UCU trashing Equal Pay legislation

[Waterl00]

Hi
Pota invited me over from the Maya Forstater employment tribunal thread. I am going to post about a move by the UCU to wreck equal pay legislation by supporting the removal of legal sex from birth certificates.

To explain, this recently published document is quite informative of the belief system we are seeing demonstrated. On the first page....

www.ucu.org.uk/media/10564/UCUs-position-on-Trans-inclusion/pdf/Trans_inclusion_November_2019.pdf

UCU position on trans inclusion
^UCU has a long history (from predecessor unions) of enabling members to selfidentify whether that is being black, disabled, LGBT+ or women. At recent Congress’ and further and higher education conferences, policy has been made on more options than binary genders on forms (FE conference 2017), using the acronym LGBT+ to ensure an inclusive approach to gender identities which is
different to that assigned at birth and/or their sexual identity being other than heterosexual (Congress 2017), gender-neutral toilets and facilities (Congress 2017), support campaigns to remove the requirement and practice of gender assignment at birth (Congress 2017), promotion of non heteronormative and non binary identities (FE conference 2014).^

So the bit I have highlighted is that sex should disappear from birth certificates completely and only self ID of gender identity be legally relevant. The UCU are committed to eliminating sex on birth certificates.......

As are these academics.
futureoflegalgender.kcl.ac.uk/project/

So if you are a paying member of the UCU they are doing this in your name!

I am writing a piece for publication about how this will trash equal pay. If no-one is legally male, its all entirely voluntary, then equal pay legislation is dead.

I would like to hear how UCU envisage equal pay legislation working when we have to first prove a man is a man. With no record of anyone's sex.

So it's your union doing this to you. I work in HR doing equal pay audits. And yet your union don't want me to be able to do it anymore.

Sorry, highlighting didn't show up above.

UCU position on trans inclusion
^UCU has a long history (from predecessor unions) of enabling members to selfidentify whether that is being black, disabled, LGBT+ or women. At recent Congress’ and further and higher education conferences, policy has been made on more options than binary genders on forms (FE conference 2017), using the acronym LGBT+ to ensure an inclusive approach to gender identities which is
different to that assigned at birth and/or their sexual identity being other than heterosexual (Congress 2017), gender-neutral toilets and facilities (Congress 2017), support campaigns to remove the requirement and practice of gender assignment at birth (Congress 2017), promotion of non heteronormative and non binary identities (FE conference 2014).^

Thanks, Waterl00. The direction the UCU is taking is really worrying me. I now know for sure that they aren’t on my side with regards academic freedom. If I were to be subject to a student complaint as so many others have been, they would not have my back. Instead, they would want me to be fired. They are a threat rather than a source of protection against my employer.

I was pleased to see on the other thread a number of women resigning from the union.

Thanks @Waterl00, I'll be following with interest

Completely agree @Pota2 and it's why I've resigned my membership. I'm grateful to this site for opening my eyes and for allowing free discussion of issues that, quite frankly, I'm becoming frightened to talk about publicly

As I mentioned on the strikes thread, there is a current conspiracy to oust Jeanette Findlay, the president of Glasgow UCU. This is being led by this academic twitter.com/BeccaEHarrison. She has deleted her tweets now but said she was making a complaint about Jeanette because of her supposedly ‘transphobic’ views. Jeanette is not transphobic, obviously, same as the vast majority of GC women. However, Dr Harrison expressed an intention to get Jeanette removed from her post so that the union could go back to supporting trans people ‘like it should be’. This is just the tip of a large iceberg. Jeanette was in the process of assisting Dr Harrison with a workplace issue and Dr Harrison herself admitted that she had been supportive. However, none of that counts as far as wrongthink accusations are concerned it seems. Really chilling.

Today I also read that Oxford Brookes University has cancelled a planned talk by a feminist artist because she is apparently a ‘TERF’. When will this end?

@Pota2 Have a look at the vitriol spouted against academics by twitter accounts like TERFSOutofArt which is actively witch-hunting academics who are saying nothing transphobic whatsoever! But they are, of course, daring to question the agenda. This account hounded Oxford Brookes until they no platformed the artist

Bardonnay, yeah, they’re the ones. Also that odious White Pube account which tried to get a woman fired from Liverpool John Moores. Such a shame that OB gave in. I much prefer the response of their neighbours in relation to complaints made about academic staff who took place in the WPUK meeting:

Wow, just looked at the TERFSOutofArt account and the LGBT society at Oxford Brookes wrote an odious letter to the VC basically calling for the academic who invited the artist to be fired. Nasty little shits. They have also made a claim that another member of staff at the university who said she would question the decision to cancel it is a transphobe. This is unbelievable.

@Pota2 yes, I know. I really feel quite desperate looking at those tweets. And that hatefulness is acquiesced to!

So here is Becca ranting about their being no gain self iding trans.

Maybe not Becca, but in an equal pay audit, if all I've got in my data is self iding as "prefer not to say" then we've got no equal pay audit. When you make gender ID voluntary men can legally remove their gender for equal pay audits. So lots of gain for men wanting to avoid scrutiny of their pay....this is what your bonkers union thinks is protecting worker rights. Hahaha. Becca, you have the brains of a gnat.
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@BeccaEHarrison
Nov 18
More
Just saw that Metro headline stirring up anger at UCU self-ID. As if people pretend to be black, trans or disabled. Why would they? There's no gain. Far better for them to abuse their power with no repercussions - like honestly why give up cis white privilege it makes NO SENSE

Well, she’s right in that it makes no sense to give these up. The point is they AREN’T given up. Someone like Clair Quentin giving evidence in the Maya Forstater case has not given up male privilege no matter how they identify. Everyone still perceives then as Male. If I ID as black, I don’t give up white privilege because everyone still perceives me as white. Becca seems to believe that if you tick a box, it means you literally ARE what you claim and that everyone magically treats you accordingly. Which is utter bollocks of course.

And as for there being no material benefit - of course there is. Scholarships, grants, easier life in prison, reduced competition in sports etc etc. All benefits that might prompt someone to take advantage.

This is my union. I just joined recently. My branch (Liverpool) seems quite down to earth but surely they have to toe the line on union-wide policies. I will bring it up at the next meeting.