John Paul Sullivan (Warwickshire College Group)

Election address

I am standing as a candidate who has always put members first.

I have always been a trade union member since I was 16 and joined the National Union of Minors (NUM) when I joined British Coal.

I have been a Lecturer in Engineering since 1992. Having started at South East Essex College. I then taught at Queen Alexandra College for the visually impaired, moving on to Tile Hill College, which merged and became City College Coventry. I was transferred to Warwickshire College Group under TUPE regulations. (Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006.

The union faces real challenges from government, the Association of Colleges and our employers. Pay decreases against inflation as we face increasing workloads. Casualisation increases and we have the erosion of hard fought for conditions of service including our pensions continually ongoing. This situation will only be worsened by the Covid 19 pandemic.

This is the reality in my college and in your workplace as well.

The status and importance of FE has been reduced since Incorporation and the policies of recent governments. It is the staff and students who have borne the brunt of the hardship, while the CEO's and Directors salaries increase.

I believe passionately that the most effective way to meet these challenges is by working together as a united and effective union that represents all its members not just the further education sector, but adult education and prisons. We need to build the union, creating strong branches with motivated members.

My Union Experience to date

Chairman, UCU, Warwickshire College Group since 2010

UCU Regional Treasurer (Midlands) since 2011

NEC/FEC Representative since 2017

My branch record shows that I know how to make gains for members even in these difficult circumstances. I have:

• Organised a winning campaign to get members the pay increases they were owed.
• Led a successful boycott of lesson observations, including the development of one of the first ungraded lesson observation policies.
• Opposed the use the use of public funds, which should have been for our students but was used by our college to prop up a private company.

But most important of all, I have ensured that individual members with a problem always have the union beside them for support.

As a teacher for nearly 28 years I know how important the work we do is and how important it is that our professional voice is heard.

There would be no greater honour for me than being elected by fellow UCU members to represent your interests.