt with as a matter of urgency with a nationally resourced strategy group
ii. GS to investigate institutions’ plans to leave national negotiations
iii. Disputes at branches outside of national bargaining to be given national significance in terms of resourcing and amplification