UCU: Increase legal support to defend local trade union rights

Motion

Motion text: Congress notes that
1. our sectors face unprecedented attacks on the rights of trade unionists from employers, using novel tactics such as the 'double deductions' recently imposed at the University of Sheffield
2. that in common-law countries, employment law can be advanced through litigation in courts and tribunals
3. litigation and legal advice are often beyond the financial reach of local branches.
Congress believes
a. UCU must strategically balance the need to avoid unsustainable legal costs against local branches' need for centralised legal support.
Congress resolves that
i. NEC should review UCU legal's level of funding and their approach to taking legal action on behalf of branches, to increase the ability of local branches to challenge novel forms of trade union victimisation
ii. UCU should lobby for 'double deductions' to be proscribed as a form of detriment for participating in strike action under the Employment Rights Act 2025.