Professorial open letter

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

Open Letter to the University of Leeds Management

Sent on 21 February to the Vice-Chancellor, Deputy Vic-Chancellor, Head of Human Resources and Head of Finance.  The response from the Vice-Chancellor is copied below.

The undersigned, all professorial staff at the University of Leeds, call upon the University management and UUK to re-open negotiations to resolve the current pensions dispute.

As academics at this university, we are committed to the highest quality teaching and research possible, but we will not accept the erosion of our pensions, set to diminish by an average of £10,000 per annum. Further, we do not accept that our current defined benefit scheme be replaced by a defined contribution scheme in which pensioners bear all the risk and potentially may end up with even greater losses than currently projected by USS.

We support the strike action called by the UCU. We support the strike action as senior members of the University not only for our own future pensions but to make sure that our educational profession is an attractive one for the range of committed staff that make it up now and, in the future, from early career academics, academic support staff, through to part-time staff and Research Fellows.

Finally, we reject attempts by the University management to try to force colleagues to undertake the recuperation of classes and seminars cancelled through strike action. We have a legal right to strike and we will protect this. The strike was the decision of 87% of Leeds UCU members who voted in a legal ballot. There must be no pressure placed on staff to recoup lectures lost to the strike and no sanctions against those who adhere to the industrial action.

Professor Malcolm Povey, Professor of Food Physics
Professor Michael Allis, Professor of Musicology
Professor Steven French, Professor of Philosophy of Science
Professor Bridget Bennett, Professor of American Literature and Culture
Professor David Buckley, Professor of Medical Physics
Professor Ray Bush, Professor of African Studies and Development Politics
Professor Andy Challinor, Professor of Climate Impacts
Professor Martyn Chipperfield
Professor Hugo Christenson, Professor of Crystallisation Physics
Professor Richard Cleminson, Professor of Hispanic Studies
Professor Alexis Comber, Professor of Spatial Data Analytics
Professor Mark Conner
Professor Tony Crowley, Professor of English Language
Professor Darren Shickle, Professor of Public Health
Professor Graeme Davies, Professor in International Security
Professor Rik Brydson
Professor Louise Dye, N8 Agrifood Chair in Nutrition and Behaviour
Professor Sam Falle, Professor of Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics
Professor Leslie Firbank, Professor of Sustainable Agriculture
Professor Steven French, Professor of Philosophy of Science
Professor Mark Gilthorpe, Professor of Statistical Epidemiology
Professor William Gould, Professor of Indian History
Professor Walter Gregory, Professor of Statistical Methodology in Clinical Trials
Professor Irena Grugulis, Professor of Work and Skills
Professor Simon Hall, Professor of Modern History
Professor David Hesmondhalgh
Professor Marion Hetherington, School of Psychology
Professor Sally Hines, Professor of Sociology and Gender Identities
Professor Ruth Holliday, Professor of Gender and Culture
Professor Ian Hope, Professor of Invertebrate Developmental Genetics
Professor Chris Inglehearn, Professor of Molecular Ophthalmology
Professor Elwyn Isaac, Professor of Comparative Biochemistry
Professor Catherine Karkov, Chair of Art History
Professor Matthew Kieran, Professor of Philosophy and the Arts
Professor Serguei Komissarov
Professor Joan Loughrey, Professor of Law
Professor John Mowitt, Professor and Leadership Chair in the Critical Humanities
Professor Mark Priestley, Professor of Disability Policy
Professor Gregory Radick, Professor of History and Philosophy of Science
Professor John Rodgers, Professor of Behavioural Pharmacology
Professor Paul Routledge
Professor Ingrid Sharp, Professor of German Cultural and Gender History
Professor Maxim Silverman, Professor of Modern French Studies
Professor Asipu Sivaprasadarao
Professor Martin Speight, Professor of Mathematics
Professor Steven Toms, Professor of Accounting
Professor Pekka Vayrynen, Professor of Moral Philosophy
Professor David Watling, Centenary Professor of Transport Analysis.
Professor Janet Watson, Chair of Language at Leeds
Professor Edward White, Professor of Cardiac Physiology
Professor Paul Wignall, Professor of Palaeoenvironments
Professor John Wood, Professor of Differential Geometry

Response from the Vice-Chancellor on 22 February:

From: Alan Langlands
Sent: 22 February 2018 15:31
To: Malcolm Povey <M.J.W.Povey@food.leeds.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: USS Dispute

Dear Malcolm,

I acknowledge receipt of this letter and note the points you have made. Thank you for taking time over this and, as you probably know, my position on these points is either already on the record or has been discussed with UCU representatives in the past twenty four hours.

Best wishes,

Alan.

UCU calls on university senior management to drop ASOS 25% deduction plan

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

UCU has called on the University of Leeds senior management to drop their punitive, divisive and escalatory plan to deduct 25% from wages for refusing to reschedule lectures or classes, or to cover the work of absent colleagues as industrial action short of a strike (ASOS), and instead, as other university senior management teams have done, to support their employees and work towards a good settlement to the dispute.

email to VC (full text below)

We have chosen to make this email open. Please share widely.

For advice on responding to management requests relating to industrial action short of a strike, see First Day Back (after a period of USS strike action)

Copy of the HR letter which threatens to deduct 25% of pay.

Full text of the UCU email to the vice chancellor below:

Sent: 01 March 2018 09:19
To: Vice-Chancellor <Vice-Chancellor@leeds.ac.uk>; …
Subject: USS pensions dispute

USS pensions dispute

Dear Vice Chancellor,

In this open letter, I am writing on behalf of University of Leeds UCU members to ask you to do three things related to the USS pensions dispute:

1)      The proposed 25% deductions for Action Short of a Strike (ASOS) are unfair. This punitive measure seeks to deduct wages twice for the same thing – once for being on strike, and then again for not subsequently doing the work not done owing to being on strike. Requiring staff to reschedule in this way is unprecedented, highly impractical, and would be a cause of both staff and student work overload, contrary to your duty of care.  ASOS deductions would also erode any remaining goodwill among staff, and we feel sure that you realise staff goodwill is crucial to the university’s success. It is a clear attempt to break the strike and we encourage you instead to seek dialogue with staff rather than confrontation. Please reconsider.

2)      In past industrial disputes at the University of Leeds, wages deducted from strikers have been donated to the Student Hardship Fund. Please confirm that you will be doing this again.

3)      Please join with the leadership shown by Imperial College, University of Glasgow and University of Sheffield in making positive proposals towards the resolution of the dispute.  We would like you to work with University of Leeds UCU to produce a joint statement, along similar lines to Imperial College (see attached).

Yours sincerely,

Vicky, on behalf of University of Leeds UCU

Uni of Leeds UCU President – please ask me about joining your trade union.
https://www.leedsucu.org.uk @leedsucu
UCU NEC Representative (National Seat – Higher Education)
UCU believes in and campaigns for secure contracts, fair pay and fair conditions for all staff.
See here for more information: https://www.ucu.org.uk/stampout
Get involved by contacting your branch or by emailing anticasualisation@ucu.org.uk @UCUAnti_Cas #anticas18

Email sent to members 28/2/18: First Day Back: Thank you + Next Steps (ASOS + next week’s Strike) + Support

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

This post reproduces the text of an email to all members from the Uni of Leeds UCU President on 28/2/2018

Dear Members,

Thank you

Once again, you are amazing. It is an incredible feeling to walk round visiting bumper numbers of pickets in “challenging” weather and to find everyone smiling (also willing to dance and do star jumps on camera), upbeat, and engaging really positively with students, staff, and passers-by about why we are taking industrial action. You’re all just really brilliant! [Professional video evidence: coming soon…]

We are also sending thanks to our sister unions on campus and all staff and students who support us – of whom there are many. We have been kept in tea, coffee, cakes, and hugs by this incredible solidarity. It has brought home the real meaning of the #WeAreTheUniversity hashtag.

It is essential that we now keep up the pressure. We have had a very successful first week of action. We are absolutely certain that without your courage to take industrial action on this scale, we would not have seen any of the progress made so far. We are now in a phase of Action Short Of Strike (ASOS) and are set to take further strike action next week (Mon 5 – Thurs 8 March inclusive) and the week following (Mon 12 – Fri 16 March inclusive).
We urge all members to observe all aspects of the action to its fullest extent. This is how we will win. Please remember a large set of Frequently Asked Questions on the action are [here] and we have put additional guidance on our [website] including this [post] about reporting your strike action.
ASOS
Despite the outrageous threats of further deductions for taking ASOS, all UCU members are called on to refuse to reschedule lectures or classes. This includes the kind of work that would facilitate such a rescheduling – see [FAQ point 7]
If you are asked to reschedule non-teaching related work, you should comply BUT ask what you should drop in order to prioritise that work, and do not work outside the ASOS to get that done.
We are writing an open letter on behalf of all members to the Vice Chancellor and senior management, regarding the issue of planned deductions for taking ASOS. This is unprecedented at Leeds and has already broken down staff trust and goodwill. The text will be available online tomorrow.
What next?
We will go into work tomorrow having taken 5 days of industrial action, which continues in our Action Short Of Strike and in our further strike action in coming weeks. Many of you have questions about how reporting on action should work, how to deal with questions from managers and colleagues, and what to do if you encounter any problems. Check out [this guide] for what to do tomorrow and for after the next phases of industrial action.

Where we are 

We are collectively exerting significant pressure through our action, and it is already having a significant effect. After our first five days of solid industrial action, university employers have:
  • Met with UCU for talks
  • Agreed to arbitration facilitated by ACAS (starting Monday)
  • Finally shown some acknowledgement that the figure given for the USS pension ‘deficit’ depends on a set of assumptions that are open to question (especially as the ones used for USS are based on a ludicrous premise that all UK universities in the scheme might go bust at once and have to be ‘rescued’)
  • Agreed to have a look at other proposals
As our General Secretary Sally Hunt noted in her email this afternoon, we have already begun to see some shifting among the employers’ side, which includes a growing number of Vice Chancellors who have been willing to call for further talks to reach an amicable agreement with the union. Some of this group have pushed for the employers’ side to engage properly with UCU’s analysis and concerns of the threatened changes to the USS pension scheme. To our knowledge, the Vice Chancellor for the University of Leeds is not among either group, despite countless emails from staff, students, alumni, and even local MPs.
Stand Firm, heads held high
We are standing up for our right to a decent quality of life in retirement, and for a decent pension. Our fight directly impacts upon the wider fight for decent pensions. By taking industrial action you are standing up for what is right. Walk back into work with your heads held high. And see you on the picket lines on Monday!
In solidarity,
Vicky and the Committee

Read More: where we are (28/2/18)

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by
Check out [this article] in the Times Higher from today which covers the proposals tabled to employers today after consultation with some of these “dove” VCs, and for a sense of how different the industrial climate could be if more VCs were willing to engage with concerns raised by trade unions on behalf of members (their staff). You can also read [this piece] in the Times Higher by Stuart Croft (VC of Warwick University) arguing, among other things, that our pension should be government backed (as is the TPS scheme which operates largely in the post-92 universities).
We have finally seen journalists in the mainstream media pick up on our analysis and critique of the shoddy basis for the threatened changes to USS. For example, read [this] if you haven’t already. Also read [this] for further context and a technical analysis of the dispute. The role of the Pensions Regulator has been noted in much of this coverage; analysis from the UCU side has frequently noted that a way to safeguard against future disputes like this would be better tackled jointly by UCU and UUK making an approach to the Pensions Regulator, were we to persuade UUK to work together with us on this.

First Day Back (after a period of #USSstrike action)

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by
Here’s some advice for your first day back after a period of fantastic striking:
1) Read the Industrial Action FAQ
[Click here]
It has a lot of information in it, so please check it to see if it answers any questions you have.
 
2) Remember we are working to contract as part of Action Short Of Strike 
Please make sure you observe it. We know from previous phases of ASOS that members tend to find it a bit odd at first, working only their “nominal” contracted hours (7.5 per day) and actually taking breaks. We hear taking breaks, having a lunch hour, and not working until the small hours is good for you…

3) Report (only) the strike action you have taken so far
Use the HR self-service system if you can. Members working off-campus will need to log onto the remote access desktop via Citrix to get the HR self-service to work. If you can’t get the HR self-service and/or Citrix to work,  use the specific IndustrialAction@leeds.ac.uk email address if you can’t get it to work. HR have given a deadline of 2pm to do this, despite UCU’s formal notification of our serious concerns over the tight timescale that has been decreed. Please feel free to copy in ucu@leeds.ac.uk (mark emails “industrial action notification”).

N.B. Please read our guidance [here] and [here] in conjunction with the letter from the Director of HR [15 February]

The text of the email from the Director of HR is linked [here]. If anything about the online HR self-service system does not work for you, or if you want to make absolutely sure that the details are correct, you can email them via IndustrialAction@leeds.ac.uk.

4) Do not report on any upcoming strike action yet

You are under no obligation to do so. Reporting early serves only to undermine the strength of the action. However we do recommend you continue to talk to your students about the industrial action [link to student resources].
5) If asked whether you are participating in ASOS, simply state:

“I am participating in UCU Action Short Of Strike as is my legal right. Action short of a strike began on 22 February at the same time as the strike action and continues until the union calls it off.

For this dispute, ASOS means I will:
– work to contract;
– not cover for absent colleagues;
– not reschedule lectures or classes cancelled due to strike action;
– not undertake any voluntary activities
– abide strictly by the terms of my contract of employment.”

6) If asked about whether you will strike again / what the impact is likely to be of further strikes, simply state:
“All activities during the four weeks of strike action are potentially at risk. Students can expect to miss teaching during those four weeks, and research and administrative activities will also be at risk. UCU members are not required to inform management of their participation in strike action in advance, although anyone taking strike action will declare their participation after the strike days.”

7) Dealing with further questions / pressure

If you are pressed for further details of whether you plan to take further strike action, or if pressure is exerted upon you wherein you feel uncomfortable or as though you are being treated with detriment for taking legally called industrial action you can:

  • Inform the other party you are unable to continue the interaction until you can arrange to have a union rep present and/or take union advice
  • Ring the UCU office on x35904 (external: 0113 343 5904)
  • Email ucu@leeds.ac.uk (mark the email “industrial action detriment”)

It is unacceptable (and unlawful) for anyone to suffer discrimination as a result of their trade union membership.

8) Assess whether you are in a position to donate to hardship / fighting funds

We have received some generous donations to the local hardship fund from members and recently retired members already. Some members continue to ask how to donate as they feel able to weather the deductions and want to help others. Please email ucu@leeds.ac.uk if you wish to do this (mark the email “DONATE TO HARDSHIP FUND”).

9) Assess whether (and if so, when) you might need to apply for financial assistance 

UCU relies on the goodwill and charity of better-off members either not to apply for financial assistance, or to wait until the point at which they will be adversely affected by deductions before they do so. Please be assured that if you feel you will be hit disproportionately by strike deductions (especially if you are concerned about your ability to observe the strike without assistance), your personal situation will be taken into account.
Please do read [this post] (and guidance linked therein) which explains the remit of the UCU National Fighting Fund and our local Hardship Fund.
When to apply?
We have been advised by HR that all salaried staff who take strike action will see all the deductions made in the March payroll, which means February’s pay should look “normal”. HOWEVER, hourly paid members who are paid using a time-sheet system (eg postgraduate TAs) may have already lost pay from February due to strike action.
If deductions have been made from your February pay, please fill in [this form] and email it to ucu@leeds.ac.uk, marking the subject as “FEBRUARY STRIKE DEDUCTIONS”, making sure to attach relevant evidence (as described). The form asks you to describe/evidence:
  • Which hours you would usually have been paid for *in February* (please provide a brief overview, using a rota / letter of contract / statement of hours as evidence)
  • How you have evidenced strike action taken (attach a screenshot of your HR self-service strike report or a copy of your email notification to IndustrialAction@leeds.ac.uk)
  • Your usual weekly* pay from the University of Leeds (*or other suitable period)
  • How much pay you have lost (don’t forget things like preparation time)
  • Any further information about your personal financial circumstances you believe to be relevant

Further questions?  

Call the UCU Office on x35904 (external: 0113 343 5904) or email us on ucu@leeds.ac.uk

Leeds USS strike in the media

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

The first two days of the USS strike at Leeds have been magnificent.  We’ve had more pickets than ever before, people picketing who’ve never taken strike action before, very senior colleagues out with us. We’ve given out thousands of leaflets, had good conversations with loads of students, and chatted with prospective students and parents coming to Visit Days and interviews.

We marched down to town on Thursday lunchtime and had a great rally outside the Art Gallery.  We were blown away by the speakers from Leeds students support UCU and delighted to hear stirring support from Jane Aitchison, Leeds Trades Union Council President.

Then on Friday, Alex Sobel MP spoke at our rally on the Parkinson steps, followed by the first of the Striking Insights Teach Out sessions at the Quaker Centre.

We had masses of media, both local and national, at Leeds. Special thanks to our branch President Vicky for doing such a good job of back to back interviews, and to everyone else who talked to the media on our behalf. In case you missed it, here’s some of the coverage which featured us at Leeds (obviously, there was also masses more nationally and regionally everywhere else):

TV & radio

Newspapers

Our members are fantastic – energetic, positive, and determined to stop this attack on our pensions.  Come back on Monday but wrap up extra warm because it’s going to be very cold.

International Messages of Solidarity

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

I was a part of the British university system between 2008 and 2014. During this period I saw how working conditions – the conditions for good teaching and research – rapidly deteriorated. Not only due to government defunding, but also due to university managements attempting to transform institutions of learning and critique into corporations, rewarding themselves handsomely in the process.

So I consider it both just and important to resist the attack on pensions. Your students and non-academic colleagues at the university must know that your fight is a part of a broader fight. The pension cuts are a part of the construction of the defunded university, in which a precarious workforce is asked to serve heavily indebted “customers”, in order that the state can save money for noble causes such as bank bail outs and tax cuts for the wealthy.

In many ways, the British university system serves as a model for university development in Denmark. For this reason, your struggle is our struggle. Never forget that. When you are fighting to stop the downward spiral of British universities, you are helping your colleagues internationally too. And know that you can win: concerted resistance based on solidarity between lecturers and students has managed to stop some of the worst reforms of the Danish University system, including the introduction of student fees. In solidarity and friendship.

Dr Bue Rübner Hansen, University of Aarhus

Having done my PhD in the UK, I follow the debates about higher education there with great interest. I have been distressed to hear about the experiences of my friends and colleagues at UK universities who are facing declining pay and increasing precarity. The marketization and casualization of the university labour force is a trend we are seeing in North America as well, and it is one that we must resist. The proposed changes to the pensions scheme are unacceptable. I strongly support the strike action by UCU and from Ottawa, I teach and write in solidarity with my comrades in the UK.

Dr Megan Rivers-Moore, Carleton University, Canada

I send my full solidarity to the UCU strike, we have the same problem here in Mexico with the AFORE stock market-related privatised pensions introduced here in 2008, which our union opposes.

Dr Patrick Cuninghame, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana (UAM), Mexico City & member of the Sindicato Independiente de los Trabajadores de la UAM (SITUAM)

The Rutgers Executive Council of AAUP-AFT Chapters voted unanimously to stand in solidarity with University and College Union members in the United Kingdom on February 20, 2018

Whereas, Members of the largest union of university teaching staff in the UK, the
University and College Union (UCU), are fighting to stop an outrageous attack on retirement benefits;

Whereas, University administrators propose to end the current guaranteed pension plan, replacing it with individual investment accounts, on the pretext of a fictional deficit “crisis;”

Whereas, Workers in the United States, including New Jersey educators, are very familiar with the use of manufactured “crises” to undermine retirement plans, which attack workers’ long-term security by stealing their own deferred wages; Be it resolved that the AAUP-AFT chapters at Rutgers University call on Universities UK to give up their shameful attack on defined-benefit pensions and negotiate with UCU in good faith;

And be it resolved that we stand in solidarity with the members of the UCU, saluting their commitment to security, equity, and dignity in the workplace and in retirement.

Rutgers Executive Council of AAUP-AFT Chapters, USA

Working conditions and social rights of people are under growing attack all over the world nowadays. This strongly contradicts not only with a rationale of social democracy and social justice but also with the basic principle of decent working life within workplaces and society overall. In solidarity.

Professor Valeria Pulignano, CESO – KU Leuven 

I would like to express my full support for the strike launched by the University and College Union in the UK Higher Education in response to the pension cuts related to the changes in the Universities Superannuation Scheme. I consider the lack of proper and good-will based negotiation around this issue with employers associated in the Universities UK unacceptable.

Decent pensions are essential for the quality of working live and retirement. In the context of ongoing, Europe-wide reforms of higher education institutions, the predictable situation of workers after retirement is crucial for their well-being.

Therefore, I would like to share my support and solidarity with striking University employees in the UK and Leeds Business School in particular.

I also support the call for immediate return to negotiations between unions and UUK.

I will share my support and information about the strike in my networks.

In solidarity !

With best wises

Adam Mrozowicki, Associate Professor, Institute of Sociology, University of Wrocław

Dear academic friends in Britain,

I was astounded to hear a few days ago about what is happening in British higher education. The employers association had proposed making pension payouts less generous by an average of ten thousand pounds a year and making them dependent on the stock market. You had voted overwhelmingly to respond with a 14-day national strike, the largest academic strike in UK history. Various universities had responded not only by docking pay for strike days, but also by threatening to reduce pay on non-strike days and taking legal action against strikers if students claim their fees back. Wow.

You need to win this strike, and the employers need to back down. You have already suffered more than enough. The squeeze on pay worsens your standard of living slowly but perceptibly. While attacks on pensions are not new in UK higher education, the current offensive by the employers really is astounding. It fills me personally with pride to see how you’re fighting back.

It is understandable that universities shift financial risk. But this attempt to shift financial risks onto academics has poisoned the workplace atmosphere in which research and teaching take place. Provoking this strike has already undermined the excellence of those institutions that the Vice Chancellors are supposed to be leading.

How do I know attacks on pay and pension are damaging to British universities? Occasionally, PhD students in the US ask me about the job market in Britain, because I worked there for ten years. Ten years ago I would have said that it’s a mixed bag. Pay is lower than the US, but for junior academics job security is higher, making it possible to pursue interesting and risky research agendas. Over the years, the situation has become less rosy. And now this conflict. International academics thinking of moving to Britain should know that it is a place where pay, pensions, and job security are under attack, and colleagues are angry and fearful.  This is not an atmosphere in which the work of academics is apparently valued.

Britain’s universities are still among the best in the world, and Vice-Chancellors should be working to keep it that way. Instead, they have provoked a massive nation-wide strike. The employers need to bargain with the union, find a solution, and end the strike.

In solidarity,

Prof Ian Greer, Cornell University, USA

You have my full support. The actions being taken in the UK by university employers are yet another example of the appalling  corporate management style and values taking over universities. What happens to you will also ultimately affect us.
In solidarity,
Professor Marian Baird, The University of Sydney Business School
Dear Colleagues,
I want to express my solidarity with the strike of the University and College Union in the United Kingdom. I am deeply concerned about the changes to the pension scheme proposed by Universities UK. We are observing steps in the direction of increasing precarity of academic work in many countries – steps which could worsen not only the working and living conditions of academics, but also the quality of teaching and research as well as the quality of international research cooperation. I can only hope that the Universities UK and the universities and colleges withdraw the proposed changes to the academic pension system and recognize the importance of good working conditions for the quality of teaching and research.
Martin Krzywdzinski, Head of the Research Group “Globalization, Work and
Production” at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center 

 To our collegues in Great Britain,

For ver.di department of science and higher education I send you our full support in your struggle against the changes and prospective cuts regarding your pension plans.

We know fully well the gap that lies between the countless political speeches about the importance of higher education and the utter disregard universities show for the employees, who are their backbone. Right now, the student employees here in Berlin are as well forced to take industrial action against their universities, which have not given them a pay raise in 17 years. The way they are treating us echoes your own experiences. But we will not let up and it strenghtens us to know, that you wont either.

Science is international. So is solidarity and our common struggle for fair working conditions. Keep up the fight!

Best,

Matthias Neis, Ver.di Resort Higher Education and Research

Reporting your strike action over USS

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

It is vital that your strike action is recorded, but please don’t record it in advance (recalling HQ instructions and the [USS Action FAQ]).

HR have required that we report strike action from Thursday 22nd to Wednesday 28th February by March 1st (and so on, each time the first day back after striking). They will no doubt be watching closely to see whether members are observing the strike. So, despite onerous mechanisms, let’s send a clear signal that we are united as a Union in support of our pensions. The clearer and louder this message is, the more likely it is that employers will return to negotiations.

We raised members’ serious concerns over the stipulations made by management that each “batch” of strike action be recorded on the days between those batches (incredibly tight timescales) in a formal letter to HR [click here]. It was addressed today in a meeting with the Vice Chancellor and both the Director and Deputy Director of HR. The Director of HR made it clear that they have put these stipulations in place to make it easier for them to “plan” and that this is nothing to do with the technicalities of making payroll deductions (which are planned for the March payroll). This is very disappointing.

However, we note that HR have also supplied staff with an industrial action email address [industrialaction@leeds.ac.uk] and HR have indicated that any difficulty experienced while using the HR system should be solved by emailing that account.

We also note that if you are working offsite, the SAP self-service won’t work (you need to be on a campus networked computer) and that the offsite self-service system (Citrix) doesn’t always work for everyone offsite (especially if using a tablet rather than a laptop or desktop).

We further note that it may be unreasonable to expect members who work part-time to report by the deadlines given, if those deadlines happen to fall on a non-working day. We would expect due consideration to be given in these circumstances.

For example you might wish to email if:

  • The SAP self-service system is not working for you when you try to use it (noting that it appeared to have crashed / not load for some members after the last strike action)
  • You are offsite (e.g. for a training course, in archives somewhere off-campus, at a conference) and cannot get the self-service (Citrix) app to work
  • You are part time and/or hourly paid and want to make sure the correct deductions are logged for the days of strike
  • You have complicated working patterns and/or multiple roles to explain in your strike reportingYou have used the system to report but are unsure if your strike report has recorded properly in any way

We urge you to only report the strike action you have taken up to each reporting point.