A local active member shared with the branch some of the comments they received while talking to colleagues about the ballot. Here are some responses to things they’ve heard:
- “I can’t find my ballot paper”
You can check at MyUCU where your ballot paper was sent. Sadly, if you haven’t received it already it is too late to request a replacement so have a hunt around at home/in your pigeonhole to check it’s not under a pile of other papers. Send it in the post by 6 April to ensure safe arrival.
- “I’m not sure if I’m eligible to vote”
Do any of the following apply to you?
- You’ve retired
- You’ve become unemployed
- You’ve left the branch
- You’re on long term leave (including maternity leave, sick leave, sabbatical)
- You’re employed by a third party
- You’re head of the institution
- You hold an emeritus or honorary position
If they do then it’s really important that you tell Amanda (ucu@soton.ac.uk) by 5 April so that you can be excluded from the ballot, otherwise the threshold will be artificially high
- “I can’t be doing with paper forms, if the UCU wants my vote they should organise online ballots”
They’d love to but the government won’t let them. The anti-union legislation currently in force requires postal ballots despite (or more likely because) of them being cumbersome and expensive
- “I’m abstaining so there’s no point in posting my ballot”
You couldn’t be more wrong! Every abstention received counts towards the turn-out threshold. Leaving your ballot unposted means your colleagues’ votes are ignored and allows our management to claim that we don’t care about pensions, workloads, casualisation or pay gaps. It’s happened twice, please don’t let it happen again.
- “I joined the Union because it helps members, not because I wanted to go on strike”
So did I, and without its help I wouldn’t be in Higher Education today. But the Union can only help its members if it’s also prepared to take action to defend their interests. Management have made it abundantly clear that the only limiting factor to what they’re prepared to do to us is what we’re prepared to tolerate.
- “I don’t like UCU’s approach to campaigns”
Get involved, let them know. If you don’t want a strike, vote against it. But don’t throw your vote away, and all your colleagues’ votes with it.
- “There’s no point taking action, it never works”
A common misperception, that VCs would love you to believe. Industrial action in HE/FE is highly effective, see here, here and here for just a few recent examples.
- “The changes to USS are a necessary response to current economic conditions and they’re in our best interests”
You’re welcome to your opinion, but if that’s the case why have UUK been hiring consultants who specialise in breaking pension schemes since long before these conditions were present, and why have VCs (including ours) been misleading staff about the negotiations?
- “These issues don’t affect me personally so why should I take action?”
Because that’s what a union is.