Category Archives: Pensions

Update on Save university pensions, and save the planet

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Dear Friends and Colleagues,

We hope you’re having a great morning – we know many of you will be back out on pickets this week. UUK and UCU have done welcome joint statements indicating the pension could be restored, and they could “examine” divesting fossil fuels, and “governance reform”.

But we know it’s not a done deal till it actually happens. The reason we’ve got so far is because of your help in this legal action, and all of our collective action. We’ve got a date for the Court of Appeal, 13 June 2023, and we are absolutely determined to get there. We must raise awareness, and more money. Make no mistake, this is now the biggest pension reform and climate risk case in the UK, ever. What we do could help every other worker with a pension, and it can affect every financial institution and every corporate director. We must have a legally binding precedent that USS directors cannot abuse their powers by reporting nonsense deficits, driving through discriminatory cuts, squandering our money on fancy Threadneedle Street offices and failing asset managers, and bankrolling worthless and toxic gas, oil and coal.

We’ve had so much support from university branches, which is tremendous – but the incredible fact is nine-tenths of our support comes from thousands of individuals like you, with an average contribution of £41. So, we need to spread the word. And this morning we’d like to ask you three things:

  1. print some posters and flyers and give them out! We’ve got one on divesting fossil fuels, one on reversing the pension cuts, and one with more details. Stick them up behind photocopiers, inside loo doors, in lifts, or where people queue for lunch. Or print and give out on picket lines!
  2. ask your branch chair and secretary to send out an email asking your colleagues to donate to our case! Just write “Dear Friends and Colleagues…” and then use the text from “We need you…” from the detailed poster/flyer. We just need half as many new people to donate again to get to the Court of Appeal, so publicity is crucial.
  3. get Ewan and Neil to visit your branch! We’re more than glad to attend branch meetings, and take the time you need to talk to all our colleagues. We can do Zoom/Teams, and we can also come in person.

Also, if you’d like to be more involved, just write to ewan.mcgaughey@kcl.ac.uk and/or neil.m.davies@ucl.ac.uk. We’re also trying to get climate groups on board, because the climate claim is so huge. We can’t do it alone – this is a big group effort – and it’s because we all help and support each other that we’ll win.

And just imagine the effect if every director in the UK had a duty to end investments in stranded assets like gas, oil and coal, and have a credible plan for 100% clean energy, now. Just imagine – and here’s a wild thought – that everyone’s right to social security, and a good pension, was really made universal. That’s why this case matters, why we’re so grateful for your support, and why we’re determined to win a better pension system for everyone.

Best wishes, Ewan and Neil

Published on behalf of Dr Neil Davies, Dr Ewan McGaughey, and many more supporters of Save university pensions, and save the planet at Crowd Justice.

Let’s stick together

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After all the excitement of the disruptive but ultimately empty offer by the employers last week it was back out onto the picket first thing this morning. It bears repeating that the offer was simply not good enough. While we welcome the positive signs on pension restoration we note that it remains a qualified commitment. On 4-Fights there has been little progress beyond agreeing the Terms of Reference which will frame the negotiations about casualisation, workload and the equality pay gap. The imposed final pay offer of around 5% for most falls well short of inflation and has already been emphatically rejected in an online poll.

So, for now, we must stick together and continue with the strike action, and vote YES in the re-ballot.

We will win these disputes by coming together, sticking together, striking together and voting together – Jo Grady, UCU General Secretary

We are staying out

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The sun was out and we are staying out. The Higher Education Committee met today and it was decided that we will continue with the strike action and that members do not need to be consulted on the latest empty offer from the employers. This is in line with how our branch membership voted ahead of yesterday’s Branch Delegate Meeting.

Please join us and show our employer that we are not happy with the offer. Our picket will be back on Monday morning. Same time, same place. If you are not already a member, take the first step and join today.

Re-ballot

Not to be confused with Wednesday’s e-ballot is the ongoing re-ballot. Legislation requires that we do this now so that our mandate for industrial action continues for another 6 months. No-one wants to strike but it is critical to the success of negotiations that we are able continue to maintain the leverage of potential strikes and marking and assessment boycotts if we are to get the best deal.

Be in the room with your negotiators. Please vote in the re-ballot, and please vote yes.

Replacement re-ballot papers can be ordered at https://yoursay.ucu.org.uk/s3/ucuRISING-ballotupdate

 

 

An empty offer, another e-ballot, and a BDM

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Thank-you brave few for the show of soggy solidarity on a soaking wet picket this morning. We could have all stayed home warm and dry to read about the latest offer from our employers. Except that it wasn’t really a new offer at all. There are some positive signs in the pensions dispute but so far nothing solid, just a committment on prioritisation of restoration of member benefits back to pre-April 2022 levels if it is affordable. Very little progress has been made in the Four Fights dispute, particularly on pay.

Consultative e-ballot and BDM

UCU national launched a consultative e-ballot on whether members should be consulted on the offer via a formal vote and whether the current industrial action should be paused in the meantime. Unfortunately the e-ballot rolled both into a single Yes/No question which is not ideal because apart from conflating the issues not all institutions are in USS and taking action over pension cuts.

An emergency meeting of the local branch committee was called at short notice last night to discuss and it was decided unanimously that we should run a local members’ poll to guage opinion on both seperately ahead of today’s Branch Delegates Meeting (BDM).

The majority vote was a very clear No to both with 78% against voting on the proposals and 88% against standing down strike action. This was presented at today’s Branch Delegate Meeting. The weighted votes from the BDM along with the results of the informal member e-ballot will inform a decision by the Higher Education Committee (HEC) who meet tomorrow. The HEC is the elected body that has authority to decide whether to consult members on an offer and to recommend how to vote and whether to cancel strike action.

Strength and Solidarity

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A colourful picket today as we were joined by Prospect union members from British Geographical Survey. Prospect members at over 30 Civil and Public Service employer voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action to defend against pay cuts and job insecurity. It is the largest action in over a decade by members who have seen a real term reduction in income of over 25% in this time.

The protests over fair pay and a decent pension continued at the Mound afterwards in a joint rally with the Public and Commercial Services Union.

Dance-offs

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Last morning on the picket for this week and we finished with a dance-off between the Dinosaur of Solidarity and Daisy the dog. At the same time our national negotiators are involved in their own dance-off, negotiating with their counterparts from UCEA at ACAS.

At this early stage the rules and processes will be agreed before discussions on a deal can begin. If we hold fast we give our negotiators a much stronger hand in the bargaining process. We don’t want to strike but we need to strike to keep pressure on our employers so that an agreement can be reached.

Re-ballot

Negotiations can take a while, so it is essential that we re-ballot now to have a mandate for another 6 months of industrial action. The aim is to reach agreement but we need to be able to leverage the threat of continuing strikes and marking and assessment boycotts if we are to get the best deal.

Ballot papers will start to arrive from Wednesday 22 February and more information will follow in due course.

Vote Yes to continuing industrial action in the re-ballot and be in the room with your union.

 

Half term heroes

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A big thanks to the hard core half term skeleton crew of students and staff who  neglected studies and put home lives aside for picket duties today. All those jobs don’t do themselves.

We will be back tomorrow but much more important than the picket is that we keep up the pressure on our employers by staying out on strike until a settlement is reached. On strike days please observe the virtual picket line and don’t work, don’t attend meetings other than UCU teach outs and members’ meetings, and don’t deal with email or Teams conversations about work.

There is no obligation to tell your line manager or anyone else that you are going to participate in strike action. It is university management’s responsibility to explain to students if classes are to be cancelled on strike days but you may wish to talk to your students before any industrial action, explaining why the union is taking this step and asking them to write to university management to voice their concerns. There is a useful UCU explainer leaflet and we have plenty of paper copy too.

We have the support of students, both local and national, and it is important to remember that staff teaching conditions are also student learning conditions. We are in this together on the picket and at rallies, fighting for a fairer education system.

If you would like to participate in any of the Q+A sessions with students we would be very grateful for volunteers. Please check your HW UCU members emails for a link to a poll of availability or contact a committee member. Sessions generally run from 11-11:30am in the Student Union on selected strike days.