UCU needs ‘honest conversation’ about low turnout in strike ballot

One of the current UCU exec member once commented to me, the "UCU in some Universities is little more than a schoolboy debating society", that perhaps is part of the problem? The strong Trotskyist leanings in some branches are counterpoised by members refusing to go down that hard path that leads to conflict with managements buoyed up by governments hatred of Trades Unions. A more even less hard 'middle path' approach however won't work with so many intransigent 'professional' manager led Universities directed by commercially minded governing council members. Then there's the overwhelming focus on 'equality' some branches are espousing, especially equality of outcome rather than equality of opportunity and meritocracy, leading to further disconnection from members who are becoming so disillusioned with a union that doesn't represent them, their needs and protecting Academic rigour that they refuse to support the Union pitching them into disputes that will cost them money with little if any benefit.

UCU is no longer a union that represents members' views or interests, despite their claims to the contrary. Repeated ballots for strike action resulting in a minority turnout show that there is no appetite for industrial action. It is widely reported that Universities are dominated by left-leaning academics. These ballot results are not, then, a sign of academics agreeing with the agendas of government or politically loyal senior managers, but indicate an understanding amongst members that to be successful industrial action needs to be targeted and timely. Two ballots during the Augur review following numerous parliamentary reports in the last could of years is reckless and damaging to the sector. Demoralised and overworked academics who are already feeling the pressure of immense change do not need the further demoralisation of ballots let alone industrial action. The members know that. Moreover, academics do not need the very public news that there is no appetite for industrial action that results from the ballots. The outcome of this ballot will only serve to embolden those who are determined to change the HE sector beyond all recognition. My simple message to UCU: stop being disappointed in your membership, learn to listen to them, represent them, and pick fights that you can win. Branch Committees work hard, but in my experience they are guilty of group think, believe their own rhetoric, and are amongst the least well informed of my colleagues. They listen selectively, misunderstand half of what is said to them, and only understand the external context through blinkered ideology and theory. Some demonstrate an unbelievable level of naivety and ignorance of the external context. Some branch committee members are also amongst the most intolerant and judgemental of any of my colleagues, measuring success and personal characteristics/motivations of staff and students only on their own terms with no empathy for alternative perspectives.

1 simple change would fix this: Online voting. People don't bother to send the physical ballot back because it is a pain in the ass.

Since national UCU and AUT before it were and are dominated by the right-wing it is absurd to try and pin the blame for failure on "left-leaning academics".