Category Archives: Dispute

Casework drop-in, Bradford College strikes, Environment Working group and more

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Text from all-members email sent 3 July 2019 Casework drop-in Weds 2 July, 12.30 – 2:30, 7.52 EC Stoner If there’s something you think you might need UCU support for, but aren’t sure, drop in for a chat with a caseworker. Our casework drop-ins are usually on the first Wednesday of each month. For serious matters where you will definitely need your own caseworker, don’t wait for a drop-in session, email ucu@leeds.ac.uk.  More about UCU support at  http://www.leedsucu.org.uk/support-and-benefits/  Supporting Bradford College UCU strikes Weds 3 – Fri 5 July Bradford College UCU are striking over job cuts and pay. The college intends to cut 131 jobs, and staff have had only one 1% pay rise in the last 11 years, which means their pay has declined by 25% in real terms. If you can support their picket line on your way to work that would be fantastic solidarity – look out for the Leeds UCU banner.  See  https://ucu.org.uk/article/10189/Three-day-walkout-at-Bradford-College-from-Wednesday?list=1676  Extraordinary General Meeting  Weds 10 July, 12 noon, Michael Sadler LG15 Concerned about any or all of: pensions, pay and equality, Head of School appointments, lecture capture, UniForum, discussion boards for in-course feedback, timetabling, or centralisation of admissions? Come and have your say at this … continue reading

Boycott of Trinity College, Cambridge

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UCU’s higher education committee (HEC) today voted to officially censure Trinity College, Cambridge and will call on staff worldwide to boycott the institution unless it reverses its decision to pull out of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS). At a meeting of the college’s Fellows this morning, a motion to reconsider the decision to withdraw from USS was lost by 43 votes to 76. The union will set up a special committee to consider what action the boycott would entail and it may include asking HE staff to: not attend, speak at or organise academic or other conferences at Trinity not apply for jobs at Trinity not give lectures at Trinity not accept positions as visiting professors or researchers at Trinity not write for any academic journal which is edited from Trinity not take up new contracts as external examiners. (Post from UCU national website) … continue reading

USS pension, misrepresentation: very important update

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As a matter of urgency, please read [this revealing article] published in the Financial Times over the weekend.  When you get to the FT website, you can log into Leeds’ institutional subscription for access using your @leeds.ac.uk email address.  This article contains evidence (now in the public domain) that USS has misrepresented the position of the Pensions Regulator regarding calculations of risk and that it failed to address this misrepresentation when asked. This was at a crucial time while Universities UK the employers’ representative body) were consulting with member institutions over proposed assumptions for the 2018 USS valuation.  USS was already under investigation by two regulators after one of its trustees, Professor Jane Hutton (appointed by UCU), turned whistleblower: she accused the Trustee Chair and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham, David Eastwood, of withholding crucial information from her. See [here]. We now know that Eastwood was a recipient of the email sent from the Pensions Regulator to USS in January. It is notable that Josephine Cumbo shared an excerpt of this email on [Twitter] which says that the Pensions Regulator were planning to copy this communication to Universities UK. UCU are concerned that it would thus appear that our employers’ representative body appear to be implicated in a cover-up of this … continue reading

Notice of trade dispute over USS pensions

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A letter establishing a trade dispute over USS pensions has been sent today (7 June 2019) to every institution the scheme covers, including University of Leeds, as called for by UCU branches at the UCU Higher Education Sector Conference on Sunday 26 May (motion L5 (amended)). The letter gives universities until 19 June to inform UCU that they will not be imposing any pension benefit cuts or increasing our pension contributions. The UCU’s position of ‘no detriment’ is based on there being no genuine need for any detriment, as the joint expert panel set up by the employers and the union confirmed. We’d recommend all members read the full text of the letter below. (For more details about the dispute see our pensions page.) Dear Vice Chancellor You will be aware that early last year UCU members took part in 14 days of industrial action, which resulted in UUK withdrawing proposals to change USS from a hybrid defined benefit pension scheme into a defined contribution pension scheme. UCU members later voted to suspend the action and set up the Joint Expert Panel (JEP) in response to an offer from UUK.  The JEP reported in September 2018 and made a number … continue reading

USS pensions – emergency motion passed at AGM

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Members of UCU University of Leeds branch passed the following emergency motion at our AGM on 16 May 2019: This branch notes that: The 2018 USS dispute was suspended with an agreement that Defined Benefit pensions should not be scrapped and that a Joint Expert Panel (JEP) should be set up to reconsider the USS valuation.This Joint Expert Panel reported in September 2018 (see http://www.ussjep.org.uk/report-of-the-joint-expert-panel/) and largely vindicated the UCU position on the USS valuation.The University of Leeds broadly supported the JEP recommendations, including the levels of contributions proposed. (see https://www.leeds.ac.uk/forstaff/download/downloads/id/1536/uss_leeds_response_to_uuk_consultation_re_jep_october_2018)To Maintain current benefits, USS have already imposed a default increase in our contributions from 8% of salary to 8.8% in April 2019, with a further increase coming in October if an agreement on valuations cannot be reached. If the JEP recommendations were implemented in full, there would be no need for further contribution increases or benefit reductions.The position of UCU nationally is ‘No Detriment’ i.e. that there should be no further increases to our pension contributions and no reductions to our pension benefits.The USS board issued a statement on 9th May (see https://www.uss.co.uk/how-uss-is-run/2018-valuation/2018-valuation-updates/9-may-2019) saying they are now consulting with university employers about three new options that they have identified, … continue reading