Congress motions

Motion

Motion title

Composite: Providing secure software platforms for branch and regional business and communication

Session

2024-2025

Meeting link

Annual Congress

Meeting date

24 May 2025

Status

Not taken - remitted to NEC

Motion

29

Motion text

Congress notes:
1. That union organising, in terms of both member outreach and the
administration of branch business, is increasingly being conducted online.
2. That most branches rely on their employer’s software platforms to organise
union business which can create tensions between UCU and institutional data
protocols/usage policies.
3. That effective internal communication within the union – at branch and
regional/national level – is one of the most important factors for ensuring
effective organising and democratic decision-making.
4. That there are increasingly sophisticated ways that this usage could be
monitored by the employer.
5. That attempts to avoid this monitoring could lead to the use of platforms that
are not compliant with relevant data protection legislation.
6. The following actions (c-e below) to address this were remitted at Congress
2023 but are not actioned.
Congress resolves:
a. to explore the data protection and security implications of widening access to
UCU owned software for branch use.
b. in line with the above, to facilitate the use of existing software platforms by
branches within the licenses owned and operated by UCU where this is
requested.
c. to invest in UCU’s communications infrastructure, to better support the
business of the union and the engagement of all members in democratic
decision-making
d. to provide branches with the basic digital tools they need to conduct
committee business, to free up their time from basic administration to allow
more productive organising and campaigning
e. to provide a communications solution that allows cross-branch
communications; that can facilitate regional, national and special interest
group discussions in one secure and members-only space. Members need a
single digital centralised space for; hosting video meetings and conferences;
facilitating delimited and secure discussions; and enabling digital decisionmaking.

Proposing body

Eastern and Home Counties regional committee, West Midlands regional committee

Amended

No

Allocated to

Strategy and finance committee (SFC)

Notes