Dear all,
You will have seen from the recent results that our boycott of the Staff Representative Council has been very successful. Very few academic departments have received any nominations at all and several other 'constituencies' have no nominations either. In most cases, there are insufficient nominations to fill the vacancies. Even the V-C's office was unable to come up with a single nominee. The only 'constituency' in which it will be necessary to hold an election is, wait for it, HR!
The results of management's repeated requests for nominations has shown that staff recognise that the staff representative council is a farce, designed to rubber-stamp management policy. Those who are standing clearly represent no-one but themselves and may even want to stand down now that the extent of opposition is clear.
What is more, even our management will be unable to use this body as an excuse for their attack on staff representation. It has little to do with staff and does not represent anyone.
We need to insist that existing channels of communication and academic input are not just retained but also improved. The University must also engage properly with the main staff representatives: the unions. Given the state of the University, the continued refusal to involve staff seems ridiculously perverse.
There will be an all-members UCU meeting tomorrow: 1-2pm Benwell Rd extension (behind the Tower Building, Holloway Rd) BEL 1-03/04. Agenda: UCU recognition, staff representation, annual leave, ID.cards, student misconduct panels.
See you tomorrow,
Amanda Sackur
Chair, Co-ordinating Committee,
London Metropolitan UCU