Motions and Resolutions

Created on: 23 Apr 2026

Motions

Resolution

1. Governance, Edinburgh Napier University

This conference notes the following that:

  • The crisis in HE was caused by mismanagement, a lack of government funding and bad governance (See Gillies Report 2025).

  • Reforms to HE governance made in the Higher Education Governance (Scotland) Act (2016) have not gone far enough in addressing concerns around the accountability, representativeness and transparency of governing bodies.

 This conference resolves the following:

  • To continue campaigning for better and more meaningful staff involvement in HE governance, including in the University Court and main Committees.
  • To call on the EIS-ULA to continue to exert pressure on the Scottish Government to enhance and improve University governance

Carried

2. Redundancies, Edinburgh Napier University

This conference notes the following:

  • That HE employers are using a UK-wide crisis as a smokescreen to justify cuts
  • That Edinburgh Napier University is in a good position financially, with large cash reserves and no debt
  • That ENU staffing levels should be protected and nobody should be made compulsorily redundant
  • That the University of Edinburgh’s latest financial accounts show a surplus, despite moving forward with a staff cuts programme.

The conference resolves the following:

  • To defend jobs and oppose redundancies, enacting the old trade union slogan “an injury to one is an injury to all” and that “We are the University!”
  • To meet with employers wherever possible in order to defend jobs
  • To take strike action in defence of jobs if employers give us no other choice.

Carried

 3. Tuition Fees, Edinburgh Napier University

This conference notes that university leaders like Sir Peter Mathieson (VC at Edinburgh Uni) have called on the Scottish Government to scrap free tuition and introduce tuition fees. The conference resolves to continue our campaign in defence of free tuition and in support of education as a public good across Scotland. The conference also calls on the EIS to obtain independent research on the impact of fees and continue lobbying for publicly funded HE. 

 Carried

 4. New JNCHES, Glasgow Caledonian University

Conference reaffirms the EIS-ULA’s demand for the establishment of a Scottish sub-committee of the New JNCHES, recognising the distinct policy, funding, and industrial relations context of higher education in Scotland.

Conference further resolves to request that the General Secretary write formally to the Scottish Government setting out the repeated sub-inflation pay offers made in successive years of pay negotiations, and outlining the case for, and necessity of, a Scottish sub-committee of the New JNCHES in order to secure fair and sustainable pay bargaining arrangements for staff in Scottish higher education.

 Carried

 5. New JNCHES, University West of Scotland

This Annual Conference resolves to pursue the establishment of a national level negotiation forum on terms and conditions, securing member parity and employer accountability.

 Carried

 6. Fair Work First, Edinburgh Napier University

This conference notes the recent announcement from Scottish Greens and the SNP that Scotland’s Colleges were being made subject to the Fair Work First funding guidelines, including provisions around senior pay. The conference commends the work of FELA in delivering this outcome, and notes that the amendments made to the TET Act also apply to universities. Yet, no statement has been made around whether stipulations on senior pay will also apply to Universities.

The conference notes that sectoral benchmarking leads to overinflation in senior pay, at a time when jobs and course provisions are being cut and staff livelihoods’ are being affected and jobs are being put at risk.

The conference calls on EIS-ULA to lobby for University senior leaders to be subject to the Public Sector Leaders’ pay framework and to engage in a commensurate promotion freeze exercise for senior managers in HE.

 Carried

7. Conference motion, Models of Higher Education, Glasgow Caledonian University

This conference notes

  1. The work done by University staff during Covid to produce high quality remote learning experiences for students using a variety of modes of delivery.

  2. The decision made by University managements in the immediate aftermath of the lockdowns to switch to a fully “on campus” approach to teaching and learning with limited exceptions.

  3. This approach has had a knock-on effect on colleagues’ workloads – monitoring attendance on campus for example – and has reduced flexibility over educational decisions for individual academics.

  4. There is a significant amount of student disengagement from this inflexible and rigid method of teaching and learning.

  5. As economic pressures on higher education increases innovative ideas should be considered for methods of teaching and learning delivery

In line with this the conference resolves to

  1. Set up a working group of members drawn from all Higher Education Institutions with EIS recognition to share experiences of different modes of delivering teaching.
  2. Write directly to all Scottish Universities’ Senior Management to request discussions on hybrid approaches to teaching.
  3. To request that the General Secretary write formally to the Scottish Government and individual Members of the Scottish Parliament (candidates during the election period) over introducing a variety of modes of delivery into Scottish Higher Education.

Carried

8. University of the West of Scotland

This Annual Conference resolves to formally recognise the need for fertility leave support for members and their partners, and advocate for fertility need protections.

Carried

9. Trans Solidarity, Edinburgh Napier University

This conference welcomes the EIS statement on the Supreme Court Judgement on Women Scotland LTD Vs Scottish Ministers and notes the following:

  • That transgender people and trans identities are increasingly demonised
  • That transgender staff and students have a right to work and learn “in an environment that is free from discrimination, where the rights of all are equally upheld.”

The conference resolves the following:

To stand in solidarity with transgender people, and to protect the rights of all staff and students to be free from discrimination without any hierarchy of order.

To continue challenging “any misinformation in respect of gender recognition and transgender people’s rights.” 

Carried

10. Ice Raids, Edinburgh Napier University

This Annual Conference notes:

  1. Recent fatal shootings and use of force by US federal immigration enforcement agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and related Department of Homeland Security personnel, in Minneapolis and other US cities, have resulted in civilian deaths and widespread protests. (Wikipedia)
  2. The ongoing national protests and labour actions in the United States, sparked by these incidents, reflect deep public concern about the use of aggressive enforcement tactics and threats to civil liberties. (Wikipedia)
  3. Reports that ICE personnel, specifically agents from ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations division, are being deployed in a security support role for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Italy, a decision contested by Italian political leaders and civil society, who express concern given ICE’s controversial record. (The Guardian)
  4. The potential psychological impact on students and staff, particularly those from the US, from witnessing these developments and the threat such operations pose to shared democratic values, human rights, and freedoms widely held in higher education communities.

This Annual Conference resolves to:

  1. Condemn the excessive use of force by US federal immigration enforcement agents that has resulted in civilian deaths and civil unrest.
  2. Express solidarity with all those advocating for accountability, human rights protections, and the rule of law in responses to federal enforcement actions in the United States.
  3. Affirm the importance of protecting the freedoms and wellbeing of students and staff affected directly or indirectly by these events, including those with friends, family members, or research links in the United States.

Carried