Wish you were here?

A personal report from the far side of the 2024 UCU Congress in Bournemouth

I went to my first UCU Congress this year. I’ve been to numerous union conferences, meetings, training sessions over the past several years and without exception, I’ve come away from each one, amazed by the people I met, the connections made, re-energised, feeling part of a much bigger trade union movement.

UCU Congress — not so much. I came away feeling small, discouraged, and surprisingly angry.

I was originally going to attend as an observer as I had just been elected to the NEC, but I had to switch to delegate when our branch failed to find enough people who wanted — or were able — to attend.

This will be my only account of my experience at Congress — I did not write a report for my branch upon my return as, to be perfectly honest, I had no idea how I could possibly do that without bringing the union into disrepute or breaking the code of conduct. Nevertheless, what I have to say needs to be said, and I write this with the best of intentions in defense of our union (and after it has been edited by some more experienced colleagues!).

With all that said, I thought the best way to approach this would be to try and remain light-hearted, both to help engage you, dear reader, but also to stop this becoming yet another angst-ridden rant.

Dark Side of the Moon

My congress started on my first foray from my hotel in Bournemouth when I was accosted by group of men who seemed to have ill intentions towards me. I managed to get away, probably thanks in no small part to some people who drew up alongside in a car. I spent my first couple of hours at the congress venue being plied with tea and checked for stab wounds by the venue medic, whilst making a lengthy police report.

Should I have taken this as a portent of things to come? Despite being warned about Congress by old hands, I regarded this advice as similar to that from Glastonbury veterans, who talk about the experience of the festival. It was even worse than I expected.

Welcome to the Machine

I did meet a lot of amazing people in FE, HE and prison education from all over the UK, fighting the good fight, inspirational in their devotion to their members and trade unionism. It was good to meet friends In Real Life for the first time. But the whole thing was dominated and overshadowed by UCU Left, a machine that had congress in its maw from the beginning. It was well organised, with a strategy to set the agenda and control congress to its own ends before any delegates even set foot in Bournemouth.

On the first evening, newbies like me were invited to an introductory session. We were taken through the processes, and how the agenda that had been sent to branches well ahead of the event was designed and prioritised by the Congress Business Committee (CBC) with the assistance of Democratic Services staff. This was to ensure that all the motions, submitted in accordance with the deadlines, were prioritised fairly and debated, that none of them were out of order either for being outside of the constitution or would seek to commit the union to action that may be illegal.

The Show Must Go On

Next morning, we filed into the congress hall. And the first order of business was to throw out the order of business. Half a dozen delegates went to the front to challenge the agenda. These same people would be there at the beginning of every session, to do precisely the same thing each time. In every session, UCU Left — for that is who they were — threw out the agenda, forcing motions that had been declared out of order back onto the table, re-prioritising their own motions over any other business. Motions that in some cases had been brought repeatedly to the floor in successive years were lost once again in favour of motions, though now debated and passed, were still ‘out of order’ as they would be completely impossible to enact. One such motion called for national strike action prior to the general election. For this motion and others of similar ilk, long standing motions that related to support for single-parent families or the scheduling of congress during school holidays, were lost.

This complete lack of regard or respect for the rules and wider union resulted in one member of the CBC resigning in protest.

But isn’t this the highest expression of union democracy, that sets policy for the union the NEC then has to enact? Why didn’t we strike prior to Sir Keir’s landslide? Because, like so many of these motions, and the reason why they were out of order in the first place, is because they cannot be enacted as they are outside the scope of Congress, the remit of the NEC, or like this one, simply illegal. These motions are there to disrupt, to make a political statement, and nothing else.

At the newbie orientation we were also told that the function of a congress delegate is to represent the will of their branch to the best of their ability. That is why the motions are sent out ahead of time, so that members can be consulted and the delegates know how to vote or what to say in debate.

However, when so many motions are re-imposed or ‘emergency’, a lot of well-intentioned delegates have no option but to abstain, as they can’t speak for themselves and can’t guess what their branch reaction would be.

Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun

UCU Left operates a party whip. Voting instructions, like the one pictured below, were issued every day so that their members knew exactly how to vote according to their agenda. Their leadership popped up from their chairs at every vote so that they can see precisely who was voting for what — a practice that one delegate described in her address as ‘intimidating’. But how do they dominate congress so effectively if delegates are elected?

Up to this year, congress has been an in-person event and so is quite a commitment for anyone to be away for so long. It is not attended by every branch or indeed to full delegate capacity for each branch. Also, as mentioned above, the reputation of congress precedes it, acting as a further disincentive to the recruitment of delegates. It is easy therefore for UCUL to stand candidates in every branch who are then ‘elected’ unopposed.

Following a congress motion, NEC passed an instruction to investigate the possibility of a hybrid conference next year. Hopefully this will enable many more members to attend, not just those with disabilities, but those who could not afford the initial outlay, who could not secure facility time, or with caring responsibilities. Despite UCUL instructing their members to vote for the motion, UCUL tried to stop NEC from implementing it at its first meeting after Congress. We can only speculate why.

If things are so bad, then why bother? Factional infighting is ultimately destructive of the union and affects every level of union business from the bottom up. It can poison and override every interaction with management, where one faction would regard any cooperation, even in the best interests of members in mind, as collaboration with the enemy. Is it any wonder then that UCUL-dominated branches coincidentally have the worst working relationships- or none at all — with their institutions?

Is There Anybody Out There?

We need to focus on the positive, of what can be achieved if we work together, and so if anything, my experience should I hope demonstrate why we need more members to be involved in local and national democracy — so that there are properly elected delegates in every branch, ready to represent the views of their members and colleagues, to challenge the UCUL candidates and stop our union from being the political plaything of a minority.

Certainly, all views should have their place and be open to debate and challenge. But a tiny minority should not be able to easily dominate the space and reset the agenda to their own ends by taking advantage of a critical low level of democratic engagement. They can only do this because we let them. We need to restore the union to being a truly representative and participatory democracy.

So - I hope to see you at Congress next year — either IRL or online, and hope to be voting right alongside you to set the future of our union back on track.