Juliana Ojinnaka (The Sheffield College)

woman

Election address

• Equalities: 2015-2020
• Health and Safety: 2019-2020
• UCU Regional Exec Committee Vice-Chair: 2019-present
• Black Members Standing Committee: 2017-present
• Women's Standing Committee: 2019-2020
• Yorkshire & Humberside BME: 2016-present
• UCU Left

I lecture at Sheffield College, and have been a UCU member for over 34 years. I remain committed to fighting racism and oppressive practices in the workplace in all its forms; this motivates my UCU activity. I am an active member of my branch, region and national committees with particular interest in matters concerning Black members and women's issues. I have credible grassroots links and have always remained active in community issues and politics. Teaching in FE has enabled me to pursue my passion of encouraging ethnic minorities to develop their post-16 education up to HE Level and subsequently thrive in their careers and futures.

I am committed to the attainment of equality of opportunity, and genuine diversity and inclusion for all in the workplace. Most Institutions do not currently meet what should be reasonable aspirations regarding the diverse communities they serve. This is particularly true and pertinent for those members with protected characteristics, for example, the visible minorities and women.   UCU must force our Institutions to develop strategies that will deal with this.

I have hosted effective webinars on decolonising the curriculum-institutions and systemic racism in education. I have organised workshop around Black Women and the gender pay gap, women, race, class and intersectionality. In addition, I have spoken on motions concerning Black women and Black girls' Education at TUC conferences.

Contrary to popular opinion, Black people and women's daily existence are still blighted by discrimination and oppression in a multiplicity of ways. The positive impact of Black Lives Matter, following George Floyd's death, needs to be experienced sooner and stronger.  FE institutions are still haemorrhaging Black staff. Black staff and students continue to experience racism of all kinds including lacking promotion and progression. Black lecturers face casualisation and are frequently the first to be made redundant or suspended from work if they call out racist actions from students, colleagues or management. We are often stereotyped with accusations of aggression when refusing to sweep workplace racism under the carpet.  I want to open up the discussion on Black Women and their specific needs. I want to be involved in decision-making, developing policies and actions to tackle the discrimination Black workers face, and the provision of the training required to address these issues.

Elect me to NEC to continue my work within UCU to address the acute problems for Black lecturers of casualisation, the disproportionate impact of COVID and poor progression often with higher qualifications but lower pay. United we can make progress. Support: Deepa Driver, Margot Hill, Paul Anderson, Saleem Rashid.