Emergency General Meeting called to discuss Cardiff SU stance on strike action

Cardiff University Students’ Union is to have an Emergency General Meeting to discuss its stance on the UCU strike action following a petition receiving over 500 signatures.

The petition was launched by James Wallice, the President of Cardiff University’s Conservative Society.

All Cardiff University students are invited to attend the EGM, which will take place on 10th March. Students can submit motions to be discussed at the meeting by emailing [email protected] these will then be discussed and voted on at the meeting. Any which gain a majority will become SU policy.

Student’s previously voted to support the UCU strike action at the AGM in November.

James Wallice told the Cardiff Tab: “Students want to re-open discussions surrounding the Cardiff UCU strike action and the issues that industrial action has caused.

“Since the last AGM the impact of the UCU strike action has significantly changed and we’re seeing a larger detrimental impact on students as a result. We’re seeing contact hours drastically cut, confusion over deadlines and the genuine possibility that those in their last year of University, will be unable to graduate due to the number of cancelled lectures.”

This refers to a leaked email from SU President Jackie Yip which said some students would be unable to graduate this year. Jackie and the Vice-Chancellor of Cardiff Uni Colin Riordan have since stated they are working to ensure this is not the case.

James Wallice said he will be presenting a motion at the EGM “that sees the interests of all students protected, encouraging UCU and Cardiff University to thrash out an amicable agreement so that everyone can return to their lecture theatres as soon as possible.”

Strike Info for Cardiff Students have announced they will also be submitting a motion, again to support the strike action. They say this new motion will go “even further” than before, asking the SU to take “specific actions to support the cause of the striking lecturers.”

They note that the EGM has been “interestingly timed to fall towards the end of the current industrial action and proposed by those who did not support the motion in November”.

The EGM will take place on Tuesday 10th March at 7PM in the SU Great Hall.