Category Archives: Petition

We “note” the pension’s not yet saved!

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Update on Save university pensions, and save the planet. This is a crowdfunded legal action separate from the UCU pension dispute. It may be of interest to members and non-members who are in the USS scheme. Updates published on behalf of the team at savepensionsandplanet.org.

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

As you’ll have seen, UCU members just voted by 85% to “note” the statement between UUK and UCU on restoring pension benefits and reducing contributions (by how much, we do not yet know!).

Of course, we know that the reason why USS directors suddenly started predicting surpluses (not nonsense deficits), why they changed the pension asset growth assumption from 0.0% above inflation to 0.29%, and now 1.8% above inflation for 30 years (to get those surpluses), why the failed CEO Bill Galvin resigned, and why they say they could restore benefits, is that we have sued them for their catastrophic failure. It’s great that UUK and UCU have done a joint statement, but we’re not yet done with the USS directors.

The USS directors didn’t suddenly have a change of heart. They didn’t suddenly say, “Eureka – there is no deficit”! They didn’t suddenly find the markets had improved after the Truss mini-budget, after the UK’s growth outlook was worse than Russia, or after the USS itself lost £450m in Russian investments following Putin’s criminal war on Ukraine.

No, we sued them. And we got leave to go to the Court of Appeal. Even though we did not win in the High Court, they know we’ve shone a torch on them. This very public pressure, the prospect of personal responsibility for the first time in the directors’ careers, this case that all the university employers could see, forced them to change. Together with everyone’s work, everyone’s solidarity, and everyone being on picket lines, your contribution to this court case is making a difference. Remember, the UCU Higher Education Sector Conference (HESC) and the UCU National Executive Committee (NEC) and dozens of UCU branches across the UK have agreed to support our case. However, the General Secretary has refused to do this, and so far, despite what was agreed at Conference and the NEC’s instructions, UCU national has not funded or publicised our case.

We still need to get a legally binding agreement on USS. UCU and UUK have agreed to restore benefits if it can be done “sustainably”. They have agreed to “explore” restoring pension benefits needlessly cut in April 2022. The USS directors cannot be forced to act or even be removed by UUK or UCU. The USS directors changed the USS Ltd constitution so that the only people who can remove existing board members are the board members themselves! Therefore it is absolutely essential that we take the case to the Court of Appeal to get the best possible, legally binding USS agreement.

So we still need to go to the Court of Appeal. Help us:

  • raise the final £120k – 90% of donations, have been from small contributions;
  • ask your branch for Ewan and Neil to come to a special or general meeting to talk about the case;
  • ask your branch to circulate a call for donations to all members (even if the General Secretary won’t listen to the NEC and HESC);
  • by considering giving another £15 – if everyone who’s already donated gave again, we’d make what we need;
  • get in touch if you have more ideas for fundraising, especially if you have contacts at environmental groups that could be interested in the case for divesting fossil fuels, and ending climate risk.

Thanks once again for all your help!

Best wishes,
Ewan and Neil

USS legal action crowdfund update

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Note: This is a crowdfunded legal action separate from the UCU pension dispute. It may be of interest to members and non-members who are in the USS scheme. Updates published on behalf of the team at savepensionsandplanet.org.

Dear colleagues,

Thank you for supporting the USS campaign.

We’re making excellent progress with the crowdfund and are about 65% of the way there. To finish this, we need your help! Almost 90% of the funding for the case has come from almost 10,000 donations from members, £10, £20, or £50 from individual members. We need to wrap up the fundraising so that we can focus on the legal arguments.

Please support the case by:

UUK, UCU, and USS negotiations – this case is still essential

Do the recent statements from UUK and UCU, which note the possibility of benefit restoration, mean we don’t need to go to the Court of Appeal? No, taking the case to the Court of Appeal is still essential. These statements were made and are likely only possible because of the USS legal action.

A judgement from the Court of Appeal would demonstrate that the USS directors, who run the scheme on our behalf, must act within the law and fulfil their legal obligations to members. If the case is not heard in the Court of Appeal, the directors will conclude that they are unlikely to face any meaningful legal challenge from members. They, and TPR are likely to return to their pre-2021 strategy of ramping up scheme costs to close the DB scheme. The only way to prevent this is by hearing the case in the Court of Appeal.

Please support the case with whatever you can at https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/save-pensions-and-planet/, so we can win in the Court of Appeal.

As ever, please let me know if you’d rather not receive further emails.

All the best,
Neil, Ewan and the rest of the team

Final day for now but the fight continues

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Support our Striking Staff

To mark our last strike day on Friday we finished with particularly colourful picket and a book swap to raise money for our local branch Hardship Fund.

On the picket we have been joined many visitors who came to show their support solidarity. These have included:

  • The Heriot-Watt Student Progressive Society
  • Our BSL colleagues and interpreter Kitty
  • Joanna Cherry QC and MP for Edinburgh South West
  • Richard Leonard MSP
  • Val Walker, Scottish Labour candidate in the Edinburgh City Council Elections
  • Des Loughney, Edinburgh Trade Union Council
  • Vicky Blake, UCU President
  • Lena Wanggren, UCU Scotland President
  • Janet Farrar, UCU President Elect

A big thank-you to you all, and also to the passers-by to stopped to chat and help us with our group photos, and to those of you who have tooted and honked in support.

We raised £109 in cash, with more donations to be made directly into the hardship fund. This has far exceeded our expectations and just to reiterate: please don’t hesitate to claim if you’re struggling financially due to pay deductions for strike action.

Action Short of Strike

For now we continue with Action Short of Strike and no-one should work beyond  35 hrs/week (or part thereof if on a fractional contract), reschedule classes or meetings cancelled due to strike action, cover for absent colleagues, or undertake voluntary tasks. Something which you can do is activate your automatic reply in email, clarifying that you are participating in Action Short of strike. Some examples you can use:

  1. I am participating in industrial action where I work to ‘contract’ (known as action short of a strike or ASOS).  This means that we work only 100% of our allocated working time but not beyond that.  Given that our normal work load expects us to use our goodwill to work excessive hours, this means that my progress and replies to your email might take much longer than either of us would like. If you want to know more about why I participate in ASOS, please see here: UCU – Why we’re taking action
  2. I am taking part in continuous action short of a strike in the form of working to contract as part of UCU’s national industrial action to defend pensions and pay for university staff, and to push back against the widening inequalities across higher education. You can find further information about the disputes here: UCU – Why we’re taking action

Further information which may be of use:

How to say No to extra work

You can politely and professionally decline work/volunteering as part of ASOS or you can send an email stating: ‘I am currently engaged in action short of strike to defend [eg] pay, equalities and pensions which includes working to my contract. All UCU members are advised not to cover for absent colleagues or undertake voluntary activities as part of this action. For this reason I am unable to…’

If your manager raises a concern about this, inform your local branch officers immediately.

Some other initiatives

  • Write to your MSPs, constituency and list. The Education, Children and Young People Committee (ECYP) of the Scottish Parliament has the power to call witnesses as part of a committee enquiry into the governance of Scotland’s Universities. Our Principals can be held to account over their claims that UCU pension proposals are unaffordable. Our colleagues at the University of Edinburgh have started a campaign. You can contact our local branch office for a flyer that explains more, and a sample letter template which you can use.
  • Mass resignation of external examiners

Not in the UCU?

It is never too late to join the UCU. You do not have to be a member of a union to take part in industrial action and had have your voice heard, but it is advisable. Being part of a recognised collective bargaining group comes with benefits and protections.

It only takes a few minutes to join the UCU, it doesn’t cost much, and your subscription will be eligible for tax relief.

 

&

3 weeks to save university pensions, and save the planet

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In August last year over 1700 other people raised more than £50,000 to fund a legal action against the USS directors via Crowdjustice.

The case was presented by a barrister at an initial oral hearing at the High Court on 28 February and the judge ruled that we can proceed to the next stage – a full contested hearing. This stage has been successful. That judge ruled that we have a prima facie case and that we were acting in good faith. Thank-you to everyone who has contributed.

We now need to raise funds for the next stage, the full contested hearing. This will begin on 28 March. If we are successful at the next hearing, we will be able to proceed with the legal action against the directors, which may be paid for by USS Limited (the company that runs our pensions). We have four claims:

  1. That the 2020 valuation was flawed and unnecessary
  2. USS costs are excessive
  3. The changes discriminate against women, younger and minority colleagues
  4. The USS has failed to have a credible plan to divest from fossil fuels, and this causes significant financial detriment

If you can donate just £50 or £20 it will make a huge difference. The current pensions cuts leave many of us £100,000’s worse off in retirement. If we win, we could get an injunction against the cuts that will happen on 1 April.

However, to proceed with the next hearing, we urgently need to raise more money to cover the legal costs of the full hearing. So we would be very grateful if you could contribute to our crowdfund. Time is short, so if you could donate as soon as possible we would greatly appreciate it!

If there is any money remaining in the crowdfund after the legal action is complete, we will use it for further legal action over the USS, for example, seeking judicial review of The Pensions Regulator. If  there are no further legal options, or we get everything we want (a reasonable valuation, a cost-effective pension scheme, a pensions proposal that is not discriminatory, and divestment from fossil fuels), then we will donate any remaining funds to a charity.

We have 3 weeks to save the pension, so please donate now, and share with everyone you know!

To do

  1. Please donate to our crowdfund
  2. Please share this with anyone who might be interested, or tweet the crowdfund page
  3. Ask your UCU branch to contribute to the fund
  4. Register and join our Zoom Q&A on Friday 11 March at 1300

Posted on behalf of Ewan McGaughey and Neil Davies

Open letter to Professor Richard Williams about the new UCU proposals for the Universities Superannuation Scheme

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Dear Professor Williams,

You will have seen that the University and College Union (UCU) issued a set of new proposals for the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) on 26 January 2022 which are aimed at averting widespread industrial action across UK campuses in February and beyond.

These new proposals would see retirement benefits protected in return for a small increase in contributions for both members and employers ahead of a new evidence-based valuation of the scheme.

A USS consultation of scheme members concluded on 17 January 2022, and UCU understands that a significant majority preferred increasing contributions of members and employers in order to protect benefits over the alternatives, including benefit cuts.

Retaining members’ benefits until April 2023 would result in a saving of £240,000 for HWU over the current and coming financial year compared to the increases that were scheduled for Oct’ 21 that employers committed to as part of the 2018 valuation. In addition, staff would be protected from having their pensions eroded by high inflation.

This request for a new valuation is bolstered by the announcement that USS assets have jumped to over £92bn, more than £25bn higher than the previous valuation.

Given this and the above consultation, which we assume was undertaken in good faith, then we would expect HWU to consider the UCU proposal very seriously.
UCU’s proposals are as follows:

  • that UUK call on USS to issue a moderately prudent, evidence-based valuation of the financial health of the scheme as at 31 March 2022, to be issued for consultation in June (at the latest)
  • that employers agree to provide the same level of covenant support as for their own proposals to facilitate a cost-sharing of current benefits throughout the 2022/23 scheme year, starting 1 April 2022 at 11% member/23.7% employer until 1 October 2022, and 11.8%/25.2% thereafter
  • that employers agree to pay a maximum of 25.2% and members a maximum of 9.8% from 1 April 2023 to secure current benefits or, if not possible, the best achievable as a result of the call on USS to issue a moderately prudent, evidence-based valuation.

We are writing to ask you to support UCU’s proposals instead of UUK’s plan. Under UUK’s plan university staff would see an approximate 35% cut to their guaranteed retirement income based on a flawed USS valuation conducted in March 2020.

We would appreciate a response from you before Friday 11 February.

We believe this represents the best and fairest means to avoid disruptive strikes, as well as ongoing action short of strike action, by staff determined to defend their pensions for the third time in just four years.

Yours sincerely

The undersigned

This letter has been signed by 119 members of staff at Heriot-Watt University. The names have been omitted for brevity in this news article but a full copy can be supplied on request.

Heriot-Watt University must call for changes at USS to resolve the pension dispute

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We believe that staff working at Heriot-Watt University deserve a fair pension in retirement, paid for at a reasonable cost during their working lives. The current situation with escalating costs of contributions based on disputed valuation technique is harmful to staff, HWU the employer, and to all who value Heriot-Watt University.

Your branch has launched a petition asking the University leadership to publicly call for the resignation of Bill Galvin and Sir David Eastwood.

Full petition can be accessed here

Heriot-Watt University petition – no compulsory redundancies

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https://www.change.org/p/no-compulsory-redundancies-at-heriot-watt

On March 3, 2017 Heriot-Watt University announced plans to make 100 staff redundant – a saving of £4.5m and a reduction in 5 per cent of all staff employed at the Riccarton, Galashiels and Orkney campuses.

At the same time, the University also set out a two-year “recruitment chill”, which is likely to see a further 100 job losses due to the non-replacement of 100 staff. Furthermore, University management have repeatedly refused to rule out compulsory redundancies, despite the obvious impact on the student experience and the local economy.

The University have cited a “Brexit effect”, which had “created uncertainty affecting postgraduate uptake”, as well as “the UK government’s immigration policies and messaging” as key factors. However, last year alone they spent in excess of £9m on consultants. The University is proceeding with plans to fully convert the James Watt Centre into a learning and teaching facility at the cost of £4m and plans to refurbish the Edinburgh campus library at the cost of £6m – neither are likely to improve student experience if staff numbers drop by approximately 200 by the end of 2018.

UCU wants Heriot Watt to continue to be one of the best universities, and we want to support investment in the University. We want the University to withdraw the threat of compulsory redundancies, and to consult meaningfully with UCU and all the trade unions to avoid making unnecessary job cuts.

What about the students?

These job cuts will adversely affect the student experience and course quality and choice. We believe preserving the quality of the research and learning environment is key to creating a vibrant and innovative student experience.

But what can I do to help?

Please sign and widely share this petition, a petition that will be presented to University Court on 26 June 2017, and aimed at simply requesting the University refrain from making compulsory redundancies.

If you wish to express your concerns further, consider writing to your MP or MSP and/or email the University’s Principal, Professor Richard Williams, on R.A.Williams@hw.ac.uk.

https://www.change.org/p/no-compulsory-redundancies-at-heriot-watt

Please sign the petition against the threat of compulsory redundancies at the University of Aberdeen

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Members of UCU Scotland at the University of Aberdeen are being balloted for strike action in a row over job losses.

The row centers on planned cuts that have resulted in 15 members of staff in the school of medicine, medical science and nutrition being told they are at risk of redundancy. The ballot closes on Monday 21 November.

UCU says the university is in good financial health after achieving £8.6 million of staff savings through a voluntary redundancy scheme in 2015. The union has accused the university of breaking its promise to freeze recruitment to reduce the need for redundancies.

Aberdeen UCU representative, Derek Dawson, said: ‘Nobody wants to take industrial action, but UCU members at Aberdeen feel they have no choice. The university has already made considerable savings through a voluntary redundancy scheme and we are dismayed that it is handing out redundancy notices at this time. It has broken its promise to freeze recruitment in an effort to mitigate the need for job losses.

‘We believe getting rid of experienced and dedicated staff will do nothing for Aberdeen’s reputation.’

Please support colleagues in Aberdeen by signing the petition: No compulsory redundancies at the University of Aberdeen

https://www.ucu.org.uk/article/8521/Strike-ballot-at-University-of-Aberdeen-in-row-over-job-losses