Firstly, an apology: September's meeting report was extremely late, from a combination of losing my notes, business, laziness and probably having some form of scurvy because I'm skint. It's not especially detailed, so I'm happy to answer questions from anyone about what went on - email me at sofie.buckland@nus.org.uk

This month’s meeting was the first since 8 September, October’s having been cancelled due to the National Demo and various affiliation referendums. I went up to Imperial for the debate there, spending a day talking to students about why even if you don’t like Extra or think NUS doesn’t fight hard enough on fees or anything else, you should still be involved with your national union. I also headed up to Aston, whose sabbs were threatening to disaffiliate based on NUS’s handling of the lecturer’s strike. Sadly, the campaign didn't go quite so well, and Aston voted to leave the NUS.

The NEC meeting started with a two hour delegation meeting to decide motions for NUS conference from the NEC. Like all constituent members, we can only send one in each basket, so most of the debate circumvented the texts themselves in favour of arguing which topic should be the priority. I submitted all the ENS motions apart from the “For Women’s Liberation” text (all available here), up against motions on education, NUS Extra, childcare and Africa from other members of the NEC.

The education motion was a clear cut choice between voting for a bland motion reasserting the need for an anti-fees campaign in the weakest way possible from Labour Students (National Organisation of Labour Students - NOLS), or the ENS education motion, calling for the abolition of all fees, living grants for all, an end to privatisation, taxation of the rich and business to fund it and a properly-conducted activist-led campaign to fight for it. Needless to say, you can guess which passed. (Me, Joe Rooney, Alex Kemp, Suzy Wylie, George Woods, Isshaku Kotomah and Ruqayyah Collector voted in favour, NOLS, Sam Lebens and the rest of the Organised Independents against).

In the course of the discussion, a few thinly-veiled digs about my supposed lack of activity were thrown over from some NOLSies; VP Education Wes Streeting is apparently “sick” of being “told how to run a campaign” by ENS. Apparently it’s “patronising” for us to take a political stance on how to fight for free education, when we don’t do anything. This is further to a phonecall from Richard Angell and a dig on his blog about Freshers’ Fairs.

Hands up – I didn’t do any Admission: Impossible stalls at any freshers’ fairs. I think the politics on which the demo was being built were limited and ultimately a dead-end; the reason I’m on the NEC in the first place is to promote a different kind of politics altogether. So while other part-time members of the NEC were handing out brightly coloured stickers to freshers, I was building campus actions, including a 40-strong occupation in Cambridge which forced the VC to clarify her position on fees and resulted in the creation of a strong anti-fees activist group. If this is patronising to those who think stickers and apolitical demos will win free education, so be it.

George Woods moved that resolves 1 and resolves 2 of my motion which read;

1. To campaign for the abolition of all fees, a living grant for every student in FE and HE, an end to privatisation and taxation of the rich and business to fund our education.

2. To hold a first term London national demonstration with “Tax the rich to fund free education”, “Living grants for all” and “Defend education, defend public services” as the main slogans; and ask the trade unions, particularly UCU and Unison, to co-sponsor it.

Should be composited into the NOLS motion. Wes Streeting flatly refused to composite anything, with the result that the NEC motion on education to National Conference doesn’t call for a national demo, or in fact any action at all short of “building on the successes of Admission: Impossible”. Seeing as that could mean anything from “continue to entertain government ministers with white wine and tiger prawns” to “make more nice stickers”, forgive me for being a little sceptical.

Next up, Strong and Active Unions, where my motion on building democratic, campaigning student unions was defeated by one on being “realistic” about NUS extra. Where, rather shockingly, being “realistic” actually means reducing student discounts; the motion resolves to redouble efforts to ensure companies offer exclusive discounts, only giving money off to students with NUS Extra cards rather than local student cards. This means NUS working to limit the benefits students are getting, unless they agree to pay £10. Sounds like blackmail to me.

During the discussion we were treated to a fantastic round of misinterpretations. Although the ENS motion doesn’t call for the reinstatement of Winter Conference, the debate centred on this; apparently we should “get over” the diminishing of NUS democracy, as Gemma pointed out it was 15 years ago. Wes claimed to be more interested in doing than deciding, but perhaps a little more deciding might making the doing that little bit less apolitical. Suzy, George, Ruqayyah, Kotomah and I voted for it.

The always controversial Society & Citizenship debate saw the usual farce of self-styled socialists George Woods and Suzy Wylie voting against the only anti-war text being proposed, George on the grounds it was “disgustingly imperialist” (the motion mentions opposing US/UK aggression 4 times) and Suzy on the basis that we should start the S&C zone without a bitter fight. If discussing a motion about solidarity with Iraqi and Iranian students and workers provokes a bitter fight at conference, I'm well up for having one; what Suzy didn't mention was that this would primarily be a fight between those of us who stand against war and the Iranian regime, and those who, in opposing war, line up with a brutal theocracy that represses workers and student activists fighting against it. Needless to say, with only Sam Lebens, Joe and myself supporting, the motion committing NUS to making Africa a priority for 2007/8 passed instead.

Finally, in Welfare and Student Rights, I faced a bit of a dilemma. My motion, on workers’ rights, went heads up with an actually pretty good motion from Kat Stark and others on childcare in FE and HE. I equivocated, and voted for both. Kat’s passed.

If this doesn’t sound like enough of a slog, we had a short break then went straight into ordinary business. First up, the discussion of the NUS safeguarding policy statement, which ended up being referred to the next meeting; there were a number of confused parts, including the idea NEC shouldn’t give their personal mobile numbers to 16 and 17 year old members; I don't know about my block mates, but the idea I could run a personal and a work mobile on a block wage is a bit of a fantasy.

On to motions, and Richard Budden’s text on initiations, calling for a guide to dealing with the practice rather than a straight call for a ban, passed with a few minor textual edits. Next, a really quite good motion on Body Image, if a little limited in its resolves, passed unanimously; it resolved to call for a ban on underweight models at London fashion week, something I’m not sure really addresses the heart of the issue. The stick-thin models in advertising NUS has a hand in, like the Topshop ads in the NUS discount book in my first year at college, probably have a bigger impact on young people than London Fashion week coverage; hopefully the wider campaign the motion resolved to run will address this.

The ENS motion on policing on the national demo was up next, with vociferous criticism from NOLS and a general feeling that those victimised by police should take complaints through the "proper channels". I can only conclude that none of the opponents of the motion have ever tried to pursue a formal complaint with the police, or that they simply didn't understand why making a complaint with the backing and solidarity of your national union would be 100 times easier. There was also some discussion of the leaflets handed out by some autonomous students, attacking Gemma, as if having aggressive leaflets meant the anarchist demonstrators deserved to be singled out for police harassment. Needless to say, it fell, with myself, George and Suzy voting for and Alex Kemp, Ama, Ruqayyah, Scott Cuthbertson, James Alexander and Veronica King abstaining.

Another ENS motion, this time on direct action in the fight on fees, was opposed for the same reasons NOLS opposed the free education motion in the delegation meeting earlier; apparently it's patronising for ENS to tell the NUS leadership how to run a demo. A series of parts removed any reference to the universities at which actions have taken place (because we can't congratulate those who organised action without their SU's support) and any criticism of the national demo.

The motion passed unanimously with the parts removed, committing NUS to producing and publicising a guide to direct actions including occupations. Of course, a guide isn't going to deliver us a wave of campus-based struggles for free education, but it's a step in the right direction towards the kind of leadership NUS needs to provide.

Next up, solidarity with striking JJB workers. NUS Extra discount brand JJB Sports pays its warehouse workers the National Minimum Wage of £5.35 an hour, with either have no access to the bonus scheme or are effectively disqualified from it by unrealistic targets. The 272 GMB members employed by the JJB Sports warehouse in Wigan that supplies all 430 JJB Sports shops in the UK are currently taking strike action to secure a better basic rate of pay and a bonus system. You can read more about the action here and the subsequent victimisation of the GMB rep Chris Riley here.

The resolve to donate £250 to the strike fund was widely opposed and removed with the logic that NUS is struggling financially and bigger unions can donate money. I'd probably have more time for this reasoning if NUS hadn't wasted £100,000 last year (see here) on a massively expensive MORI poll and a luxurious campaigns launch to name just a few things. However, apart from this part, the motion passed unanimously... apart from NOLS. I'm unsure what their reasoning was, as no one felt able to speak against a motion pledging basic solidarity with workers in struggle.

Finally, a similiar motion of solidarity from ENS, this time with the ISS cleaners and the T&G's Justice for Cleaners campaign. Aside from the usual back and forth between George Woods and myself about how much power Ken Livingstone has got over what (answer: none if it's something bad that he's failed to do anything about, or had a hand in carrying out, apparently), the NEC were generally supportive. Apart from NOLS. Again.

Rather amusingly, despite failing to pick up on the exact same text in the previous motion, Wes took parts on the final resolves;

To campaign for a minimum wage of at least two thirds median male earnings without exceptions

This is, according to NOLS, dangerously left-wing and radical; that is, a roughly £8/hour minimum wage. Luckily, we weren't forced to have much debate about it; speeches on text that has already passed are basically just for the sake of vanity, so I deferred my right of reply (though I'm happy to have a debate about the principle online if anyone wants to), and the parts stayed in anyway. The motion passed with everyone except the NOLSies voting in favour.

Finally, a challenge. Wes Streeting claimed during the meeting there were, in fact, NUS placards on the national demo with "tax the rich to fund education" on them; if anyone could send me a picture of one of these semi-mythical items on the demonstration, I'll be an extremely happy Bolshevik-Leninist. Consider it an Xmas present.

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