UCU Commons report from the Trades Union Congress
Dear subscribers,
Last month, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) had its annual meeting in sunny Brighton. One of our NEC members, Jo Edge, was part of this year’s UCU delegation, and has written a very useful report, which we’ve just published on our blog. The highlights include an address from the incredible Hussam Zomlot, the Palestinian Ambassador to the UK, who we were also lucky enough to have address us at UCU Congress in May this year.
You can also read the report below.
In solidarity,
UCU Commons
UCU Commons TUC report
This year, UCU Commons member and NEC women’s rep Jo Edge was part of UCU’s delegation to the Trade Union Congress (TUC), and here shares some information and reflections on the three-day event held in Brighton from 8–11 September.
Headlines:
What is the TUC?
UCU’s delegation
Guest speakers
Controversies
What is the TUC?
Every year, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) takes place, with representatives from 98 trade unions in attendance. Delegation size varies; as a mid-size union UCU has a delegation of 12. This consists of the General Secretary, the President, President Elect, Vice President, a supporting member of UCU staff, and seven members of UCU’s NEC. The entire delegation must contain at least six women and one Black member. The delegation was supported by various members of UCU staff.
The first thing to note about the business of the TUC, as opposed to UCU’s congress, is the attempt to create harmony and consensus by compositing motions and amendments before business takes place. These composites are then pre-agreed (or not) by the General Purposes Committee (GPC), and delegation members from each union will almost always agree beforehand how they will vote. The vast majority if not all motions are expected to pass. In a rare event that it is not possible to tell if a motion has passed, a card vote is called. The final agenda of motions is at this link, for anyone interested.
Attendance at the TUC is therefore somewhat symbolic, but delegates are there to represent their union, make connections, and get a sense of the wider priorities of the trade union movement for the year ahead. It was a privilege to serve on this year’s delegation and represent our members to the wider movement.
UCU’s delegation
The seven members of the delegation elected from the NEC, by NEC, represented all of UCU’s factions and were drawn from both our FE and HE sectors. No controversy existed among delegates over which motions we would support and would not: this means that despite the fact our delegation consisted of members of every faction within UCU (UCU Left, The Campaign for UCU Democracy, Rank and File Revolution* and UCU Commons), the atmosphere at delegation meetings and fringe events was convivial – even pleasant. It’s good to know we can work together in the interests of our union and the movement as a whole when the will is there.
At the pre-Congress meeting, every delegate was given the opportunity to request to speak to any motions. It isn’t known who will be called to speak on which motions in advance other than mover and seconder, so there was no guarantee those of us who wanted to would all get to speak. The delegation also met every morning to discuss upcoming business and receive updates from delegation lead, UCU President Maxine Looby, who did a first-class job keeping us on track.
Guest speakers
Congress was addressed by several prominent figures within the trade union movement: the most significant being Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tuesday and Palestinian Ambassador Husam Zomlot on Wednesday.
Starmer’s appearance came on the very same day as the vote in Parliament to cut the winter fuel allowance; perhaps it is testament to his confidence that he appeared at all. Perhaps to my discredit I don’t remember much of what he said because it was the spoken word equivalent of listening to one of the more vanilla Mumford and Sons albums, but what I do vividly remember is two things: one, our Vice President David Hunter was talking passionately to support a motion about the need for tertiary education to be properly funded when Starmer took his seat on the stage; and two, he was heckled twice, which arguably got more applause than he did. He was then asked questions by pre-selected delegates, one of whom asked about the two-child cap, followed by a typically milquetoast response. It is clear that this government aren’t going to do anything to solve the massive problems in FE and HE – and many other sectors – unless we make them.
Much more impressive was Husam Zomlot’s address. Those UCU members who attended the last day of our congress at Bournemouth in May will have had the privilege of hearing Zomlot speak about the unbearable loss of life, infrastructure and culture in Palestine, now ongoing for a year. A man of immense dignity, warmth and humour, what has struck me both times I’ve heard Zomlot speak of the horrors of the situation is his focus on practical solutions – what those in the room and their unions can do to help.
Controversies
As I’ve said, the goal of the General Purposes Committee is to reach consensus positions on motions and composite as far as possible. This means most motions pass unanimously, and very few speeches against motions happen. As someone who spends a lot of time on divided committees in UCU, this was welcome. UCU submitted three motions which passed; 'Education is the engine of national renewal', moved by GS Jo Grady, and 'Prison Education’, as well as an emergency motion submitted and moved by UCU delegation member Sean Vernell, ‘Stop the Escalation of War in the Middle East’. None of these motions encountered any opposition as far as I can remember and passed either unanimously or with overwhelming majorities.
However, there were two main and interlinked areas of disagreement at this year’s TUC between traditionally more conservative and more progressive unions. These issues were 1. weapons manufacture and 2. green jobs. Essentially, some unions who represent members who work in the arms and fuel industries argued that motions calling for a just transition and ceasefire needed to be tempered due to potential job losses that they could entail. For example, a resolve in a motion on Palestine to ‘end the arms trade with Israel’ was amended to ‘end all licences for arms traded with Israel, meeting international law’, which is a much watered-down version, although we did in the end vote for the motion. While a compromise was reached in this case, it was not a motion that was agreed without a lot of back and forth behind the scenes, and it was moved down the agenda to facilitate a solution being found.
Ultimately the one vote that needed a card check was Composite Motion 5. A reasonable compromise was not found by the General Council on this, and so a debate was had on the floor. This motion contained the rather problematic line: ‘Congress agrees to do everything in its power to prevent oil and gas workers becoming the miners of net zero’ – as one of our delegation commented, Thatcher didn’t shut the mines due to green concerns. In supporting speeches, members of more conservative unions indicated they believed Ed Miliband has no plan for job creation under the Green New Deal, that there was no plan for job creation alongside job losses, and that we need ‘a grown-up conversation’ on this topic. UCU GS Jo Grady, in opposition, made an impassioned speech about the importance of our movements demanding BOTH jobs AND climate justice. We should not think of these as in opposition to one another. We should demand everything. This motion passed – narrowly – and this is, as far as I can tell, a debate TUC will continue to have for the next few years.
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* Note: ‘Rank and File’, or ‘Rank and File Revolution’ is what we feel to be the most appropriate term for a network of members that isn’t openly organised.