NUS officer: we're s***

The vote over NUS membership is now open at www.yusu.org

In a talk entitle ‘Why the NUS is Sh*t’, Sam Rozati, a member of the union’s National Executive Committee, said that the answer for disaffected students was to change policies from within.

Rozati claimed that his uncompromising views on the need for change had led to tensions with other top ranking members of the NUS.

“I admit that when I turn up at events it’s a struggle for them to talk to me,” he said. “There have been occasions that I eat lunch by myself. What I hope all that would tell you is I’m not the regular clique that goes into the NUS.”

“I’m somebody who came into it not believing that unionism is solidarity but I came into it because I disagreed with a lot of what it was doing and I wanted to try and change it. There are two types of s***: the kind you can change and the kind you can’t.”

“NUS policy at the moment needs to be changed but I want to change it. If you say that policy is unchangeable then that’s when you want to leave. You focus as much as you can on changing the s***.”

You focus as much as you can on changing the s***.
Sam Rozati

But Dan Taylor, of the No campaign, said that although he admired the NUS officer's commitment there had been an ingrained political "culture" within the union for decades that would not change.

Rozati was also critical of disaffiliated unions, claiming that they often rejoined quickly as NUS provided helpful contacts with other unions.

“Now yesterday you had two disaffiliated unions, Southampton and Dundee. One year or the other, one year they affiliate and then as soon as they disaffiliate they affiliate again.”

“NUS provides the network so that you share ideas with each other. At Essex they had a student who got killed crossing a duel carriage way, he got hit by a car. And they wanted to campaign for the council to put road signs up. There was a nearby union at UEA that had done that. NUS provided that network to have the exchange of ideas.”

“If you don’t have that, how do you know, how do you learn, if you don’t have that central network? That’s why you have these unions who disaffiliate and the very next year will affiliate again.”

Rozati also outlined his belief that NUS and its close links to political parties gave York students a national voice that could apply “political pressure” that they would otherwise lack.

“The main political parties both want to support them [the NUS] financially, and that’s part of what I want to talk about. If you weren’t part of the NUS, who would it be who put stuff on the national agenda?” Rozati added.

80% of the work the NUS does isn’t the stuff you see.
Sam Rozati

“I didn’t like a lot of the stuff the NUS was doing. Despite that I support it anyway. Why? 80% of the work the NUS does isn’t the stuff you see.”

“It’s those kind of background issues that are very boring, not the kind of thing you can communicate to the mass electorate, where NUS does good work. For example, HSBC were forced to keep interest free overdrafts. Now the instant reaction is that that grass roots supporters managed to create pressure. They had a huge group on Facebook and then the NUS came on right at the end and yay, success.”

“First of all who started up that Facebook group? [NUS] vice president of education Wes Streeting. Lets say that’s not even the case. The Facebook group was started. Who contacted the newspapers? NUS. Who did background negotiations with HSBC?

“As lovely as your SU president is, if she would have called HSBC what’s the likelihood they would have met your student union president? Not very likely. But with the NUS, with that national body, they’re far more likely to.”

Rozati's talk was received warmly but was attended by less than 30 people, raising the question of whether the vote over NUS affiliation will reach quoracy by the time ballots close on Saturday.

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