Dear subscribers,
Regardless of how you spent them, we hope you all enjoyed the past two strike days and are heading into a relaxing weekend.
As those who have been following us for a while will be aware, unconditional support for trans rights is non-negotiable for us at UCU Commons. We know that gender diversity, self-determination and dignity are trade union issues, and recently we have been appalled to see some universities, including UCL and LSE, bow to transphobic pressure to withdraw from the Stonewall Diversity Champions Scheme.
This is where we introduce Dr Mark Pendleton, who is running to be HE representative of LGBT+ members on the NEC. Mark works at the University of Sheffield, where is he is a Senior Lecturer in Japanese Studies, and he sits on the UCU LGBT+ Members’ Standing Committee. In the short, captioned video above, Mark powerfully sets out why trans rights are at the heart of the trade union movement. Mark’s other priorities include:
Advocating for local student number caps to rebalance recruitment, address our chronic overwork and save jobs
Investigating the management consultancies who have worked to damage our sector, especially in the arts and humanities.
You can read more in Mark’s election address, which you can find on our website. Alternatively, just scroll and down and read it below.
Mark’s also been active on Twitter recently (@mark_pendleton), where he wrote a thread about how to vote in the NEC elections if LGBT+ rights are important to you (which we hope they are for everyone!).
In solidarity,
UCU Commons
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Election Address | Mark Pendleton | LGBT+ Representative [HE]
My rival and I have worked closely together on the LGBT+ members committee. We share a lot in common – firm opposition to transphobia, biphobia and homophobia; a commitment to addressing the needs of LGBT+ members; and track records of developing effective policy.
Whoever is elected, LGBT+ members will have a rep that understands and delivers for our communities. In my case, that has developed through branch roles as equalities officer and secretary over the last five years, through UK-wide work on the LGBT+ committee (2019-present) and NEC (2020-21) and through work across the sector, including co-authoring the Royal Historical Society’s report on LGBT+ inclusion. I have been active in various social movements and community organisations around LGBT+, HIV and migration issues, alongside my day job as Senior Lecturer in Japanese Studies at the University of Sheffield.
However, your LGBT+ rep also makes decisions on wider issues – pensions, pay, casualisation, inequality and more – and members have a real choice in this election. We need elected decision-makers who are responsive to threats and supportive of emerging campaigns, but also help develop effective strategies to win. When I was on NEC, I fought to address the free-for-all in student recruitment, which has differential and damaging impacts across HE. I also proposed action to confront the various consultancy firms that have worked to undermine our sector, particularly in the arts and humanities. These were blocked.
I have been a long-term advocate for aggregation in industrial action ballots – a split union is a weak union. After years of fractured mandates, we finally overcame those in our union who wanted to do the same thing over and over again and together delivered a landmark UK-wide mandate that can transform higher education. We need an NEC that is focused on more than just the timing of the next strike dates, that thinks proactively about how to combat employer and government attacks, and that explores strategic and tactical innovation when needed. We cannot remain stuck in the same old patterns that have delivered little. We also cannot let personal differences distract and divide us – I opposed last year’s unjustified, partisan attempt to censure the general secretary.
I am standing with UCUCommons – a diverse group of grassroots members who bring experience from across the sector and beyond, and have delivered change in branches, workplaces and communities. We are committed to growing UCU’s membership, our density and our members’ confidence that we can win. We believe in resourcing and supporting branches to take effective action. We will focus on building solidarity across differences.
Vote Emma Battell Lowman for VP, David Harvie for Treasurer and the UCUCommons team:
https://ucucommons.org/nec-election-statements-2023/
We can be a bigger, more inclusive and more effective union.
