Union could be banned from lobbying

This week’s union council meeting was rocked by the tabling of a paper to prevent the union from lobbying its own members.

A difficult read in itself, the paper proposes to ban the union from lobbying its members in either direction for general or by-elections, or in national referenda, such as the upcoming EU membership referendum.

The paper proposes to ban the union from lobbying its members

Despite proposing a constiutional change that could massively impact the role of the union in students’ lives, only members of union council will be able to vote on the matter. This includes officer trustees, constituent union reps, management group chairs and ordinary members, amongst others.

Despite being tabled at a union council meeting last week the paper was neither voted on or discussed in particular detail, since quorum wasn’t reached.

Traditionally one of the reasons for a students’ union to exist, Imperial’s union has a long history of voting on stances and then lobbying both students and parliament on their behalf. In 2010 when fees were due to rise, union council voted to support the Browne review, and the president wrote several damning articles in FELIX as to why he disagreed with the student protests that were happening at the time.

This council paper doesn’t seek to change the ability of the union to lobby the government, but rather would prevent the union from lobbying its own students, whether that be for the benefit of the union or its members.

The proposal would not do away with union-funded campaigns, but demands that campaigns are equally funded. Slightly more difficult to police would be the paper’s ammendment that two union-funded campaigns would have to be “presented with equal gusto”. It also makes the point that the “lack of a volunteer for one stance should not mean a single union-funded campaign goes ahead.

The union did not take a stance during the recent general election or the Scottish Independence Referendum. No campaigns supporting any voting stance were funded.

Any member of the union (so any Imperial student) can present a paper to council, but only members can vote on whether to pass them.

The paper will be discussed at the next union council meeting, which will be at 18:30 on December the 8th in the Union Dining Hall. Anyone can attend.