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Today, at @ucu& #39;s national executive committee, we passed an important motion, proposed by @missbolshie, seeking to confront sexual harassment within our union. Today& #39;s decision means support for setting up an independent review of past cases of sexual harassment within @ucu.
The process is arcane. Today& #39;s motion actually amends another motion, proposed by @sheffielducu, that will be heard at @ucu& #39;s annual Congress. Nevertheless, it& #39;s still a significant step – and it was supported by most members of NEC (some abstained, one voted against).
But it& #39;s taken many years – three years, I think – to get to this point. Three years in which surviviors ( @JusticeUcu) have struggled to have their voices heard. Respect to them for not giving up, for not allowing themselves to be silenced.
I hope this review of past cases will complement the work the new sexual violence task group, being established by general secretary @DrJoGrady to help inform our union& #39;s organising and campaigning in this area. (Applications to join this task group open until July 15.)
What was interesting about today& #39;s discussion is that although the motion was passed with little opposition, a number of NEC members questioned the cost of both the inquiry and the task group – members of the latter will be paid for their time.
I& #39;m not against such questions being asked – I think they *should* be asked – but I& #39;ve now attended half a dozen NEC and higher education committee meetings... we& #39;ve discussed (re-)balloting the entire 130,000-strong national membership, we& #39;ve agreed to special conferences ...
... and to support more campaigns than I can count. But no one has ever asked how much these things would cost. Not until today.
(As @missbolshie so powerfully put it, responding to these thinly-veiled criticisms of her motion, how much does sexual harassment cost?!)
We also passed a motion offering solidarity to the family of George Floyd & #BlackLivesMatter 
https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">. That& #39;s really important too. But this motion also reiterated @ucu& #39;s support for Stand Up to Racism, an extremely problematic organisation, that BLM has warned its supporters against.
Another, much stronger motion, noted the & #39;pervasive and sinister nature of anti-Black racism& #39;, that it is & #39;perpetrated at every level of society, by institutions and individuals& #39; – i.e. including unions, including @ucu. This motion also resolved to support @freeblackuni. ...
... unfortunately, members of NEC had many concerns with this motion – what does BIPOC mean? what& #39;s the @freeblackuni? (As though Google doesn& #39;t exist) – and failed to pass it. It was & #39;remitted& #39;, i.e. kicked into the long grass.
Along with the general secretary& #39;s report, all this – i.e. discussion of just three motions – took all of our 3 hours. Which meant 8 motions that had been submitted were not discussed.
Of these, one was a motion proposed by @claire_marris & me, asking the gen sec to prepare a paper exploring mechanisms to improve the transparency and accountability of @ucu& #39;s committees. We& #39;ll put it forward to next meeting, but for now, democratic accountability is deferred.
