Sally Hunt, the right-wing’s candidate for the post of UCU general secretary, has been elected on 52% of the vote. Hunt defeated Roger Kline, the candidate backed by most the of the left.
Hunt was elected with 8463 votes to Kline’s 7117. The turn-out was a miserable 14%.
There was at least one clear difference between Hunt and Kline, namely Kline's opposition to the pay sell-out last year, pushed through by Hunt.
On the other big issue dividing the lecturers' unions in recent times, the proposal for an “academic boycott” of Israel, both Kline and Hunt opposed the boycott.
Hunt becomes the first general secretary of the new union, created in June 2006 by a merger between the Association of University Teachers (AUT) and the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE).
