51¸£Àû

51¸£Àû/2114Ìý 2 February 2024

University and College Union

Carlow Street, London NW1 7LH, Tel. 020 7756 2500, www.ucu.org.uk

ToÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Branch and local association secretaries

TopicÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Call for nominations to the Congress Business Committee

ActionÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Nominations to be returned by 17:00 on Friday 17 May 2024

Summary ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Members of the Congress Business Committee will be elected at Congress 2024; details of how nominations can be made are given here.ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý

 

Dear Colleague

Call for nominations: Congress Business Committee (CBC)

 

1           Call for nominations

Nominations are sought for the following vacancies:

·       Two higher education members of the Congress Business Committee

·       Two further education members of the Congress Business Committee

from the close of Congress 2024, for a term of two years. The nomination form can be found and more details about nomination and the CBC are found below.

This call forms part of the calling notice for Congress set out in 51¸£Àû/2113.

 

51¸£Àû’s annual Congress meeting takes place in Bournemouth, 29-31 May 2024.

The business of Congress and the Sector Conferences is ordered by the Congress Business Committee (CBC). The Committee meets at least three times – once after the motion deadline, once after the amendment deadline, and once immediately before Congress. Its business includes the ordering and compositing of motions and the arrangement of the Congress timetable. Examples of its decisions are set out below. The committee has eight members: four from HE, elected by the HE sector conference, and four from FE, elected by the FE sector conference.

Standing order 56 states that NEC members may be elected to the Congress Business Committee provided that, at the close of Congress, there will be not more than two NEC members in each sector serving on the committee. In 2024, two FE NEC members, and one or two HE NEC members (depending on election results) may be elected to the Congress Business Committee.Ìý

Nominations are self-nominations, and must clearly state the members’ name, branch and consent to nomination. The form for nominations is A hard copy or Word document version can be made available on request by emailing demservices@ucu.org.uk.

The deadline for nominations is 17:00 on Friday 17 May 2024. If more nominations are received than there are places in either sector, a ballot will take place amongst voting delegates from the relevant sector at Congress. If insufficient nominations are received by the 17 May deadline, nominations will be re-opened at Congress. The section of the Congress standing orders under which this process is conducted is appended. Nominees may submit a statement of not more than 100 words in support of their nomination, which will be circulated with ballot papers.

 

2            Role of the Congress Business Committee

2.1       The Congress Business Committee (CBC) is responsible for ordering the business of Congress. The matters that CBC consider include:

1. Whether any motion received after the deadline for the submission of motions is urgent, timely, requires a decision of Congress or Sector Conference and could not have been submitted by the deadline

b.   Whether any motion submitted to Congress is properly the business of a Sector Conference, or vice versa

c.    Whether any motion is out of order

d.   Whether any motions should be composited, or re-drafted as an amendment to another motion, and the text of those composites or amendments

e.   The ordering of motions for debate using headings from the NEC’s report to Congress, and the scheduling of sections of business within the Congress timetable.

2.2       The Congress Business Committee’s second report, containing the ordered motions and amendments, forms the Congress agenda. Congress is asked to adopt the report. It is possible for elements of the report to be challenged from the floor of Congress.

 

 

Extract, Congress standing orders

 

FÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Procedures for elections held at Congress

Election of Congress Business Committee

55.ÌýÌý At each Congress, sector conferences shall each elect two members of the Congress Business Committee who must be members of the relevant sector, to serve for two-year terms.

56.ÌýÌý NEC members may be elected to the Congress Business Committee provided that, following the close of Congress, this will result in there being not more than two NEC members in each sector serving on the Congress Business Committee.

57.ÌýÌý A call for nominations for two members of the Congress Business Committee to be elected by each of the Sector Conferences shall be made in the calling notice of Congress. Nominations shall be submitted to the General Secretary no less than 7 days before the start of Congress.

58.ÌýÌý In the event that nominations do not exceed the number to be elected in any category, those duly nominated shall be declared elected by the Chair subject to standing order 56.

59.ÌýÌý In the event of an insufficient number of nominations being received, no less than 7 days before the start of Congress, nominations for the remaining places on the committee will be re-opened, to be submitted during the meeting of Congress and the Sector Conferences, by a deadline announced by the Chair of Congress, which will not be earlier than the morning of the second day of Congress and the Sector Conferences.

60.ÌýÌý In the event that nominations received by the deadline for re-opened nominations announced by the Chair does not exceed the number of remaining vacancies, those duly nominated shall be declared elected by the Chair, subject to standing order 56.

61.ÌýÌý In the event that nominations received not less than seven days before the start of Congress, or, if applicable, nominations made on the re-opening of nominations at Congress, exceed the number of persons to be elected in any category, a ballot shall be conducted in accordance with a timetable determined by Congress Business Committee such that the result can be announced before the end of the Congress meeting. The elections shall be by single transferable vote.

62.ÌýÌý In the event of a casual vacancy arising, the Congress Business Committee may co-opt a member from the appropriate sector, to serve until the close of the next meeting of Congress. Members who stood in the most recent ballot to elect CBC members from that sector will be approached for co-option onto the committee, the member who received the most support in the ballot being approached first. In the event that the vacancy cannot be filled from these candidates, or where there are no such candidates, another eligible member may be co-opted. All co-options will be reported to Congress. Where a casual vacancy arises before the start of the Congress meeting at the end of the first year of a two-year term, the second year of the casual vacancy will be filled using the election process set out in standing orders 59-61.'