Lobby of Salford Council this Wednesday 2/3/11

SALFORD AGAINST THE CUTS
DAY X DEMO
Wednesday 2nd March noon
Outside the Civic Centre, Chorley Rd, Swinton
On Wednesday Salford City Council will ratify its budget for next year, including £40million of cuts for next year and hundreds of job losses. There will be a lobby of the Council from 8am onwards, outside the town hall with a demo and rally at noon.

Aaron Porter will not seek re-election

Aaron Porter will not seek re-election as NUS president at the annual conference in April. Owen Jones explains why Porter's position as president had become untenable in this blog entry.

Porter's statement in full:

Dear All

The last few months have been momentous. Our response to the Government's austerity measures will go down in the history books. We've kick started a wave of student action, brought the coalition to its knees, and we've shaped the public debate on education in an unprecedented fashion. This campaign began over 3 years ago- a long-term strategy to deliver a real alternative to a market in fees, and it's a campaign I have been heavily involved in from the very beginning as a student officer in Leicester, as Vice President (Higher Education) and then as NUS President.

The Government's decision to treble tuition fees was a bitter pill to swallow - and whilst a number of concessions were secured, notably for part-time students as well as an increased threshold of repayment for all graduates, this was still not the outcome we wanted. Thousands of students will now decide that Higher Education is not for them- and the ones that do get to go will be plunged into an era of market chaos. It's a tragedy- and one that requires relentless pressure, both locally and nationally, to ensure that it is exposed and replaced with something better as soon as possible.

So this new regime brings with it a new landscape, and I believe NUS now needs reinvigorating into the next phase of this campaign. After considerable soul searching, I believe there needs to be a new President to lead the student movement into that next phase. As a result, I've resolved not to seek re-election at National Conference this year.

The challenge for a new National President will be great. They'll need to support students' unions and student officers to get the best deal for students, whilst running a major national campaign to defeat damaging marketization in education. They'll need to build activism and radicalism on the ground whilst defending legitimate, democratic students' unions from attack from our enemies. Above all, they'll need a fresh outlook- because if we are to reach out, and engage with, the full diversity of our membership, we need to move beyond the tired rhetoric and redundant tactics of some factional groups.

I want to say thank you to the hundreds of students and student officers who have been so supportive this year, and indeed for the nominations for a second term which I had already been sent. It goes without saying that with a white paper on its way, the next four months remain a huge opportunity for the organisation, and I will be relentless in ensuring I do the very best I can in the role.

We should continue to be proud of what we have achieved, and it has been an honour to be President at this time. If I have one criticism of this year, it would be that we have not been quick enough to talk about our achievements - and I hope we can pause for a moment to remedy this.

Let's push on to make sure we credit ourselves for what we have achieved, and ensure we work together to push NUS and the student movement to the next level.

In unity,

Aaron Porter

Salford meeting to plan for the TUC demo on 26th March

Salford TUC and the Salford Against the Cuts campaign have called a public/organising meeting in preparation for the TUC’s march in London on the 26th of March.

The meeting will be held at 7pm on Tuesday the 22nd of February, Pendelton Bowling Club, 13 Eccles Old Road, Salford, M6 7DE.

The TUC is expecting 250,000 people on the March.

We are expecting 50,000 from the North West.
 

It is imperative that a big city working-class city like Salford has many people in London as possible.

NUS memo to SUs - don't fight the fees rise!

The Times reports today on the memo issued by the NUS to Student Union officers which advises our elected representatives not to fight the rise in tuition fees. Its description of the repayment system as 'progressive' makes it sound remarkably similar to the justifications offered by politicians like Nick Clegg when they attempted (and failed) to sell the policy to students.

Memo from student leaders: don’t fight rise in fees

Student leaders have privately advised their full-time campus representatives not to campaign against moves by some universities to charge the maximum tuition fee of £9,000.

A memo from the National Union of Students (NUS), seen by The Times, advises its elected student officers that campaigning against high fees could backfire and that they should hold talks with their universities instead.

The NUS has publicly opposed any rise in tuition fees but the briefing note appears to contradict that stance, calling the Government’s higher education reforms “progressive”. It also admits that funding cuts are not as drastic as the union has claimed.

The disclosure of the memo comes amid signs of a growing split within the student movement as a more radical campus-based activism becomes hostile to the NUS leadership.

Nationally the NUS has opposed any increase in fees from the current £3,290 and advocates a graduate tax, but within each university it advises a pragmatic approach, accepting that lower fees may damage quality.

The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge and Imperial College London have proposed the maximum of £9,000 from 2012, with others set to follow.

The five-page briefing note gives advice to NUS officers on campuses about discussions on increasing fees from 2012-13, after the Government’s decision to lift the cap on charges.

Aimed particularly at universities in the Russell Group and the 1994 Group of smaller research universities, it cautions NUS officers against trying to stop universities setting the maximum fee. It says that “simply campaigning for a low fee might not generate the results you require (especially inside the Russell and 1994 Group)”.

On the reforms of student finance, with a high repayment threshold and payments spread over 30 years, the note says that “the vastly increased numbers of graduates that will never pay the loan off are in fact what makes the system relatively progressive”.

'Teenage Riot' screening at Islington Mill

Islington Mill has an exclusive screening of a documentary entitled 'Teenage Riot' as part of their 'Off With Their Heads' season. The 30 minute  documentary that was filmed at the London student demonstration towards the end of last year has been distributed and produced by Vice Magazine.

The screening will start at 7 on Wednesday 16th Feb, and the Mill will be open from 6 for drinks etc. Entry is free. Facebook event here.

George Osbourne isn't working

Britain's better off without the ConDems

Come & join the queue outside George Osborne's constituency office in Knutsford, Cheshire

Hand-deliver your own personal message
Queue starts 12 noon, SATURDAY 19th FEBRUARY

@ Tatton Conservative Office, Manchester Road, Knutsford WA16 0LT

Solidarity with staff at UWE!

Academics at the University of the West of England went on strike yesterday in protest against the management's restructuring plans. All university readers, principle lecturers, and professors were forced to reapply for their own jobs. The university also wants to cut back on senior posts by 25% and to subject hourly-paid staff to a review. The UCU received a clear mandate from its members to call for industrial action; 66% who voted in the ballot supported strike action. 

Send messages of support to John.Hodgson@uwe.ac.uk.

Demo 5th March

Greater Manchester Education Activist Network and Manchester Coalition Against Cuts have called for a demonstration in Manchester on 5th March to protest against cuts to education and public services.

 

Today we have learnt of the punitive cuts to public services planned by Manchester City Council:

• 5 libraries will close and all others will have their opening times restricted
• £45 million will be cut from the children's services budget
• nursery subsidies to be scrapped and nursery fees to rise by a quarter
• 36 Sure Start centres to be run by volunteers, or to close
• 340 supported housing units for adults to be scrapped
• leisure centres face closure
• street cleaning at nights will stop
• work on the highways will be restricted

to name but a few. This is what life under the cuts looks like. Salford faces a £40 million cut to its budget, and is a city that cannot afford such austerity measures. Salford Council's budget will be announced between Feb 16th and March 1st.

For full details of the cuts see the MEN's report. Sign the petition they support here.

Protest on the 5th March against this attack on public services! Assemble 12.30PM at All Saints' Park, Man Met campus, Oxford Road.

First meeting!

We have our first meeting between 4-5 in Boardroom 2, Uni House this Thursday! We need your input to help us plan where to take the campaign next.

AGM

We had our Student Union Annual General Meeting on Wednesday. We submitted a motion on fighting the cuts, which wasn't debated or voted on as the meeting was inquorate (not enough union members attended). You can see the motion, and the amendments proposed by the Student Union executive, below.

Ed Marsh, who is the NUS Officer for Union Development addressed the meeting on where he thinks the student movement is going next. To summarise his argument, young people are unfairly treated by the government and have been betrayed by the promises of the Lib Dems. He attributed the fact that the bill to increase tuition fees was passed to this betrayal, and that we entered the debate too late. We now have to make the case for education being a public good, that the attack on education is ideological in nature, and for the introduction of state funding for education. 

We asked him whether he agreed with us that the language of the markets should be rejected just as we resist the marketisation of education - given the recent suggestion by Aaron Porter that we should now be thinking in terms of protecting students' rights as consumers and suing universities if they don't give 'value for money' - he gave a qualified response. He recognised that the proposals to change the means by which universities were funded did represent the marketisation of education, yet retained the right to use the language of the markets to defend education. The 'language of consumerism terrifies Vice Chancellors'. 

We would suggest that having accepted that this attack on education is ideological and informed by a disregard for the public good, education cannot possibly be defended within that ideology. A fight on those terms is doomed to failure; we have to make a case for education as something that cannot be bought in any meaningful sense, that students are not consumers but citizens with an inalienable right to develop their talents to the highest level and as they see fit.

We also asked him why he thought that many student protesters felt that the NUS and their Student Unions had failed to represent their interests. He told us that Student Unions and the NUS were unable to act as quickly and in the same manner as organisations such as the Education Activist Network. He stressed that it was important to have a single national voice, and that autonomous action doesn't damage the national organisation. He had said earlier, in his opening speech, that we 'can't allow students to lose faith in unions and the NUS'. 

We might respond by pointing out that the rapidity of the government's wholesale restructuring of public services leaves us with no choice but to act rapidly, and that political differences such as that noted above (on the value of 'consumer rights' talk) makes certain aspects of the NUS position unacceptable to many student activists at a fundamental level. It is unlikely to say the least that they will get behind a campaign to threaten university management with legal action, or even accept that this is a strong position to take. If we feel that the strategy of the NUS or Student Unions is unworkable we have the right and the duty, as members of unions, to challenge that and, if need be, to seek to change Student Unions at a bureaucratic and constitutional level so we can mandate them to carry out effective action. Legislation that increases tuition fees and bankrupts universities is bad legislation, and must be overturned.

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Motion – Fighting the cuts.

This union notes

1. Despite the result of the vote on tuition fees on the 9^th December, recent activism by students had an impact on parliamentary democracy; more MPs resigned over the issue, and concessions made by the Government (such as the change to the repayment threshold) indicate student protest has been effective. voted against the bill than was generally expected, several Liberal Democrat

2. Events such as the National Student Assembly in London on 30^th January 2011 are evidence that student activists are organising nationally, independently of their Student Unions, and with a view to a long term fight-back.

2. The austerity program imposed by the government on UK citizens impacts on public services and welfare state, as well as the university sector.

3. The NUS will be mobilising for the TUC National Demonstration on Saturday 26 March, which aims to bring together trade unionists, service users, community groups and everyone who is worried about the impact of the cuts on our society and economy.

This union believes

1. The values of the market have no place in the education sector, and the privatization of education must be resisted.

2. The efforts of students campaigning against the cuts have laid the foundations for a long-term and broad campaign against all cuts proposed by the Comprehensive Spending Review.

3. Whilst the student movement has been at the forefront of the fight-back against cuts, students were sustained in their efforts by financial and moral support from other groups such as trade unions, university departments, community groups, and individuals. This support should be reciprocated; collective action is the only means by which the claims of any particular group will be recognised.

This union resolves

1. To ensure that the student body is informed of the cuts and the impact they will have on the education sector, and to publicise the campaigns and events held by anti-cuts groups run by union members.

2. To actively build links with organisations such as Salford UCU, the Greater Manchester Education Activist Network, Salford

3. To actively support its members in their activities, whether this be organising and publicising demonstrations or to facilitate dialogue with university management.

4. To actively support university workers and other public sector workers who take action against cuts that threaten their jobs and the public services they represent.

5. To support and to work towards participation in the TUC National Demonstration against the Cuts on 26^th March 2011, and any regional demonstrations that are held to build for this event.

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Amendments

Motion – Fighting the Cuts

This Union notes:

Delete no 3 and insert

3. That although the austerity program imposed by the government on UK citizens impacts on public services and welfare state as well as the university sector, charity law requires the Union to campaign on issues that affect students in their lives as students and not in any wider definition.

This Union believes:

Delete no 3 and insert

3. Whilst the student movement has been at the forefront of the fight-back against cuts, students were sustained in their efforts by financial and moral support from other groups such as trade unions, university departments, community groups and individuals. This support should be reciprocated; though only within the allowed boundaries of campaigning under charity law

This Union resolves:

To delete all and insert:

1. To ensure that the student body is informed of the cuts and the impact they will have on the education sector and to promote awareness of the campaigns and events held by anti-cuts groups run by Union members.

2. To work with other campaigning agencies where appropriate on the issue of Higher Education cuts, within the boundaries of charity law.

3. To support its members in their activities, subject to the boundaries of charity law.

4. To support University workers who take action against cuts that threaten their jobs and the public services they represent, where this impacts on student as students..

5. To promote the TUC National Demonstration against the cuts on 26^th March 2011 and any regional demonstrations that are held to build for this event, should the generality of students be interested in participating.

National Assembly for Education

Last Sunday - 30th January - saw the first National Assembly for Education in the union building of the LSE. It was well attended by members of occupations from around the country, student activists, and university workers. This kind of meeting represents a positive step forward for the student movement; it was clear that the assembly was not mandated to pass proposals for action but was a forum for sharing best practice and ideas to sustain the movement in the months ahead. The TUC demonstration on the 26th March was an important focus but it was recognised that there is an urgent need to build for this event and to think about what we will do after it. There will be another National Student Assembly after the 26th March.

These were the proposals voted on:
  

Occupations

• Occupations are one of a range of actions that activists can use.
• Occupations should hit leaders of institutions and budgets.  They should include direct action.
• We need to broaden out and get more student support for occupations.
• It is important to get trade union support for occupations.
• We should try to use the press to our advantage.
• We should also protest at high profile university events.

Demonstrations/Actions

• A key priority is the TUC demonstration on the 26^th March, for which we should organise an education section for students and education workers, and mobilising to ‘shut down London’.
• We should support calling the week of the TUC demonstration as a European week of action.
• We support a march on Eton on 17^th February to coincide with the Old Etonian’s Association Open Day.
• We need to take part in another action before the 26^th March.  The 24^th February should be called as a day of action around the country and in London we should protest at UUK event for vice-chancellors.  Before this we should organise at campuses around the country to try to get VCs to boycott the event.
• We support civil disobedience as a part of protest.
• We call for a Global Day of Action in February or March.
• We need to work with LGBT groups and challenge any homophobia on demonstrations.
• We should get disabled people to take a lead in organising protests and try to make demonstrations more accessible for disabled people.
• We should organise a protest at the Liberal Democrat spring conference in Sheffield.
• We condemn the cap on education visas and the exploitation of international students.

Working with Trade Unions

• We need to work, with Student Unions and General Meetings where possible, to get support for Education Union’s strike ballot, in particular the upcoming UCU ballot, and call for a student strike on the day of any union’s strike.
• We need to build cooperation between students and staff, holding joint meetings to build a united struggle, to which we invite other local workers.
• Possible ways of building support for a strike ballot involve making leaflets for every lecturer, providing information for students, starting to collect immediately for a strike fund, starting a petition from students to declare support for striking Education Workers.
• We should support university anti-cuts groups, which should send representatives to union meetings, as well as forums where students and workers can discuss.

Other

• We support the setting up of people’s assemblies.

 see the Education Assembly blog for further details; http://educationassembly.wordpress.com/