This motion was passed at GUCU Branch meeting on 15/12/2023
Goldsmiths UCU branch notes that:
- SMT have announced a deficit of £14.2 million for this academic year, caused by a shortfall in recruitment
- SMT have proposed four workstreams to remedy this, two of which include yet more restructuring as well as a programme of module reduction, despite them having already pushed through a curriculum review last year
- The proposed workstreams will have a huge impact on our working conditions and students’ learning conditions, but how they will sufficiently address the deficit has not been made clear
- At a branch meeting last month, members voted in support of our branch issuing a Failure To Agree notice to SMT, on the basis of the demands outlined in the motion
- Branch officers then issued this notice, initiating a series of meetings that – if exhausted without resolution – will begin the process of entering into a formal dispute over management’s ‘Transformation Programme’
- An indicative poll is the first step in the process of preparing the branch to carry out a formal ballot, which if successful will enable us to use a mandate for industrial action as leverage in resisting SMT’s plans
This branch believes that:
- Management are using “efficiencies” as a euphemism for redundancies
- That the ‘Transformation Programme’ cannot possibly address the deficit and is in fact designed to fail, paving the way for redundancies that management have thus far refused to rule out
- The threat of undertaking all forms of industrial action needs to be available to the branch, in order to give us as much leverage as possible in the coming months
- Given the rushed timeframe and the next Council meeting on Tuesday 9 January, it is vital that our branch sends a clear message to SMT and Council before the break
This branch resolves:
- To support having all forms of industrial action available to us, including:
- ASOS – including a marking and assessment boycott
- Strike action
- To initiate an indicative poll in January to gauge members’ support for the above forms of action, prior to commencing a formal ballot
- To pursue other forms of resistance, including – but not limited to:
- A vote of no confidence in the Warden and/or SMT
- A vote of censure in the form of a motion that clearly expresses our disapproval of the Warden and/or SMT’s actions
- Continuing to liaise closely with the SU and Goldsmiths UNISON, and organising with students and staff across the College