Sean Wallis (he/him)
I am a lifelong trade unionist and a university researcher. I have given many years of service to the union and members. Currently, I am a national negotiator, an NEC member, regional secretary and branch secretary.
I am standing for Vice President (from HE) because we need our union to stand up for Higher, Further and Adult Education, critical research and publicly-accountable science as a social good.
We need to talk about the big picture.
UK Higher Education is facing a three-fold crisis:
- an unsustainable and grossly unfair Fee Market funding system
- a growing far-right political threat to universities, science, and international staff and students
- a widespread adoption of generative AI that threatens graduate jobs and the very idea of science and fact.
The current Trump administration is a clear warning of what Farage and ‘Reform’ want to do in the UK. By the time the winner of this election becomes UCU President, we could have a Reform government. We must stand up to racism and scapegoating, whether of refugees, our members or students.
This assault undermines Further Education as well as Adult and Prison Education. I believe in the Robbins Principle that everyone who can benefit should be able to participate in Education.
We need an alternative vision: a programme for the defence of education in the 21st Century – including Higher, Further and Adult Education. My starting point is ordinary members are best able to articulate this threat and advocate positive solutions. For example, as scientists, we don’t just say that correlations are not causes. We say you need education for humans to control AI!
Defending education also means standing up for ourselves. We must act urgently to stop any attempt to bully post-92 colleagues out of their pensions, stop redundancies, oppose casualisation and defend national agreements.
We need to rebuild the UK-wide pay fightback because any union that only fights locally can be beaten locally. Solidarity is not an added extra. We must keep our eyes on the prize: the defence of education, research, and members’ jobs, pay and conditions.
When we lead members into battle, we must not abandon them. The 2023 MAB debacle must not be repeated. That means electing (left-wing) NEC reps who stand by democratic decisions of members.
I convened the Convention for Higher Education in 2016-17 (and 2020), building the argument against the HE market system in Parliament. I have helped coordinate the UCU Solidarity Movement since 2020, helping union reps organise solidarity, member-to-member, branch-to-branch, meeting weekly for 5 years.
I am a member of UCU Left, a hard-working branch secretary and a staunch defender of research staff. Vote for me for a union that represents you and fights for you.
Election hustings address
As the Vice Presidential elections meeting for candidates (the ‘hustings’) was cancelled as a result of the UCU UNITE strike, UCU asked all candidates to produce a 15 minute video!
I’ve included mine below. You can watch all of the candidate addresses on the UCU website.
Candidates were asked to address the following 5 questions.
- What political party or parties, if any, are you a member of?
- How should the union tackle the increasing workload pressures?
- University management is increasingly detached from the workforce, our working conditions, and our attitudes towards our work. This detachment is proving fatal to the future of the sector. What can be done to strengthen workforce democracy and influence in our institutions?
- How will you bring the various groups together and work across differences?
- The number of branches fighting for survival increases almost daily. To what extent can we build a national campaign to save our sector? What elements do you recommend for a successful campaign?
Election statement
(London & East)
Sean Wallis (he/him)
I am a lifelong trade unionist and a university researcher. I have given many years of service to the union and members. Currently, I am a national negotiator, an NEC member, regional secretary and branch secretary.
I am also standing for Vice President (HE). See my election statement (above) for what I think we should do to face up to the threats to Higher Education. But if I am not elected in that role, I would ask HE colleagues to vote for me to continue on the HEC/NEC.
London colleagues will know me as an open and supportive Regional Secretary as well as the UCLUCU branch secretary. I believe in ordinary members: they – you – we – are the union.
We need to foster a culture of solidarity and support between union branches.
I help run the online UCU Solidarity Movement network launched by Imperial UCU and other branches during Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. This has helped union reps organise solidarity, member-to-member, branch-to-branch. It has met weekly for 5 years!
We also need to bring the defence of public Higher Education to Government.
In 2016-17, I convened the Convention for Higher Education in 2016-17, building the argument against the HE market system in Parliament, organising two Parliamentary lobbies. As London Region secretary, I have organised regional demonstrations which have put the union on the map and (memorably) taken the fight to UCEA!
London is one of the world’s most diverse cities, but we face the serious threat of a rise of racism from Farage and the far-right, but also from Labour and other parties conceding to them. We must stand up to racism and scapegoating, whether of refugees, our members or students. We must resist all forms of discrimination.
We have to defend education and jobs in London. I think that all union reps who stand for election should commit to actively supporting branches.
Defending education means standing up for ourselves. We must act urgently to stop any attempt to bully post-92 colleagues out of their pensions, stop redundancies, oppose casualisation and defend national agreements.
We need to rebuild the UK-wide pay fightback because any union that only fights locally can be beaten locally. Solidarity is not an added extra. We must keep our eyes on the prize: the defence of education, research, and members’ jobs, pay and conditions.
When we lead members into battle, we must not abandon them. The 2023 MAB debacle must not be repeated. That means electing (left-wing) NEC reps who stand by democratic decisions of members.
I am a member of UCU Left, a hard-working branch secretary and a staunch defender of research staff. Vote for me for a union that represents you and fights for you.