STUC Women’s Conference Oct 30-31st, 2017 Glenrothes, Fife : Summary by Ann Gow, UCU Scotland President

UCU Scotland were well-represented by four delegates, Ann Gow, Janice Aitken, Lena Wagg and Antje Brown at the 90th Scottish Trade Union Congress (STUC) Annual Women’s Conference in Glenrothes in October, with over 200 trade union members, campaign exhibitors, visitors and guests taking time to consider the priorities for campaigns in the year ahead.

(Photograph: 2017 STUC Women’s Conference – Fraser Band)

Delegates from trade unions, trade union councils, workplaces and communities across Scotland contributed to debates on many different issues grouped into six main topics: Economy and Employment, Increasing Women’s Representation and Participation, Education and Lifelong Learning, Social Justice, Health and Combatting Violence Against Women.  UCU Scotland moved and seconded motions on the Gender Pay Gap and Making Women’s Voices Heard in Public Policy Debates on Science and Technology with delegates speaking to topics such as menopause matters at work and sexual harassment in the workplace. All our motions and amendments were passed by Conference, with strong support for tackling these issues.

We not only heard in-depth discussion from conference debates but also had the delight of hearing from a variety of guest speakers, such as Kathleen Walker Shaw, from GMB on Brexit and Beyond, Beth Davies, Chair, Wales TUC Equality Committee, Sofi Taylor, STUC Black Workers’ Committee and Jackie Ballie MSP, Scottish Labour Spokesperson for Economy, Business and Tourism. One highlight for myself included the Union into Schools project with contributions from school pupils on issues such as period poverty. It was inspiring listening to these young women’s powerful contributions and left us feeling more positive for future work. The open discussion about period poverty was also a particular highlight, raising awareness that poverty, health conditions and a lack of access to sanitary products all make managing menstruation difficult. It was really refreshing to hear this campaign supported so openly by all speakers, reflecting what the women’s’ movement can do so positively.

This annual conference is a really positive experience and one that I’d encourage any UCU Scotland woman member to attend.

UCU Scotland conference looks at the future of Scottish higher education.

On 26 October members of UCU from across Scotland gathered at Strathclyde University to attend a conference organised by the union’s education committee titled ‘What next for Scottish Higher Education?’  You can follow the links on the contributors’ names below to go to the video of their contribution.

The sold out conference chaired by UCU Scotland President, Ann Gow, and vice-president, Eurig Scandrett, heard a number of key note speeches with highlights including Professor John Holmwood of the campaign for the public university and author of the alternative white paper talking on the future of higher education and the impact of marketisation on the sector in a session called ‘What are universities for?’.  The conference also heard form NUS Scotland’s vice president education, Jodie Waite, who also sat on a panel discussion on widening access and funding along with UCU Scotland’s Mary Senior and Lucy Hunter Blackburn.  UCU UK president Joanna de Groot also spoke and delegates heard a pre-recorded interview with Scotland’s fair access commissioner (and, we learnt, former AUT and now UCU member) Peter Scott.  The afternoon session heard from Professor Terence Karran, the co-author of research on academic freedom in the UK, who talked through the research and its findings with a particular focus on the Scottish aspects.  Delegates also took part in workshops looking at HE and Brexit, governance, and workplace issues, before finally hearing from senior civil servant Roddy Macdonald on the Scottish government’s priorities for higher education and STUC assistant general secretary Helen Martin on the new code of good HE governance.

Unfortunately we were hit by technical gremlins with the sound desk blowing just before the conference began.  While the sound isn’t perfect on every video you should be able to hear the contributions clearly enough.