Proposer: Idil Akinci

Seconder: Marion Lieutaud

UCU Edinburgh notes:

• The UK Equality Act 2010 does not recognise immigration status as a protected characteristic 

• The government’s immigration white paper proposes an “earned settlement” model extending the Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) qualifying period from five to ten years for many, linking eligibility to continuous employment and economic contribution. 

• These changes will particularly disadvantage migrant higher education staff, especially PhD students, early career researchers and others on fixed-term or casual contracts, whose employment patterns are insecure by design. 

• The UK has some of the highest immigration fees in the world. High visa fees and the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS), which saw a 66% rise last year alone, create financial hardship, especially for those needing to renew visas frequently or bring family members. 

• Cuts, closures and redundancies across the HE sector heighten these vulnerabilities. 

• The government is expected to open a public consultation in November, 2025 on extending the ILR qualifying period; UCU can and should contribute to this process.  

UCU Edinburgh believes:

• This lack of protection in equality law leaves gaps for migrant members in practice 

• Immigration status is a key equality issue intersecting with race, gender, disability, class, and employment precarity. 

• UCU has a vital role in gathering evidence, amplifying migrant members’ voices, and shaping policy on equality, employment and settlement rights. 

UCU Edinburgh resolves:

• To campaign for immigration status to be recognised in UK equality law. 

• To develop evidence-based guidance and trainingfor migrant members and reps, informed by a nationwide survey on employment, visa and settlement challenges 

• Demonstrate, through evidence, how immigration status intersects with class, citizenship, race, gender, disability, employment status to create complex and often invisible inequalities that are not adequately addressed by existing equality frameworks. 

• To submit evidence to the forthcoming ILR consultation advocating for fair, secure, and affordable settlement pathways. 

• To campaign against punitive visa costs and mainstreaming of far right and anti-migrant politics and rhetoric, in solidarity with migrant justice movements. 

• To advocate against retroactively changing visa rules and the ILR qualifying period for migrants who already have a visa​.

Proposer: UCU Edinburgh Branch Committee

This branch notes:

• In the last General Meeting and the following e-vote members voted overwhelmingly to back an industrial action strategy with a focus on targeting processes related to accrediting and ratifying degrees, recognizing that fees for degrees are the university’s central source of revenue, and so senior management is particularly sensitive to this point of leverage;

• In 2023, UCUE members conducted an impactful and well-organized Marking and Assessment Boycott (MAB), with participation rates reportedly the highest in the country, and grounded in mutual support through effective fund-raising based on salary sharing;

• In 2023, our employer imposed pay deductions of 50% on staff participating in the MAB, and threatened higher deductions, with deductions only being imposed when members declared they were joining the MAB.

This branch believes:

• With hundreds of jobs already lost, and management insisting on imposing a staff-cutting budget in which 1000+ more jobs could be slashed, strong and effective industrial action is essential.

• Targeted action on all processes going into degree classification and awards has the best chance of bringing management back to negotiations, and should include different forms of industrial action, including both strikes and ASOS.

• Management’s build up to compulsory redundancies requires an immediate industrial action response, as will the announcement of CRs coming on the horizon.

This branch resolves:

1.       To immediately declare a Marking and Assessment Boycott (MAB) as a form of action short of strike from the start of its new industrial action mandate (to run from 20 Nov. 2025 to 19 May 2026);

2. To develop School- and Subject Area-specific focused plans for MAB during the period of the branch’s second industrial action mandate, e.g. by concentrating marking;

3. For members in Schools and Subject Areas to declare MAB as soon as final-year undergraduate dissertation marking begins, and for all members with marking responsibilities to declare following the announcement of CRs;

4. To ramp up fundraising for the branch Hardship and Fighting Fund to support MABing members, including Local Contacts identifying members on research leave or without marking responsibilities for salary sharing, and fundraising drives and events;

5. Based on careful mapping and consultation with members, to develop plans for targeted strike action in semester 2.

6. To pause all industrial action if management agrees to no compulsory redundancies until December 2026, and agrees to cease all staff cuts (including Guaranteed Hours budget slashes and non-renewal of fixed-term contracts), while official Joint Union negotiations take place.

Moved: HCA Local Contacts

Seconded: HCA Local Contacts

Nik Matheou, Megan Hunt, Mark Slater, Kate Davison, Jonny Gardner, Freddy Fossey-Warren

This branch NOTES:

• UoE Senior Management continues to implement an intended £92m in annual spending on staff via the Voluntary Severance scheme, substantial cuts to Guaranteed Hours across many Schools, non-renewal of fixed-term contracts and less favourable treatment of fixed-term staff whose contracts are not being renewed, continued restrictions in hiring and promotion, the announcement of another round of Voluntary Severance/Redundancy targeting Level 9 and 10 staff, and other restructuring measures;

• According to an email from Principal Peter Mathieson on 23 June 2025, £24m of staffing cuts have been achieved so far through the Voluntary Severance scheme and reduced recruitment, which falls far short of the £92m target;

• Deep cuts to budgets for employment of GH staff, as well as cuts to staff on fixed-term contracts, are not being factored into management’s totals for ‘savings’ from staff cuts, meaning these are actually greater than being claimed;

• Senior Management’s attempt to portray all reductions in staff as ‘voluntary’ and claim that it is ‘avoiding’ compulsory redundancies while implementing extensive reductions in staff that are resulting in ballooning workloads for many staff who remain;

• Senior Management’s strategic use of ‘siloed’ budget cuts, putting pressure on individual Schools to carry out budget cuts, presumably in order to blur the extent to which jobs are already being lost and forestall united resistance;

• Principal Peter Mathieson’s June 2025 declaration to the Scottish Parliament’s Education, Children and Young People Committee that ‘there is no deficit’;

• A report on salary increases for ‘key management personnel’ in The Herald on 24 August 2025, noting that ‘11 members of the university’s senior management team were paid a total of £2.4m in 2023/24’;

• Senior Management continues to pursue these cuts and restructuring measures without adequate or meaningful consultation and negotiation with trade unions, when any such restructuring or budgetary change ought to require transparency, openness and the provision of a greater degree of budgetary and strategic planning information than has been provided to date;

• Despite the strong turnout for our strike on Open Day in June, our ongoing ASOS and our planned strike during Welcome Week have not yet secured concessions from Senior Management or even an agreement to reopen negotiations

• Our current Industrial Action mandate expires on 19 November 2025;

• Our resolution from the EmGM on 3.9.2025 to request approval from UCU-UK to re-ballot to extend our mandate to late May 2026

• Our standing request that Senior Management commit to no compulsory redundancies until at least July 2026, passed via branch motion in May 2025.

This branch BELIEVES:

• Based on the figures above, the announcement of more aggressive measures to cut spending on staff is highly likely to be forthcoming in the near future;

• The measures already being pursued are having harmful consequences beyond job losses, with increased workloads due to recruitment freezes, non-replacement of departing staff, and non-renewal of fixed term contracts, and, in the case of the VR scheme, the risk of targeting staff based on flawed and arbitrary measures of ‘academic performance’;

• Maximum impact can be achieved through industrial action targeting processes related to accrediting and ratifying degrees - the university’s central ‘product’ that it ‘sells’ to students - including assessment processes and exam boards;

• These are pressure points where the withdrawal of both academic and professional labour can be strategically combined to maximum effect

• Key times for these processes are around mid-term (weeks 6-9) and end-of-semester assessment & examinations (December and April/May) as well as exam boards and graduations;

• Targeted action allows more salary sharing/donations to the fighting fund (eg. from colleagues on research leave), and so preserves energy and resources for a longer fight, while still taking a militant, escalating approach

This branch RESOLVES:

• To notify UoE Senior Management of our intention to take the following industrial action in Semester 1 AY2025-26:

  • action-short-of-a-strike targeting mid-term assessments and examinations in weeks 6-9 of Semester 1, causing delay to centralised processing of grades by temporarily bypassing electronic systems (e.g., Learn) in favour of returning feedback directly to students

  • pending extended mandate, to notify of strike action targeting end-of-semester 1 assessments and examinations from week 11 through December 2025

  • To build towards repeating this targeted disruption in Semester 2 (pending extended mandate), and escalating by the end of the semester to include MAB and strike action targeting exam boards and graduations

• To reiterate to Senior Management that we are willing to consider calling off specific planned actions in return for

  • 1) Meaningful, ongoing negotiations to take place consistently and according to an agreed schedule and frequency between UCU and management (as well as Joint Unions);

  • 2) Commitment to no compulsory redundancies until December 2026;

  • 3) Immediate stop to all further staffing cuts (including those being carried out via School budget savings targets such as GH reductions, non-replacement of departing staff, promotion freezes, etc.) until meaningful consultation occurs; and

  • 4) Providing ‘receipts’ for the £24m claimed to have been saved so far via VS and School-administered budget savings, with more frequent and regular budget reporting going forward.

Proposer: Sophia Woodman

Seconder: Pieter Blue

This branch notes:

1.      Since the February announcement of the proposed £140m budget cuts, management has refused to negotiate at all on the disproportionate amount allocated to cutting jobs, seeking to cut a total of £92m, with £24m ‘already saved’ due to voluntary severance and the hiring freeze. In the meantime, many jobs have already been lost due to fixed-term contracts not being renewed and reduced budgets for guaranteed-hours staff, and it is not clear whether these cuts are included in the ‘savings’ from staff.

2.      Since the announcement of the £140m cut, when management said ‘nothing was off the table’ and implied that compulsory redundancies were imminent, the terrain has changed, and management is seeking to make reductions in staff appear ‘voluntary’. These changes are in part due to pressure from UCUE’s industrial action, Senate’s no-confidence vote in May and the political campaign, which have put management under pressure.

3.      For those affected by hidden redundancies (FTCs ended, reduced GH work) the cuts have already had enormous impact on lives and livelihoods, while increasing the workloads of remaining staff.

4.      The 2024 Joint Unions workload survey results show that the majority of staff, academic and professional services, were already overworking prior to the current round of staff cuts. Management has not responded to the workload survey, or addressed the significant health and safety implications. Since the plans for staff cuts were first mooted, Joint Unions have insisted that workload be considered in any restructuring, and management has said it will do this, but is not taking this commitment seriously.

5.      Despite these plans for massive cuts to the budget for staff, so far management has brought forward no clear plans for restructuring (aside from vague slogans). While Court approved the management-proposed budget in June, it did not approve any plans for how they would be carried out. Management has failed to model the impact of the proposed cuts on income, or to present business cases for cutting courses and programmes.

6.      UoE has consistently run a small number of restructures each year, sometimes leading to compulsory redundancies. In the current budget cuts, so far there are two formal restructures, with almost 40 in risk of redundancy pool, expected to lead to about a dozen redundancies. While some placed at risk seem to be finding jobs with other employers and then taking voluntary redundancy, reducing the number of people in the redundancy pool forced into compulsory redundancy, there are still likely to be some.

7.      UCUE and Joint Unions are hearing news from staff of various kinds of ‘back-door restructures’ that are not compliant with current University policies, such as ‘financial restructures’. There has been a complete lack of consultation on targeting of staff on grades 9/10 for voluntary redundancy (VR), or on the specifics of restructure of professional services roles in comms and marketing, IT support and teaching offices, for example. Devolution of staff cuts to schools and units is a mechanism to avoid proper procedures for restructures, one that is creating ‘facts on the ground’ that are placing staff at risk of redundancy without notifying them as such.

8.      Professional services roles are likely to be first in line for major restructuring, with plans coming out soon, informed by data and ‘benchmarking’ from management consultancy firm Nous Cubane, which has already left a trail of destruction across universities in Canada and Australia.

9.      The current Senior Leadership Team has an extremely poor record of lack of accountability and transparency on finance and ‘change projects’. The lessons of the People and Money debacle, outlined in the external report to Court, have evidently been ignored. There is a pattern of mismanagement, overspending and poor planning, and the SLT appears to listen more to management consultants than to staff or the University Senate. The Joint Unions Finance Working Group reports have highlighted many of these failings, which have been the subject of questions in the Scottish Parliament and media reports.

10.  At the centre of this ‘crisis’ is the erosion of academic freedom in the shape of academic self-governance and autonomy, as managers, finance experts and consultancies dictate how academic work must be done and what should be prioritized. The fact that the Senate’s vote of no-confidence in management’s plans has not received a response is a clear indication. Management’s refusal to accept meaningful academic self-governance is not in the spirit of the legal framework for higher education in Scotland.

This branch believes:

1.      This will be a long fight, and we need to conserve resources, target our energies and build our strength. More specific plans for restructuring on a wider scale are likely to be forthcoming late in 2025 and 2026, and we need to be ready to respond.

2.      The victory in the UCU dispute over USS pensions demonstrated that multiple tactics beyond strikes were vital, including media work, policy work, public pressure, external pressure on employers.

3.      Our political and media work means our dispute is in the public eye, and we can do more to generate external pressure on management to change course.

4.      Some laws and University policies give trade unions leverage to hold management to certain standards, for example on redundancies and on workload as a health and safety issue. Joint Unions can deploy these mechanisms to push back on management’s plans for job cuts.

5.      Students have backed our industrial action, and management is more likely to listen to pressure from students and parents. Students are already mobilizing to document the impact of cuts on students, Joint Unions can work with them in this effort.

6.      A live industrial action mandate is a threat: we have shown our resolve through strikes on 20 June and in Welcome Week, and we can call additional action during our current mandate if circumstances change.

7.      During the semester, action short of strike (ASOS, working to contract, refusing to cover for absent colleagues, refusing voluntary work) can be more effective, as well as highlighting the impact of cuts already made and showing that further cuts are unworkable.

This branch resolves to:

1.      Insist that management meet with UCU Edinburgh to resolve the local dispute as a matter of urgency.

2.      Continue to press for serious negotiations and consultations with Joint Unions at central University level on all restructures and job cuts, insist that University policies be followed to the letter, including proper attention to equalities impacts of any changes.

3.      Support and equip members to identify ‘back-door restructures’ that violate University policy on redundancies and consultations, escalate reports rapidly to management and insist on any processes in this category being halted and redone.

4.      With Joint Unions, insist on negotiations on workload and a response to the JU workload survey. Launch a campaign on workload, including health and safety inspections of areas where unsafe workloads are being reported.

5.      Support members in taking effective ASOS through weekly local drop-ins and individual contacts via our local contact network.

6.      Document and publicise, and campaign on, the impact of staff cuts at UoE. Work closely with student groups, including EUSA, to raise student awareness of how cuts are impacting their learning environment.

7.      Conduct a focused media and political campaign around the impact of cuts, mismanagement and poor governance within UoE, including insisting that Court play a proper role in UoE governance oversight, and continuing to press for scrutiny of UoE management by the Scottish Government and Parliament.

8.      Leaflet UG Open Days on 4 and 24 October.

9.      Declare three strike days during week 10, the last teaching week for many courses, 17-19 November, with 19 November being the first graduation date, with the intention of declaring additional strikes on graduation days, by School, in our new mandate. Sign up members for these strike days in advance.

10.  During the reballot period, run the GTVO process alongside a wide consultation with members, especially professional services, and Joint Unions, to develop plans for impactful and disruptive forms of industrial action to deploy in our new mandate (20 November 2025-19 May 2026) and run a broad recruitment campaign to build our membership.

11.  Continue to work with Joint Unions towards the possibility of industrial action involving all campus unions in the New Year.

Proposer: Branch Committee 

This branch notes: 

1. Even though UoE remains in surplus, management has announced a massive cut to the University budget of £140m over 18 months, as well as major restructuring, to address a purported future deficit; 

2. Despite a voluntary severance scheme that will result in over 350 staff leaving UoE this summer, saving £18m, management continues to insist that further job cuts will be needed, with the aim of £72m in further savings through reducing the salaries budget; 

3. Joint Unions have not received adequate financial disclosure to be able to conduct independent assessment of the financial situation that management is claiming merits such drastic measures, despite requesting such information over many months; 

4. The analysis of the Joint Unions Finance Working Group shows that UoE has more than adequate resources (including substantial reserves) to weather a short term downturn in income, and there is no reason why running a deficit over several years to return to financial sustainability should not be an option (as several other universities have done); 

5. Management’s ill-conceived plans for restructuring, and extremely poor record in implementing such centralisation projects over the past 10 years, will seriously impact working conditions for all staff at UoE if they go ahead, and damage teaching and research, the core missions of the University. 

This branch believes:  

1. Management is weaponizing uncertainty, by refusing to release information on numbers of jobs at risk, and where they may fall. More members are likely to take action once specific plans are on the table. 

2. Given management’s 18-month timetable, and the fact that restructuring ‘workstreams’ are just starting operation, UCUE needs to be prepared for sustained action over this period to resist cuts and destructive centralisation. This means it is important to conserve our energy and take action when it is most impactful. 

3. To be a credible threat, any industrial action proposed should be disruptive enough to bring management back to the negotiation table and address our demands for no compulsory redundancies until July 2026 (the conclusion of the 18-month timetable). This means action that large numbers of members (and potentially members of other unions) are committed to. 

4. With a live industrial action mandate, we can propose additional forms of action at any time, following authorisation of such action by UCU HE officers and two weeks’ notice to the employer. If members choose to do so, we can also decide not to take certain forms of action that have been notified to the employer if we consider it is not the right time. 

This branch resolves: 

Provided our branch reaches the required voting threshold, to take the following action during the period of our mandate (20 May-19 Nov): 

1. To begin continuous Action Short of Strike as early as possible after the conclusion of our ballot, for the entirety of our ballot period.  
   As notified on the ballot paper, ASOS includes: working to contract; not covering for absent colleagues; not rescheduling lectures or classes cancelled due to strike action; not sharing/uploading materials related to lectures or classes that will have been cancelled as a result of strike action; not undertaking any voluntary activities; boycott of administrative work related to implementing the cuts; boycott of Time Allocation Survey; refusing to use personal devices for work purposes.  

2. To notify the employer of a strike day on UoE Open Day, 20 June, and to ensure massive turnout of members through a pre-strike sign-up campaign; 

3. To notify the employer of a Marking and Assessment Boycott; 

4. To notify the employer of five days of strike action in Welcome Week, 8-12 September 2025; 

5. To seek a commitment from management to no compulsory redundancies until July 2026 to call off this action; 

6. To continue our campaigns to expose the disproportionate impact of ongoing budget cuts on casualised staff, to insist on a degree of stability of employment for these staff and to call out degradation of their working conditions; 

7. To continue to work to challenge the financial viability and impact on teaching, learning and research of management’s restructuring and centralisation plans; and continue our campaign to increase public and political scrutiny of poor management and governance at UoE; 

8. To prepare to call strike action in response to management issuing large-scale risk of redundancy notices; 

9. To prepare to re-ballot in autumn, so we have no gap in mandate. 

Proposer: HCA Local Contacts (Kate Davison, Megan Hunt, Jonathan Gardner, Mark Slater, Murdo Homewood, Sian Davies)   

Seconder: HCA Local Contacts   

This branch notes:   

1. The robust and overwhelmingly positive results of the Consultative Ballot on Industrial Action to Oppose Compulsory Redundancies, recorded in the UCUE President’s Friday email of 17 March 2025, in which:   

1. 59% of members voted   

2. 75% of respondents expressed a willingness to take strike action   

3. 85% of respondents expressed a willingness to take action-short-of-a-strike (ASOS)   

2. Despite this unequivocal opposition to compulsory redundancies, the results have not moved UoE senior management to change course   

3. It is reasonable to expect that the Formal Ballot will produce similar results providing a legal mandate for industrial action   

4. The goal of any industrial strategy is to equip union negotiators with sufficient power to force management to change course    

5. UNISON’s local branch has entered formal dispute following its AGM on 7 March   

6. The inspiring achievements so far in the ongoing dispute at Dundee, which according to UCU Dundee member Annalu Waller in her guest appearance at our branch meeting on 6 March are the fruits of a well-organised industrial strategy (especially longer-term strike action) within a multifaceted campaign   

7. The powerful impact of the evidence-based critiques compiled by the Joint Unions Finance Working Group via the UCUE blog    

8. The important interventions made on University Senate (including by UCU members) to hold the University accountable    

9. The role played by the Industrial Action Committee in past disputes as a strategic, activist, organising body   

This branch believes:   

1. Stopping compulsory redundancies at UoE requires a multifaceted, well-organised and smart campaign with a clear, democratically decided, collective industrial strategy that is matched and supported by strong, evidence-based messaging to multiple audiences (management, students, staff, politicians, wider public)   

2. This requires what in other contexts is regrettably dubbed a “war room” approach to strategically coordinate various parts of the campaign, including:   

1. Industrial action plan   

2. Negotiating goals   

3. GTVO (can also be used strategically by negotiators)   

4. Comms & messaging    

5. Fighting fund   

6. Membership   

3. Our industrial strategy must include consideration of contingencies, eg:  Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, etc.   

4. Our industrial strategy should set core industrial goals (via motions at branch mtgs) to guide negotiators and determine action, e.g.:    

1. UoE to permanently commit to no compulsory redundancies    

2. UoE to end hidden redundancy measures   

3. UoE to end unnecessary capital expenditures   

4. UoE to freeze executive salary increases, etc.   

5. The strongest campaign relies upon active involvement by as many members of the branch as possible, which must include democratically determining our collective course of action via motions at branch meetings and expressing views via the Local Contacts Assembly, and should include wider more participatory opportunities to help shape and organise the campaign   

6. Industrial Action Committee is an ideal forum for coordinating this work – not as an alternative to Branch Committee or the Local Contacts Assembly, but as a wider concentric circle – alongside the Joint Unions Finance Working Group, the GTVO Organising Committee, UCU members on Senate & Court, Student Staff Solidarity Network, Student Staff Assembly, other unions and EUSA, etc.   

This branch resolves:    

1. To re-establish the Industrial Action Committee as the main organising forum for all UCU members in the current dispute, to:  

1. further develop our industrial strategy and wider political campaign, producing motions to be presented to branch meetings   

2. coordinate campaign activism (petitioning, media, fundraising, rosters, materials, etc.)   

3. organise itself into sub-committees (eg. media & comms, student liason, etc.)   

4. provide a place for ordinary members, Local Contacts and elected Branch Committee members to work together   

2. To instruct the Branch Committee to appoint an IAC Coordinator/s responsible for ensuring that IAC meetings are scheduled and advertised. 

Proposer: Kate Davison  

Seconder: Gina Gwenffrewi  

This branch notes:  

1. On 26 March 2025 the Office for Students issued a ruling fining the University of Sussex £585 000 for adopting a policy protecting trans and non-binary people.1  

2. Universities UK has expressed concern over the ruling’s implications for universities’ adherence to the Equalities Act.2    

3. Sussex Vice Chancellor Sasha Roseneil has described the investigation leading to this ruling as ‘flawed and politically motivated’.3  

4. The continuing hostile environment for trans and non-binary people and their allies in the UK via the media, government/s and advocacy groups.  

5. Disingenuous accusations of ‘censorship’ and ‘cancel culture’ have been used to silence and intimidate those who have stood up against transphobia.  

This branch believes that:  

1. The OfS ruling contradicts the fundamental principles of free speech and safeguarding at UK universities.  

2. The OfS ruling invalidates and dismantles meaningful protections against harassment and hate speech.  

3. The OfS ruling sets a dangerous precedent for universities being fined for adopting policy deemed by the OfS and/or Scottish Funding Council to have a ‘chilling effect’, not only in relation to trans and non-binary people but potentially on other issues such as anti-racism, Palestine, or sexual harassment.  

4. Trans and non-binary people deserve the right to free speech and protection from harassment at work and in study.  

This branch resolves to:  

1. Petition University of Edinburgh management to publicly denounce the OfS ruling and offer support to Sussex University management in their defence against it.  

2. Direct UCU UK leadership to request an emergency meeting with Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson to convey the concerns of the UCU membership about this ruling.  

3. Direct UCU Scotland leadership to petition the SFC to publicly distance itself from the spirit of the OfS ruling and provide assurances that it will not adopt a similar stance.  

4. Protect academic freedom and freedom of speech for all staff and students at UK universities.  

5. Call on UCU Scotland Executive to table a motion at the meeting on 9th May to petition/lobby the SFC / Scottish Government / other relevant bodies with jurisdiction in this area to publicly distance itself from the spirit of the OfS ruling and provide assurances that it will not adopt a similar stance. 

Proposer: Owen Holland  

Seconder: Talat Ahmed  

This branch notes:  

1. The horrific knife attack upon a student on Friday 28 March outside the main library.  

2. The student was participating in a peaceful student-staff protest of solidarity with Palestine.  

3. The attacker used phrases such as ‘Fuck Palestine’ and the press have reported the use of Islamophobic and Antisemitic language during the attack.  

4. Several other students were subject to verbal racist harassment.  

5. The inaction of security staff to protect students meant that members of the academic staff had to intervene to safeguard the students.  

This branch believes:  

1. The university’s response to the safety of students and staff on campus is inadequate at best and offensive at worst in that its communication blames the victims of racial harassment.  

2. The inaction of security staff contributes to an escalating situation of creating unsafe atmosphere on campus and their inaction is unacceptable.  

3. Increased racialised narrative in local elections and the toxic politics of far-right ideology alongside Reform UK’s election language of ‘mass deportations’, ‘take our country back’, etc is contaminating our society.  

This branch resolves:  

1. To demand university management for an unequivocal public acknowledgement of the racially motivated crime against antigenocide pro-Palestine and pro-divestment protesters, without blaming the victims.  

2. To demand university senior leadership to seriously address the root causes of student and staff protests, and to implement the Academic Senate vote of May 2024 by immediately divesting from companies directly supporting Israel’s human rights and international law violations in Gaza, and the plausible violation of the 1948 Genocide Conventions.  

3. To support the antiracist initiatives of the Summit against the far-right and Reform UK, hosted by Stand up to Racism and supported by the STUC and all unions on Saturday 31 May in Glasgow.  

4. To support World Refugee Day march and rally with cultural gig on 21 June in Glasgow hosted by SUTR and supported by the STUC and Scottish Refugee Council.  

Proposer: Sophia Woodman  

Seconder: Sophia Lycouris   

Conference notes:  

—Destructive marketisation is imperilling jobs and degrading conditions of higher education workers  —Resolution requires creative and impactful action on many fronts, using multiple tactics  —Our historic USS victory highlights the importance of research and media work, as well as industrial action  

—Current membership density means UCU must build broad coalitions to achieve wins for members    

Resolves:  

1. To continue media campaigns around HE as a common good, including showing how the academic vandalism of HE ‘leaders’ is impacting local communities  

2. To propose models for addressing funding crises, including ​​controlled student distribution   

3. To develop local, regional and UK-wide campaigns to increase membership density and member engagement  

4. To support ​​​​branches in dispute to develop plans for impactful forms of local industrial action, not only strikes, and by organising support from across the sector   

5. To enter into partnership agreements with other HE unions as soon as possible  

Proposer: Cecile Menard  

Seconder: Lena Wånggren  

HESC notes that:  

1. HESA data do not provide a clear picture on the extent of casualisation in HE.   

1. Amid sector-wide budget cuts and threats of compulsory redundancies, hidden redundancies of “easily-disposable” casualised staff are already happening (hours are slashed and fixed-term contracts terminated), increasing the workload of those who remain.   

HESC believes that:   

1. Data about the true extent of casualisation in Higher Education are necessary.  

2. Poor data invisibilise the true extent of casualisation  

HESC resolves to:   

1. Obtain the following, alongside equalities data: number of staff on casualised contracts, including time-limited open-ended contracts, continuous length of service on precarious contracts, full-time equivalent and head count of staff on hourly contracts.  

2. Ensure that campaigns against compulsory redundancies do not disproportionally lead to budget cuts targeting casualised staff; requesting the above data is key.  

3. Campaign against hidden redundancies alongside campaigning against compulsory redundancies.    

Proposed by: David Rush  

Seconded by: Elaine Newton-Bruzza  

This branch notes that union members at Dundee are in their second week of strike action to oppose job cuts. UCUE branch committee has already voted to contribute £200 to Dundee UCU to support striking workers.*  

Our branch stands in solidarity with all university workers opposing job cuts.   

This branch resolves:  

—To donate an additional £1000 to the Dundee UCU strike fund.    

*In our branch, the limit to donations that can be approved by branch committee is £200. 

Proposer: Cecile Menard 

Seconder: Kathryn Nash  

UCU Scotland notes that: 

1. In the UK, approximately 75000 academics are on casualised fixed-term or hourly contracts. 

2. These numbers are underestimated as many casualised staff are employed on “open-ended  

contracts with review date” (OERD), which are, in all but name, fixed-term contracts.  

1. Alongside more visible redundancies, there are hidden or invisible redundancies of casualised staff  

whose hours are slashed and contracts are not renewed. 

UCU Scotland believes that: 

1. Data about the true extent of casualisation in Higher Education are necessary. 

UCU Scotland resolves to request these data, covering the past five years and moving forward, from  

universities:  

1. Number of fixed-term vs open-ended contracts per academic family. 

2. Full-time equivalent and head count of staff on hourly contracts. 

3. Number of Ad-hoc payments (e.g. ‘Form 100’) used.  

4. Number of academics and ARPS staff on OERD.  

5. Equalities data (age, gender, race, disability) for the above. 

Proposer: Cecile Menard 

Seconder: Lena Wånggren 

UCU Scotland notes that: 

1. Several Scottish universities have announced voluntary and compulsory redundancy schemes,  

alongside budget cuts. 

2. Invisible or hidden redundancies of staff on fixed-term, open-ended with review dates and hourly  

contracts are already happening, with contracts not renewed or hours reduced, dramatically  

increasing the precarity of casualised staff and increasing the workload of those who remain.  

UCU Scotland believes that: 

1. Threats of redundancies affect all staff independent of their contract type. 

2. Solidarity means protecting all workers from redundancies.  

UCU Scotland resolves to: 

1. Ensure that any actions opposing voluntary or compulsory redundancies does not disproportionately  

affect casualised staff who could be used as “buffers” to shield others from redundancy. 

2. Ensure that any campaigns against redundancies must also protect and defend the roles of  casualised staff. 

Proposer: Sophia Woodman 

Seconder: Sophia Lycouris 

Congress notes: 

1. The 12 Dec. HEC decision to call a UK ballot for IA ‘immediately’ 

2. That the potential timetable for IA following this ballot would fall outside the teaching period for  

most Scottish branches 

3. HESC 2022 motion 17 requires that timetables for in HE in devolved nations be provided to HEC and  

other decision-making bodies of UCU 

4. That if such a ballot were to fail, this would negatively impact the negotiating leverage of Scottish  

branches undertaking local disputes over budget cuts and redundancies 

Congress resolves: 

1. To instruct UCUS officers and reps on NEC from Scottish branches to ensure that any timetables for  

UK-wide IA are fit for purpose in Scotland, and take full account of the impact on local disputes in  Scottish branches 

2. To instruct those officers and reps to vote against any proposals for IA that are not fit for purpose in  Scotland 

Proposer: Cecile Menard  

Seconder: Lena Wånggren  

This branch notes that:  

1. Ongoing budget cuts within the university may lead to voluntary and compulsory redundancy.  

2. HESA data shows that 50% of University of Edinburgh academic staff are on fixed-term contracts.  

3. This number underestimates the percentage of total staff on precarious contracts as it does not include non-academic staff nor those on open-ended contracts with a review date, which are in all but name as precarious as fixed-term contracts.   

4. Intersectionally marginalised individuals are more likely to be in casualised employment.  

5. Redundancies of staff on fixed-term or open-ended with review date contracts happen every week.  

6. Invisible redundancies of staff on fixed-term, open-ended with review dates and GH contracts are already happening, with contracts not being renewed or hours reduced, already dramatically increasing the precarity of those on casualised contracts and increasing the workload of those who remain.   

This branch believes that:  

1. Threats of redundancies affect all staff independent of their contract type.  

2. Solidarity means protecting all workers from redundancies.    

This branch resolves to:  

1. Ensure that any actions that opposes voluntary or compulsory redundancies does not disproportionately affect casualised staff who could be used as “buffers” to shield others from redundancy.  

2. Actively campaign to protect and defend the roles of all casualised staff as well as those whose permanent positions are threatened.  

3. Advocate for equal treatment and job security for all staff, ensuring that industrial action reflects the shared interests of casualised and permanent staff alike. 

Proposer: Pietro Stefanini  

Seconder: Sophia Woodman  

This branch notes:  

Education has long been a strategy of Palestinian resistance, and despite conditions of dispossession and violence under occupation, Palestinian educators have continued their activities and rebuilt schools and universities destroyed over the years.   

Sundos Hammad, a speaker from Right2Education, a group of Palestinian educators based at Birzeit University in the West Bank, spoke at our branch on 30 October at a Campus Voices for Palestine event sponsored by UCU. Sundos spoke powerfully of the need to maintain the universities of Gaza at a moment when their physical infrastructure has been completely obliterated. A feature of the genocide being perpetrated by the Israeli state in Gaza is ‘scholasticide’. To date, all the universities in Gaza have been destroyed by the Israeli military.  

Right2Education is encouraging UCU, and others in solidarity with Palestinian educators, to do so by supporting the staff and students of the universities of Gaza to continue their educational activities even while they are displaced. Maintaining this human infrastructure of universities in Gaza will be essential to their survival in the future.   

Right2Education thus called for donations to the Gaza Universities Emergency Committee, for which donations can be made via Taawon, a Palestinian-run educational charity.   

This branch resolves:  

—To make a donation of £1000 to Taawon, for the Gaza Universities Emergency Committee 

Mover: Kate Davison  

Seconder: Jamie Allinson  

This branch notes  

1. UoE Management has issued a statement via Principal Peter Mathieson’s email on 18 November 2024 purporting a budgetary “shortfall to target” and announcing its intention to “change our operating model to ensure we remain financially sustainable” to be done via “a series of actions”  

2. the only “actions” explicitly named in the email are “selective voluntary, and, if unavoidable, compulsory redundancy”  

3. UoE Management have not provided campus unions with management accounts and have otherwise shared only forecasts and vague intentions  

This branch believes  

1. this latest announcement represents an escalation of rhetoric compared to Principal Mathieson’s email of 3 July 2024 which stated that “compulsory redundancies remain a last resort for the University and will be avoided wherever possible”  

2. the current and projected financial position of the University, as per the analysis of the UoE Joint Unions Finance Working Group published on 26 November 2024, does not warrant compulsory redundancies  

3. the inclusion of compulsory redundancies as an option for dealing with the present financial forecast is not only unwarranted, but has a detrimental effect on meaningful discussion with staff and students  

4. UoE Management should exclude compulsory redundancies from its “series of actions”  

5. failure by UoE management to make such a commitment could constitute “failure to agree” with campus unions and would therefore become potential grounds for dispute  

6. statutory timelines under the Trade Union Act 2016 (TUA 2016) for entering dispute require a minimum of 8-12 weeks preparation following a “failure to agree” notice, meaning that a “wait and see” approach risks diminishing future options  

7. greater transparency around the University’s finances is necessary for there to be meaningful discussions with campus unions  

This branch resolves  

1. to request from UoE Management  

a) a formal commitment to no compulsory redundancies  

b) UoE Management accounts for the last two years and a formal commitment to the prompt sharing of financial information as it is produced going forward (including the most recent UoE submission to the SFC (Scottish Funding Council), so we can have a clear and accurate picture of the evolving financial situation  

2. to prepare to issue the University with a Failure to Agree Notice (FTA) as a potential first step towards launching an industrial dispute, if the above requests are not agreed to by UoE Management before the end of 2024 

Proposer: Grant Buttars  

Seconder: Lena Wanggren  

UCU Edinburgh notes   

- statements from Principal and senior management regarding University finances  

- the £20K rise given to the Principal  

UCU Edinburgh believes  

- consultation with TUs and communications with staff has been woeful, misleading and alarmist  

- the University is in surplus  

- threatening jobs while rewarding senior-level failures shows utter contempt for UoE staff  

UCU Edinburgh resolves  

- to declare we have no confidence in the Principal and senior leadership of the University and to publicise this as widely as possible, seeking support from UCU Scotland Comms Officer in doing so.

Proposer: Talat Ahmed 

Seconder: Sascha Radl 

This branch notes: 

1. The election of 5 Reform UK MPs to UK parliament, 1 councillor in Blackpool and their intention to contest council and parliament seats in Scotland. 

2. In Scotland Reform got 168, 000 votes, with some areas achieving 8-10% of the vote. 

3. The connection of Nigel Farage to Donald Trump. 

4. Internationally fascists and the far right have made frightening gains in European elections, taking some 30% in France, Italy and Austria and Germany.   

5. The magnificent 5000 strong successful counter protest called by Stand up to Racism (SUTR) and supported by STUC and 9 trade unions on 7 September against the far right in Glasgow. 

6. Fascist ‘Tommy Robinson’ has called a UK wide protest outside 10 Downing Street against the ‘tyranny’ of Labour government and demands ‘we want our country back’ on Saturday 26 October 2024. The last time he did this in July we witnessed a week of racist rioting across the country in early August. 

7. SUTR has called a national mobilisation against this with the support of the TUC, STUC and the Black Workers Committee and trade union leaders. 

8. Love Music Hate Racism’s planned gigs across the country with Paloma Faith and big names from the music scene across the country in areas targeted by the far-right. 

This branch believes: 

1. We cannot be complacent about the threat of the far-right and Reform UK. During the general election the Tories and Reform stoked far right fears, Islamophobia, racism and division with their ‘stop the boats’ rhetoric. 

2. Trump returning to the White House in November is a real and terrifying prospect. 

3. This is an urgency now and we need maximum unity in action against the far-right across all fronts including the cultural front. Culture is a site for antiracism and antifascism. 

This branch resolves: 

1. To support the national demonstration called by SUTR and backed by TUC and STUC in London on 26 October and make a donation of £200 to the collective transport organised by SUTR Scotland. Nationally, Unite, RMT, Unison, FBU, PCS, EIS, NASUWT, CWU, NEU and UCU are supporting as well as the STUC Black Workers Committee, Edinburgh Trades Council, Glasgow Trades Council and Dundee Trades Council, Positive Action in Housing, as well as UCU Scotland and several UCU branches who have all made donations to enable train tickets to be booked in advance so that subsidised travel can be arranged for students, low paid workers, refugees. Those who can pay more will pay more.  

2. To support the Love Music Hate Racism events going forward to help turn the tide against the far-right, including a mobilising gig in Glasgow for the St Andrew’s Day Anti-Racism march and rally. 

3. To back the 16 November International conference, Stop the rise of fascism and the far right, hosted by SUTR and to fund and send 2 delegates (Talat Ahmed and Alex Thomson Strong) and publicise the event 

4. To back the 8 February TUC/ SUTR hosted trade union conference, and to fund and send 2 delegates (Talat Ahmed and Alex Thomson Strong) and publicise the event. 

Proposer: Jo Edge 

Seconder: Helen Eborall 

This branch notes:  

1. Nominations are now open to the standing committees of the UCU Equalities Committee. 

2. Nominees require nomination from their branch to be eligible to sit on such committees. 

This branch resolves: 

To nominate Sophia Lycouris to sit on the UCU Disabled Members Standing Committee. 

Proposer: Marion Lieutaud 

Seconded by: Cat Wayland 

This branch notes: 

• In the eighth month of Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza, the death toll exceeds 40,000. 

• ICJ rulings and calls for an arms embargo have been violated by the UK government and UK institutions, and they have failed to halt the ongoing genocide. 

• Since 2015, the British government has issued 1,250 standard licences for at least £489 million worth of military exports to Israel. UK arms manufacturers have had a hand in 15% of every F-35 that Israel has received. 

• To date, Israel is the only state which the ICJ has ruled could plausibly be committing genocide, and which the UK has not embargoed. 

• This branch has passed numerous motions supporting action to end the genocide and to end economic relations with complicit companies. Staff networks came together for a collective statement in pursuit of the same aim. Students have also mobilised en masse (through demonstrations and EUSA statement and motion) and have undertaken intrepid actions - including encampment, occupations and hunger strikes - in efforts to pressure the University of Edinburgh to end research collaboration with and economically divest from arms manufacturers and AI companies supplying the Israeli military. The University of Edinburgh's senior management team has yet to meaningfully engage with staff and students' demands. 

• In response to the call by the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions, the UK-based coalition Workers for a Free Palestine (WFFP) have taken direct action coordinated with Workers in Palestine and the Palestinian Youth Movement, in order to disrupt Israel-bound arms production in Scotland and across the UK. WFFP have also supported worker-led organising for Palestine across sectors. 

• WFFP have written to local TUC branches requesting financial support.  

• Many other TUC and non-TUC union branches have passed motions to financially support WFFP (including Scottish branches of UNISON, IWW, IWGB, and others) 

This branch believes: 

• As trade unionists we support the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions' calls to take action against companies that are complicit in implementing Israel's brutal and illegal siege.  

• Workplace organising and blockades organised by WFFP represent meaningful action toward an arms embargo and an end to the destruction and killing in Palestine.   

This branch resolves: 

• To donate £500 to Workers for a Free Palestine - Scotland Project. ption text goes here

Proposed by Jo Edge 

Seconded by Sophia Woodman 

As everyone will be aware, many HE and FE branches across the UK are in dire straits at the moment with redundancies and fire and rehire looming. As of 9 June 2024, here is a list of branches currently in dispute: 

Aston University 

Barking and Dagenham College 

Coventry Adult Education Service 

Edge Hill University 

Education and Training Collective 

Goldsmiths, University of London 

University of the Highlands and Islands 

University of Huddersfield 

University of Kent 

University of Lincoln 

London South Bank University 

Middlesex University 

Open University 

Oxford Brookes University 

University of Portsmouth 

Ravensbourne University London 

SOAS, University of London 

Sheffield Hallam University 

Staffordshire University 

University of Surrey 

Tyne Coast College 

University of Winchester 

Every Welsh university 

Our branch ‘makes’ about £3,000 per month from local subs. On 9 June 2024, the branch’s main account contained £77,248.67. At all times the account must contain a year’s running costs (which includes our administrator’s salary plus all running costs. This was worked out about two years ago under a previous Treasurer, and was a deliberately generous estimate to allow for rising costs, at £56,000. We therefore currently have a surplus of £21,248.67 (rounded down to £20,000 for simplicity). So, as a branch we should decide if we want to donate £20,000 to the UK-level fighting fund, save it to build up our own strike fund, or a mixture of the two. 

The reason I am proposing to donate to the UK fund rather than individual branches is because this is a very easy process from our end, and means those branches who do not have bank accounts and/or ability to pay out for hardship funds (which is the case for many smaller branches, especially FE) are also covered. It means those with fighting funds can send their salaried members to the UK-level fund to recoup some of their costs in order to focus on helping their casualised members, whose evidence they are better able to deal with. It also means not having to keep on top of which branches enter and end disputes.  

If we want to keep the money for potential future disputes, we do nothing and the surplus will be transferred over to the hardship fund as and when it’s needed for that purpose by the Treasurer. Or, we can donate half and keep half. 

So we need to have one - or two - votes. I would urge this goes to e-vote to give the largest possible number of members the chance to have a say. 

1. This branch resolves to donate to the UK-level fighting fund 

Yes/No 

If no: no further vote. 

If yes: 

2. The donation will be 

1. £10,000 (half our current surplus) 

OR 

2. £20,000 (all of our current surplus) 

Proposer: Sophia Woodman 

Seconder: Kathryn Nash 

Currently, the 2016 UCU branch model rules under which our branch operates require a minimum of three branch meetings per year, including an AGM. Since August 2023, we have held 12 branch meetings, including this AGM, one of which was not quorate and had to be rescheduled. Following agreement on the revision of the grade scale, attendance at branch meetings has declined, and arranging monthly meetings when there are no pressing matters for the branch to decide is a burden on branch officers.   

During the past year, our branch has experimented with widening participation in branch decision making through the use of e-voting. The branch model rules set limits on the use of e-voting as a mechanism for branch decision-making, as the rules require that a quorate branch meeting of members make decisions through simple majority voting on motions. In accordance with those rules, and following consultation with UCU Democratic Services, since June 2023, our branch has regularly been giving all branch members a say on key branch decisions through e-voting. To ensure we conform to the spirit of the model rules, we have done this each time through taking a vote at a quorate branch meeting on whether or not to send a particular motion out to the whole membership for an e-vote.  

In such votes, the majority of UCUE members who attend branch meetings have supported giving members who cannot join the meeting in question a say, and have overwhelmingly voted to continue this practice. The use of e-voting means that branch members who cannot attend a branch meeting for whatever reason can still participate in making key decisions, and many do so. Decisions sent to e-vote include a transcript of the debate at the meeting, and require additional work by branch officers to enact this process. 

There is some opposition among branch members to the use of e-voting, with one argument being that it undercuts the value of attending branch meetings and circumvents democratic deliberation. Others who do not oppose e-voting feel that it is frustrating that the only outcome of debate on a motion at a branch meeting is a vote for or against an e-vote.  

In the light of our experience of the past year, we propose some adjustments to our current procedures and timings for branch meetings.  

This branch resolves: 

1. In the year 2024-25, to schedule quarterly branch meetings, including an AGM, with a provisional timetable to be sent to members as soon as UCU head office and UCU Scotland calendars are available to schedule appropriate dates, and to call any additional meetings when there is urgent business to discuss or members request that a meeting to be called for a specific purpose; 
    

2. In branch meetings, to continue to use e-voting for decisions where mandated by a quorate branch meeting (in-person, hybrid or fully online), by deciding at the start of the meeting before any motions have been debated whether or not to send all decisions to be made at that meeting to e-vote; 
    

3. In meetings for which e-voting has been agreed, following the conclusion of debate on a motion, to take an indicative vote on the substance of the motion in question, the outcome of which will be sent to members with the transcript of the debate; 
    

4. In order to avoid double voting, such indicative votes will not be binding, and the final outcome for each motion will be decided by the outcome of the e-vote; 
    

5. If they so wish, movers of motions can present an argument that the decision of the meeting on e-vote should not be applied for the decision or motion they are proposing, and in this case, a separate vote on whether to send to e-vote will be taken that applies only to this motion; 
    

6. Where members decide not to apply e-voting to a particular motion that motion will be voted on in the meeting and the outcome reported to members. 

Proposer: Talat Ahmed

Seconder: Grant Buttars

Call a Special Higher Education Sector Conference

UCU Edinburgh resolves:

• to request, in line with rule 16.11, a Special Higher Education Sector conference to be held at the earliest opportunity, to discuss the future of the Four Fights/JNCHES disputes, and including a potential TPS dispute and resisting redundancies.

Proposer: Cecile Menard

Seconder: Jonny Dennis

This branch resolves to submit the following motion to the UCU UK HESC 2024:

Title: Recognition and Support for Long-Term Casualised Researchers (LTCR) in UCU

UCU notes that:

1. Long-term casualised researchers (research staff with over 8 years of employment on casual

contracts) face distinct challenges.

2. Data suggest LTCRs often belong to intersectionally underrepresented groups.

3. Ambiguous promotion guidelines limit their career advancement.

4. Funding eligibility criteria further marginalise them in academia.

UCU believes that:

1. Recognising LTCRs as a distinct subsection of research staff is essential for addressing their

unique challenges.

2. LTCRs deserve job security, fair career progression opportunities, and equitable access to

opportunities.

3. Data on LTCRs is necessary for effective policy-making.

UCU resolves to:

1. Formally recognise and support LTCRs.

2. Obtain comprehensive data on LTCRs.

3. Lobby for more “truly” open-ended contracts.

4. Advocate for transparent promotion opportunities for LTCRs.

5. Lobby for inclusive funding criteria.

6. Address discrimination faced by LTCRs.

7. Engage with branch-level efforts to establish best practices for supporting LTCRs.

Proposer: Stergios Magkriotis

Seconder: Pietro Stefanini

Ending University of Edinburgh’s complicity in the ongoing genocide and building coalitions with the Palestinian educational sector

UCU Edinburgh notes:

1. Whereas since October 2023, through its relentless genocidal campaign against Gaza and attacks all over Palestine, Israel has accelerated its violations of Palestinian human rights, including intensified attacks on Palestinian universities, students and staff.

2. Whereas the systematic assault on the educational sector in Palestine, and its complete destruction in Gaza, is part of a historic and ongoing project of ethnic cleansing, settler-colonial dispossession and violent fragmentation.

3. Whereas Israel’s attack on the Palestinian educational systems contributes to the deracination of knowledge systems via a system of displacement and dispossession targeting the cultural, spiritual and intellectual life of the Palestinian people.

4. Whereas Israel’s consistent targeted extirpation of communities, institutions and spaces for scholarship demonstrates the intent to dehumanise and incapacitate the Palestinian people, alongside their right to safe learning spaces, preventing them from living, thriving, studying, and excluding them from free and equal participation in the international academic community.

5. Whereas British universities are complicit in the obstruction of Palestinians’ access to education through investment in companies implicated in Israel’s occupation, genocide, settler-colonialism, and apartheid.

6. Whereas Palestinian Higher Education institutions have issued a Unified Call for Justice and Freedom calling on their international counterparts to take action in their support and defence.

7. Whereas the International Court of Justice (ICJ), citing Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, noted that “An entire generation of children is traumatised and will take years to heal. Thousands have been killed, maimed, and orphaned. Hundreds of thousands are deprived of education. Their future is in jeopardy, with far-reaching and long-lasting consequences.”

8. Whereas the ICJ ruled that “Israel must, in accordance with its obligations under the Genocide Convention, in relation to Palestinians in Gaza, take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of this Convention.”

This branch believes that:

■ Education is a fundamental human right, enshrined in international law and a crucial pillar for a people denied their inalienable right to self-determination, in the preservation of their identity, heritage, and civic life.

■ An active stance by British academics against the attacks on the Palestinian people is urgently needed, given Britain’s historical complicity in their ongoing genocide and dispossession.

This branch resolves:

■ To step up the pressure to end the war on Gaza and join the international movement calling for an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire by establishing a committee and/or a student-staff assembly to undertake work towards:

■ Ending University of Edinburgh’s involvement in the arms trade and complicit institutions– To convene a working group to consolidate and bring together existing efforts with a democratic mandate to end University of Edinburgh’s investments, contracts or cooperation agreements with weapons companies supplying Israel and profiting from its system of military occupation, apartheid and settler colonialism. To also support the call for the USS and other pension funds to divest from companies complicit in Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people.

■ Building solidarity and academic links with Palestinian universities and academics–Explore collaborative initiatives such as twinnings, exchanges, joint projects, scholarship programmes, academic fellowships and partnerships that contribute positively to the Palestinian educational sector.

This branch believes:

• There is substantial evidence (BDM results, national survey, our own branch votes) that members want to a vote on the offer(s) on the table.

• Being a member led union that purports to have democratic values necessitates giving members the opportunity to vote on the offer(s).

• Recent communications and decisions (whether it is a compound question in a national survey or denying members a vote because it needs to be framed in particular ways) control the debate rather than enabling consultation and participation from members.

• Members have lived this dispute and this strike for the last three years and have enough lived experience and access to information to make a decision for themselves.

This branch resolves:

• To write to UCU HQ and HEC calling on them to put the offer(s) on a single page of A4 without commentary and to give members separate votes on whether to reject or accept the offers in relation to the separate USS and four fights disputes.

• To relay our motion to branches across the country and call on other branches to do the same.

Item description

UCU Edinburgh notes:

• The 67% majority vote of 36,000 UCU members across the UK in favour of putting the proposals negotiated in both disputes to a vote of members

• The majority support of the 16 March 2023 Branch Delegate Meeting in favour of putting these proposals to a vote of members

• The strong support of this branch in favour of putting these proposals to a vote of members

• The consternation felt by many UCU members at the 17 March decision of the Higher Education Committee not to send these proposals to members

• That there has been no explanation to members of the reasons behind this decision and the process by which members will be consulted in future about these proposals

• That, particularly in the midst of a crucial reballot for industrial action, union processes must not only be, but be perceived to be, democratic

UCU Edinburgh believes:

• That regular consultations with the membership at large should be a vital part of UCU’s structures as a democratic trade union

UCU Edinburgh resolves:

• To call on the Higher Education Committee to, as an urgent matter, decide on a clear timeline and process about when and under what conditions members will be consulted about the outcome of the current negotiations

• To call on the HEC to collaborate with UCU staff and officers to communicate this timeline and process to members

Motion M4 (Congress[HESC]) 

Proposed by: Sophia Woodman 

Seconded by: Helen Eborall 

This branch resolves to send the following motion to the HE Conference: 

Conference notes that student recruitment patterns: 

· mean some universities hoard undergraduate students, while others struggle to recruit. 

· have been used by management to implement department closures and redundancies. 

· translate to poor learning conditions for students, unsustainable workloads for staff at universities that over-recruit and expansion of casualisation. 

Conference believes: 

· the removal of university caps on student numbers by the Tories in 2014 in their pursuit of marketising the sector has been detrimental to higher education and had a negative impact on university staff and students. 

· the UK and devolved governments must reintroduce a managed system of student distribution across the sector based on fairness and equality. 

Conference resolves to: 

· commission research on models of student distribution which can create recruitment balance in HE. 

· develop a campaign for the reintroduction of student distribution this coming year, including branch resources, intense lobbying efforts, and media. Item description

This branch notes the unofficial Branch Delgates' meeting (online) being hosted by UCU London Region at 4.00-6.00 pm on 23 Feb and believes this will be a useful forum for gathering thoughts and opinion to feed into Higher Education Committee on 24 Feb. We agree to send up to 2 delegates, to be decided at this EGM.Description text goes here

The branch notes:

• Excellent turnout on pickets and at rallies for the three days' strike action in November.

• The Cost of Living crisis and the need to keep as many members as possible on board in the next phase of action.

• The necessity of winning a strong reballot for action, without interruption, until after graduation.

• The need to use our mandate effectively while keeping members on board and financial resources stable.

The branch believes that our next phase of industrial action should involve:

• Escalating action from February, building up to a marking and assessment boycott from mid-April continuing until graduation, including a reballot.

• Building the membership and working with other unions and student groups which will provide density, publicity and strength. • A fundraising drive starting ASAP to keep our local and national fighting funds strong for these phases of action.

This branch notes:

• The success of #ucuRISING in bringing UCEA to the negotiating table;

• That 87% of branch delegates voted for ‘escalating action covering the… lifetime of the ballot mandate’ on 31 October 2022; • The successes achieved by other unions through limited 2022 action;

• The Fighting Fund’s likely capacity;

• The cost-of-living crisis;

• That 67% of branch delegates agreed that UCU’s priority should be to ‘call strike action that continues to deliver maximum unity and support from all members’.

This branch resolves to call on the HEC to:

• To investigate the successes of other unions in pay disputes in 2022 and how those were achieved.

• To call for discontinuous escalating action over 2023, in line with BDM outcomes, including (de)-centralised disruptive non-strike activity.

• To develop a further escalation plan in light of reballoting.

• To reserve a national all-out strike as an escalation for the summer assessment period, when all employers experience a significant pressure point.

The branch notes the new initiative “Trade Unions In Communities” and recognises the boost it

can bring to our movement. TUIC currently consists of union branches from a wide range of Trade

Unions including UNISON, Unite, RMT, CWU, with expected affiliation from other unions such as

PCS, FBU, EIS and more.

We note the support given to this initiative by the STUC and Edinburgh and Midlothian

TUCs.

The aim of the group is to bring together Trade Unions, within the Edinburgh & Lothians

area, to work with established community groups in promoting Trade Union membership

and opposing the massive attacks on living standards.

The group aim to use the Craigmillar Hub as a showcase with the long-term aim of rolling

the project out across Scotland.

UCUE resolves:

- Contact TUIC to advise of our support for this initiative

- Affiliate to the group with a yearly donation of £150.

- Work with the group to lend whatever support we can, including sending a delegate to their monthly meetings

- Encourage our members to volunteer in the staffing of the new Hub at Craigmillar

This branch notes:

1. Impartial, evidence-based advice offered by HEI careers services is valuable for students and wider society.

2. HEI careers services promoting roles in oil, gas and mining industries is likely contributing to the global climate crisis, and leading students into careers which will decline as we rapidly decarbonise our economies.

3. Congress 2017 passed a motion resolving to “work with members affected by a move to a low carbon economy, other trade unions, and environmentalists” to campaign for a Just Transition.

This branch resolves:

1. To actively work with People & Planet to publicly support the student-led Fossil Free Careers campaign, calling on university careers services to align their operations with sustainability considerations, particularly by declining to promote oil, gas and mining companies.

2. To produce a website statement about this motion and UCU support for this campaign and amplify the calls to action of it.

To be sent to HE Officers

text to follow

To be submitted as a late motion to HE Sector Conference at Congress 2022

HESC notes:

• The current open-ended marking and assessment boycott

• Delays in enacting decisions taken at previous (S)HESCs.

• Start date of current boycott reduces the number of members able to take disruptive action.

• Liverpool delayed marking by combining boycott with 'go slow'.

HESC believes:

• Branches are best placed to determine when to deploy different types of action.

• Taking action that members feel is not sufficiently disruptive saps morale, makes mobilisation harder and weakens our hand.

• Giving branches ownership of the action will help those members being asked to take this action to hold the line.

HESC resolves that a branch can, via a vote at a quorate branch meeting and in consultation with HE officers:

• Pause local boycott and switch to go slow to target and maximise impact.

• Resume a paused boycott.

• Reduce the number of days of any supporting strike action if employer reduces or forgoes deductions for ASOS.

Motion to be submitted to HE Sector Conference at Congress 2022

Conference notes:

1. Guidance on holding branch delegate meetings (BDMs) https://www.ucu.org.uk/media/10885/Branch-delegate-meetings/pdf/ucu_branch-delegate-meetings.pdf 

2. That BDMs have not been called routinely during the course of the USS and Four - Fights disputes prior to meetings of Higher Education Committee (HEC)

3. That votes have not always been held at BDMs

Conference believes:

a. That BDMs are essential to internal democracy, allowing members views to be expressed through their delegates

b. That BDMs greatly enhance HEC’s ability to take key decisions that reflect and align with members’ views

Conference resolves:

i. To take a much more robust approach to the use of BDMs

ii. To call a BDM before any HEC discussing UK-level disputes 

iii. To circulate questions to branches sufficiently in advance

iv. To instruct HEC to take a strong steer from BDMs

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To be sent to Congress 2022

Congress

Notes:

The current membership subscription bands,

The report on subscription rates at Congress 2021 (UCU/1073),

The principle stated therein for ‘alleviating subscriptions for those on the lowest salary levels’,

That academic staff often avail free membership as students before upgrading to standard membership,

The absence of an analogous route for academic-related professional services staff.

Believes that:

Discounted subscriptions for the first year of membership will:

Further alleviate the membership costs for staff on lower salary levels,

Mitigate the disparity in Notes (5) by providing ARPS staff a discounted membership route,

Incentivise staff who are not members of the Union to join.

Such a discount will not reduce subscriptions income from existing members.

Resolves to:

Implement discounted national and local subscription rates for the first year of membership for those who join UCU on bands F(0) and below.

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UCU Edinburgh notes:

Discriminatory comments and behaviour against trans people are rife in the UK due to misconceptions around gender identity and the impact of improved trans rights.

According to Stonewall Scotland, 1 in 8 trans employees have been physically attacked at work, and 51 percent of trans people have hidden their identity at work for fear of discrimination; and according to Trans.edu, 86 percent of trans students and staff in Scottish HE face barriers including discrimination, harassment and violence (see e.g. www.stonewall.org.uk/sites/default/files/trans_stats.pdf and www.trans.ac.uk).

UCU Congress 2018 motion 31 committed UCU to support trans rights and trans equality in the workplace and oppose any moves to delay or abandon the consultation over changes to the GRA.

UCU Edinburgh motion passed at Scotland Congress 2019 stated: ‘It is the right of all workers, no matter their gender identity, to be safe and respected at work’.

Based on national (UK) estimates, there will be between 155 and 362 staff at the University of Edinburgh who are transgender.

UCU unequivocally supports academic freedom of speech, and we have fought for the rights of our members who are targeted by their employer or the government for their research or trade union activities.

UCU’s existing policy and commitment to academic freedom (https://www.ucu.org.uk/academicfreedom).

UCU Edinburgh believes:

All of our members have the right to exist and be recognised as the gender they themselves identify as.

All our members have the right to hold personal opinions.

Our members do not have a right to be free from criticism for these opinions, nor to be guaranteed a platform by the union to express them.

We should not support members in weaponising their speech to question the existence of trans and non-binary colleagues.

UCU Edinburgh resolves to:

Work with the student union LGBT+ liberation officers and the Staff Pride Network on creating a trans inclusive university.

Create a LGBT+ sub-committee within the branch.

Employ good practice, such as that created by STUC and UCU, to provide guidance for members on gender identity and trans inclusion in the workplace.

Host a workshop on gender identity and trans rights (e.g. by Scottish Trans Alliance or Trans.Edu) for interested UCU members, to counteract lack of information around trans and non-binary equality.

Call on the University of Edinburgh (UoE) to ensure that all events held in the name of UoE and on UoE premises are in line with the Dignity and Respect Policy and that the UoE neither host nor facilitate meetings which contain content which is transphobic, biphobic, homophobic or otherwise detrimental to the safety and wellbeing of LGBT+ staff.

This branch notes:

the decision by the majority of UCU’s Higher Education Committee to ballot UCU members on the proposal from UUK;

that a majority of UCU branches meeting on 25 and 26 March wanted to ‘Revise and Resubmit’ this proposal and many took a clear position of ‘No Detriment;

employers such as Liverpool University and the Open University are already announcing redundancies

We believe that:

accepting the proposal as it stands will demobilise our highly-successful campaign of strike action at a point when we are making serious gains;

seeking further clarification and assurances on the ambiguities presented by the proposal does not necessarily imply taking a ‘No Detriment’ position;

we need to maintain maximum momentum to defend Defined Benefit pensions, pay and jobs.

We therefore resolve:

that the branch will campaign to urge a ‘No’ vote in the ballot;

to call for an emergency Higher Education Sector Conference to debate strategy around the USS dispute.