Lots of @ucu members shocked by the email that ticked into their inboxes this morning: £10 levy this month & £5 next month to top up depleted fighting fund. I and other NEW members of NEC also shocked when we learned of this at last Friday's meeting. 1/

But EXISTING members SHOULD NOT have been. The decision to make pay-outs more generous was taken by NEC in February. At last week's meeting @claire_marris and I asked whether it was made clear at that February meeting that levies would be likely consequence of the decision. 2/

The answer was clear: yes, they were. I think the minutes of Feb meeting must be published, so we can see who proposed the new system and who supported it. (I'm not saying it was a bad decision necessarily, but NEC members must take responsiblity for their – our – decisions.) 3/

In the meantime, any @ucu member who's unhappy, I suggest you write to your representatives on NEC and ask them direct how they voted and why. 4/

This is yet another instance showing why we need much more transparency and accountability in our union's governance structures – why these proposals need to be adopted. (No time to discuss last week.) 5/ https://medium.com/david-harvie/proposals-for-ucu-accountability-and-transparency-283add54fb32