Motion in support of CCA workers

Goldsmiths ucu log

This motion was passed at a GUCU Branch meeting on 30/09/2024

This branch notes that:

  1. On the 7th June Gallery Assistants at Goldsmiths CCA were notified that due to the abrupt closure of the gallery their scheduled shifts for the period 07/06/2024 – 02/09/2024 would be terminated.  
  2. On the 11th June, 2024 this statement was published on Goldsmiths CCA’s social media channels. The statement was written by Goldsmiths Critical Incident Group, which is made up of members of the Senior Management Team, without consultation with the Gallery Assistants nor any other stakeholders including students, artists and local community groups.
  3. Goldsmiths for Palestine began the occupation of Goldsmiths CCA on 29 May 2024. Throughout the 27 days of occupation, Goldsmiths for Palestine demanded a reopening of talks with the Senior Management Team, whilst continuing open and transparent communication with CCA Gallery workers, freelance technicians and resident community groups to ensure they could work and safely access the space. Goldsmiths Senior Management responded by refusing talks, issuing eviction notices and disciplinary action against students and enforcing full closure of the gallery. 
  4. Current estimates from the Gaza Health Ministry state that as of 15 August 2024, Israel’s air and ground campaign has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, wounded 92,401, and over 10,000 Palestinians are still missing. The Lancet Medical Journal estimates indirect deaths, caused by factors such as disease and starvation, may be above 186,000. 
  5. All 12 of Gaza’s universities have been destroyed or severely damaged, over 80% of schools in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, and with the intensification of violence against schools and universities in the West Bank and the targeted assassination of teachers and University professors. By April 2024, more than 5,479 students, 261 teachers and 95 university professors had been killed in Gaza, and over 7,819 students and 756 teachers injured – with numbers growing each day. UN experts have described the destruction of the Palestinian education system as Scholasticide.
  6. Goldsmiths for Palestine ended the occupation of the CCA on 27th June 2024, but the CCA did not reopen. Gallery Assistants received no communication regarding the reinstatement of their shifts until 27th August 2024. 
  7. During GUCU and Goldsmiths SMT ACAS talks in July 2024, Imran Chughtai, Goldsmiths Chief Finance Officer and Interim Chief Operating Officer, confirmed the University held £51 million in cash reserves.
  8. On 27th August Gallery Assistants were contacted by the CCA with an invitation to sign up for upcoming shifts in October 2024 as the gallery would be reopening. In this email there was no mention of the occupation and no acknowledgement of the significant loss of shifts.
  9. Gallery Assistants at Goldsmiths CCA, as students and recent graduates, are some of the most precarious and marginalised workers at the university due to the contractual terms of their employment which equates to a zero hour contract. Although the University claims to not engage any staff on zero hours contracts, this proves otherwise.

This branch believes that:

  1. The statement issued by Goldsmiths CCA misrepresented Gallery Assistant workers and a wider constituency of resident community groups and academic staff who supported the Goldsmiths for Palestine Occupation
  2. Core decision making around central staffing costs at Goldsmiths CCA lies with the Chief Finance Officer Imran Chughtai
  3. Goldsmiths Senior Management have repeatedly capitalised on industrial action as an opportunity to save money such as through the numerous erroneous deductions resulting from the Opt-Out system.
  4. The decision to withdraw pay and refuse any financial support to Gallery Assistants is a choice enacted by the CFO and Senior Management Team
  5. The conflation of the closure of Goldsmiths CCA for 4 months with the Goldsmiths for Palestine occupation of the gallery (which lasted 27 days) is a cynical and highly unethical reason for the non-payment of workers.
  6. The actions of Goldsmiths for Palestine over the past year, including the occupation of the CCA, have created an essential and urgent disruption to the ‘business as usual’ activities of the University and Goldsmiths CCA, as Israeli forces and settlers continue to enact a genocidal war against the Palestinian people that extends to dismemberment, disease, dispossession and displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. 
  7. The choice to withdraw the wages of Gallery Assistants coincides with increased investment in security staff on campus. GUCU firmly rejects the heightened securitization of our campus which has markedly risen since the previous academic year (2023/2024).

This branch resolves to:

  1. Demand Goldsmiths SMT reimburse the members of staff who lost wages over the period 07/06/2024 – 02/09/2024, with a symbolic amount of £500 x 18 = £9000.
  2. Ensure that all Gallery Assistants affected by this closure are aware of the GUCU Mutual Aid fund, to avoid any financial hardship as a result of SMT’s actions.
  3. To work with the CCA Gallery staff and POD to establish an ethical fixed term employment contract that allows flexibility for shift work alongside job security.
  4. Demand a corrective statement is drafted by Goldsmiths CCA in consultation with relevant parties (Gallery Assistants, Student Union, Gallery Residents) and is disseminated through the gallery’s website and social media channels that highlights:
  • The significance of the occupation in the context of the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza as well as serious violations of international law and intensification of settler violence in the West Bank.
  • The widespread support for the Goldsmiths for Palestine Occupation amongst its gallery workers and wider community stakeholders.
  • The concern and cooperation demonstrated by Goldsmiths for Palestine to mediate the impact of the occupation on the operations of the gallery. 
  • The accountability of Senior Management in taking the disproportionate decision to close the gallery for 4 months and consequently terminate the contracts of 18 staff members 4 months early. 
  1. Make a donation to Youth Demand and Giving4gaza of £250 respectively
  2. To build on the resolves of our previous Motion on Palestine and Academic Freedom.
  3. To reaffirm branch support and solidarity with the student-led Goldsmiths for Palestine group as expressed in our motion on the 29th February 2024, and to support the demands made by Goldsmiths for Palestine to insist Senior Management act upon these demands.