Not enough votes in SU referendum

During week nine, students voted on whether Warwick Students’ Union should disaffiliate from the West Midlands Area National Union of Students (WMANUS) in the Autumn Referendum 2009.

Although the motion to disaffiliate passed with an overwhelming majority, not enough students voted for it to be implemented.

617 total votes were cast, with 583 for and 21 against, with 13 abstentions. 1,560 total votes would have been required for the referendum to be carried.

Andy Perkins, the Students’ Union’s Governance and Finance Officer, said, “It’s good that the vote was in the ‘for’ direction, but it’s a shame it didn’t reach quorum.”

The future of Warwick’s affiliation with WMANUS is unclear. For now, nothing will be done, as a quorate vote is necessary to disaffiliate. Perkins said he will put the motion into the next referendum, which he hopes will reach quorum due to the presence of additional motions that may trigger increased interest. He also said that the breakup of WMANUS is “on the cards” but pointed out that the organisation has previously discussed shutting down but has not yet done so.

WMANUS is an organisation for NUS-affiliated Student Unions aimed at campaigning on local issues. In 2008/2009, Warwick SU paid £4,706.24 to affiliate to WMANUS, however concerns have arisen that this expense does not benefit its students. WMANUS has taken positive action in developing Further Education Unions and liberation campaigning, yet some claim that this could detract from issues surrounding Higher Education Unions.

The budget for WMANUS for 2009/2010 shows it is making a loss of around £15,000. In response, the organisation is currently in the process of restructuring through input from the unions. Perkins stated that the Students’ Union has tried “to reform WMANUS from the inside”. At the Spring Conference 2009, Warwick SU along with other member unions put forward a motion to radically change WMANUS into a more effective and financially viable organisation. However, they were met with large scale resistance as this motion failed to get the two-thirds majority pass. The conference was suspended and postponed because of election fraud. This exemplifies Perkins’ sentiment that the WMANUS have “good intentions but nothing has materialised”.

The motion for disaffiliating from WMANUS notes that the organisation fails to represent the students of the West Midlands region, despite WMANUS calling itself “The Voice of West Midlands Students”. The Union said “there were less than 30 delegates at the Spring Conference 2009 for an organisation that claims to represent 1.3 million students”. Perkins has been raising awareness of the campaign through touring the university accommodation’s kitchens and inviting students to join a Facebook group, which promotes disaffiliation. However, a second year history student said, “I don’t even know what WMANUS is, so I won’t be voting”. Many students have expressed that they are unaware that this referendum is taking place and Perkins said that most students “wouldn’t notice” if the university disaffiliated.

Birmingham, Aston, Birmingham City, Staffordshire and Keele Student Unions have all recently disaffiliated from WMANUS, leaving Warwick and Newman the only two Higher Education Unions in the organisation. However, an article on Staffordshire’s Union website claims that WMANUS is in the process of restructuring and some Higher Education Unions are considering rejoining.

If the disaffiliation does eventually take place, Warwick Students’ Union plans to re-engage with the National Union of Students (NUS). This means that the Union will be able to network with other similar unions such as Loughborough and Leicester. The Union will also make financial savings from NUS discounts because The Union buys its products from NUS. Warwick’s affiliation fee covers around half WMANUS’s total income annually. Therefore, the Union believes that WMANUS will collapse if Warwick disaffiliates – as Perkins has said, Warwick’s departure would be “the final straw” for the organisation.