This is an email sent to subscribers of the #Grady4GS mailing list on Wednesday 24 April 2019. To subscribe to our GDPR-compliant list, please fill out your details here!
Whether you have 5 minutes or 5 hours to spare, we need your help. The General Secretary (GS) ballot opens on 29 April 2019. This is a crucial election for the future of UCU.
What you can do right now:
1. Encourage sign-ups to the #Grady4GS mailing list: That list is our sole GDPR-compliant means of communicating with people—and our best means of reaching people beyond social media. We can’t contact people about the campaign if they don’t provide their explicit consent.
2. Speak face to face with colleagues to ‘get the vote out’ (GTVO): This is the most important thing that you can do. Our biggest challenge is that large numbers of UCU members are disengaged from their union and currently have little or no knowledge about this election. Turnout for the last GS election in 2017 was under 14%! We want turnout to be a lot higher this time. This conversation does not have to be about ‘vote for Grady’: the aim is to raise awareness of the election and get people to use their vote. We are confident that if members know about the election, and read materials from the three candidates, they will want to vote for Jo Grady.
3. Email colleagues about the election: Emails to colleagues and friends are very effective in reaching beyond social media. We have produced a template that you can adapt for this purpose.
4. Twitter: Jo Grady’s campaign has received extensive and positive coverage on Twitter. Follow her at @DrJoGrady. Re-tweet and/or like her tweets and tweet your own supportive messages under #Grady4GS. You can add a ‘Twibbon’ to your Twitter or Facebook avatar by using this app (an image of Grady’s campaign badge will then appear in your profile picture).
5. Facebook: You can like the campaign site, encourage others to visit the site, and share contents with your Facebook friends.
6. Put up a few posters: If you can, download and print a poster, and put it on your door. You can also put up a few posters in public approved spaces around your department/building. There are a choice of colours, as well as black-and-white.
7. Attend your local GS election hustings: The hustings events are available here. If there is one near you, try to attend and show your support for Jo Grady!
8. Attend your local UCU branch meetings: Demonstrate your support for Jo Grady. If your Branch is sympathetic to—or able to endorse—Jo Grady, you might be able to enrol their help with putting up posters, handing out postcards and generally spreading the word, including through the branch email list.
What you can do with the help of the #Grady4GS Campaign Team:
The person to email in relation to all items in this section is Claire Marris. Remember to include your postal address where necessary!
9. Wear a #Grady4GS badge: We can send you a pack of 6 beautiful badges (one for you and the rest to share with supportive colleagues) to help raise awareness and prompt conversations with colleagues.
10. Put up lots of posters: We need people on campuses all around the country to put up posters. We can post you a batch.
11. Distribute postcards: We can provide you with A6 postcards, to be posted in pigeonholes, left in common areas, or handed out.
12. Be part of a team of local supporters: There are likely to be a few people at your institution who are, or could become, actively supportive of Grady. We might be able to put you in touch with each other.
What to do if you want to join the #Grady4GS Campaign Team:
Please email us if you want to be in the thick of campaigning for Grady!
Finally, thank you so much again for your support. Let’s fight for change!
All the best
The #Grady4GS campaigning team
Jo Grady for UCU General Secretary 