For someone at the head of a trade union who won a series of notable victories through solidarity in industrial action, it’s been a peculiarly difficult year for Hunt. At many times during the campaign over USS, particularly around the first (#nocapitulation) proposal, she appeared to be less popular among her members than UUK.
It is, to be fair, difficult to strike a balance in a union comprised of members as ornery and individually outspoken as academics – actions that pleased moderates enraged the far left, and vice versa.
And what on earth happened at the UCU congress? What should have been an inspirational and even celebratory event for organised labour winning victories and earning popular support descended into a – from an outsider’s perspective – complete farce of infighting and union procedural politics, losing the entirety of the HE day due to a walk out by UCU staff. Unlike many others in public service unions, Hunt is centrist by instinct and conciliatory in action – in normal years this is a strength in successfully negotiating with senior leaders on pay and conditions. But 2018 was not a normal year.