Recent UCU Congress decisions and the next year

Congress is where members decide the union's policy and how to proceed on the many workplace and political issues that face us as staff who work in education. UCU branches submit motions to Congress and also elect or nominate delegates to speak and vote on motions on your behalf.

This year's Congress took some important decisions about the campaigns which it wants the union to prioritise over the next year. For further education in England in particular, delegates voted to concentrate on workload, professional autonomy, and pay. In higher education, they decided to build towards UK-wide industrial action over USS pensions and over pay, equality, job security and workload.

To make those campaigns successful there will need to be further discussion and action within the wider membership. That is where you come in.

Over the next two weeks, your branch should be holding a meeting to discuss the outcomes from Congress and get your input as to how you want to conduct the campaigns which Congress delegates have voted for on your behalf.

You can find more information about this process and the key decisions relating to your sector the emails sent to FE branches in England, and all HE branches last week.

I know this is a busy time of year, but when the notification comes out from your branch, please do your best to attend or feed in to your branch in whatever way you can - and do contact your branch if you've not yet had an email.

Finally, don't forget that there are already a huge number of critical campaigns taking place in workplaces across the union: on health and safety, redundancies, casualisation, and there is already an important ballot involving a number of colleges across England for industrial action over pay,. You can find out more about what's happening and how to support these disputes on our website.

Jo Grady
UCU general secretary