Jo McNeill

There is absolute anger with how this and the preceding government have treated FE, but there is a willingness out there to fight for what we know is a fundamental part of an educated society.

The context of the problem is that we have approximately 800,000 16- to 24-year-olds without a job, education or training. Fifteen per cent of 16 to 64-year-olds ‎have no qualifications whatsoever. At the same time 12,000 FE jobs have been cut in the last three years and 1 million student places have gone since 2010.

UCU members campaigned effectively for the last two years to raise the profile of the FE sector and in doing so, managed to hold back further cuts to funding. This shows that together we do have strength and as general secretary, I would build on those wins.

National bargaining has to be reinstated to restore pay and pensions. Our members are struggling with expanding workloads and increased performance management thinly veiled as lesson observations. We need high profile campaigns and effective strategies to deal with these issues. We need to prioritise and raise the profile of the ongoing issues our prison educators are facing.

The UCU has a crucial role to play in highlighting the hypocrisy of the government calling on all migrants to learn English after savagely cutting Esol provision.

FE transformed my life and thousands of others. I wouldn’t be where I am today had I not enrolled on an access course as a young mum. If the provision for adult returners had been attacked then as viciously as now, I’d have never contemplated going into higher education. I support the FE Charter backed by Jeremy Corbyn and the call for 15,000 more staff in FE. We need increased investment in FE and we need it now.

Sally Hunt

Since my election in 2007, I have helped establish UCU as the voice of FE teachers - the unsung heroes of our education system.  UCU has been at the centre of campaigns for more FE funding; stood up for prison and adult education; worked to change the debate on lesson observation; fought course closures and redundancies and worked to limit workload and casualisation. For the one in eight members who seek help with a work problem every year, we have been your advocate when you need us most. Last year our reps won a record £10 million in compensation. I am standing for re-election as the independent candidate with a plan for UCU’s future. We must:

• Prioritise support for you. UCU must look at every penny we spend to shift resources into supporting you. I will recruit additional staff to provide support for members.
• Review the way we negotiate. If employers will not bargain seriously nationally, UCU must take the fight to where the money is, developing a twin track national and local approach to win on pay, workload and casualisation.
• Think differently about strikes. Elected committees must ensure ballots are backed by well-worked out plans which convince you to vote, and implement types of action which provide maximum leverage.
• Give members more say. Not being at a UCU meeting because of workload pressures should not silence your voice. Politicians like Jeremy Corbyn have called for more “digital democracy” and we in UCU can learn from this - and give you more direct say on the big issues.
• Be relevant to young staff. The outlook for new teachers is bleak - lacking rights, status and security. I will ringfence money to support young staff - the next generation of UCU members.

I will always put your interests first. Please use your vote.

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