The NEC Election Results

Dear subscribers,

Now that the NEC election results are available, we thought we’d share our initial analysis and reflections.

First of all, we want to say again how proud we are of our campaign, our slate and our team. It takes guts for people to put themselves out there, open themselves up to scrutiny and stand for election. We also want to acknowledge all of the other candidates from different factions and none who put themselves forward.

There is a lot of work that goes into a campaign. There’s the obvious stuff: making videos, captioning and editing them, writing mailouts and social media posts, creating flyers, and building websites. But there’s also the work that goes unseen: allaying concerns about running, commenting on election statements, making sure all forms are submitted on time, helping prepare for hustings, and talking to individual members at branches all over the UK. So many UCU Commons members and supporters took part in this collective caring and organising effort and we want to thank all of them.

A huge thank you also to all those who voted for our slate, both for taking part in the democratic process and putting your faith in our candidates. We are thrilled that five out of our six UCU Commons candidates that stood for contested positions were elected. Mark Pendleton and Sophia Woodman were elected as UK-wide reps, Matilda Fitzmaurice as LGBT+ Members’ rep, Chris O’Donnell as President of UCU Scotland, and Bijan Parsia was re-elected as Disabled Members’ rep. These five will be joining Women’s rep Jo Edge, who was re-elected in 2024, as well as Caroline Proctor, Vivek Thuppil and Ben Pope, who were elected unopposed as Midlands rep, Non-EU Migrant rep and Casualised Members’ rep respectively. You’ll find a complete breakdown of all the results here.

We are delighted that Dyfrig Jones was elected the next Vice President from the HE sector, and Andrew Feeney was elected as Honorary Treasurer. UCU Commons collectively endorsed and campaigned for both of them, and we are very glad that two such hardworking, careful and strategic trade unionists will join the officer team at a time of such unprecedented crisis for the HE sector. Congratulations also go to Jackie Grant, who was elected in the South region, and who we recommended voting for.

We are gutted that Matt Barnard narrowly missed out on being elected as a North West rep (by the tiniest of margins) and that independent candidate David Bretherton missed out on a seat in the South region.

This results bring significant changes to the makeup of the NEC. First, this is a step forward for representation of the devolved nations, as Dyfrig Jones will be the first-ever Vice President from a Welsh institution. The election of a non-UCU Left President from a small, post-92 institution will bring a refreshing change to UCU Scotland, which tends to be dominated by that nation’s larger institutions, including Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee. Second, UCU Left now hold very few seats in the regions they previously dominated, including the South and the North West. This year, they only saw one of their supported candidates elected in each of these. Third, UCU Commons made gains by standing candidates in seats that others seemed not to prioritise, including the casualised members’ seat and the non-EU migrant members’ seat. The election of an Honorary Treasurer from the post-92 sector is also a welcome shift in representation.

UCU Commons continues to perform very strongly in equalities positions, retaining the LGBT+, Disabled and (non-EU) Migrant members’ seats, together with the Equalities seat we already held. We are very pleased to be recognised as champions of equalities, including trans rights, which is and always has been at the heart of our core values. We are encouraged that members have put their trust in our record and our principles, and we will continue fighting to uphold our union’s strong commitments to trans and non-binary members and communities. We were also encouraged to see Pauline Rattery, a Black woman prison educator, elected to NEC and strengthening representation of our prison education colleagues on the union’s highest decision-making body.

We were disappointed to see that turnout in these elections remains stubbornly low, at 8.5%. This is lower than in 2024, when the General Secretary election pushed turnout up, but is sadly not unusual. However, we are hopeful that next year, these elections will not be conducted by post as the government has committed to repealing the 2016 Trade Union Act, which includes the ban on balloting trade union members online. Therefore, we hope that this will substantially improve turnout in the coming years.

Finally, these election results have created two casual vacancies on the NEC: one UK-wide, and one in the North East region. These elections will take place after Congress, in the summer, and have significant implications for the balance of power on the Higher Education Committee in particular.

We have been energised by these election results, as we hope you, as our supporters, have been. We will continue our work of calling for systemic political solutions for the current funding crisis, as well as building a more sustainable, more enjoyable HE sector for the future. If there is anything else you believe needs attention, please get in touch and join us.

In solidarity,

UCU Commons