Policy decision: motion 1, 9th November 2021

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

The motion was agreed at the general meeting Tuesday 9 November 2021

A. Leeds Uni UCU notes
  1. The excellent votes for action in ballots.
  2. The new strategy proposed by the General Secretary in her address and email on Friday 5 November 2021.
B. Leeds Uni UCU believes
  1. The results are a testament to the hard work of branch officers and activists and the willingness of members to fight in over pensions, pay, equality, casualisation and workloads.
  2. One day of strike action in each dispute this term is token action which will not be effective.
  3. A full, aggregated ballot over the Four Fights is an unnecessary gamble.
  4. While casualisation is important, so are pay, pay equality and workloads.
C. Leeds Uni UCU resolves
  1. To argue that the period up to Christmas should be used to discuss local tactics, mobilise students and to increase our branch organising and recruitment with the view to escalating strike action alongside action short of strike in the New Year.
  2. To propose maintaining the Four Fights as Four Fights.
  3. To propose immediately re-balloting only those branches which did not make the threshold in either or both disputes.
  4. To reject aggregation of the re-ballots.
  5. To propose 1 day of action in first week of December across all branches (whether strike or not) to mobilise the workforce and start putting pressure on our institutions in light of January escalation.

Proposed by Lesley McGorrigan, moved by Lesley McGorrigan, seconded by Megan Povey, with amendments proposed by Gabriella Alberti, moved by Gabriella Alberti, seconded by Jane Holgate, proposed by Jane Holgate, moved by Jane Holgate, seconded by Andi Rylands, proposed by Nely Konstantinov, moved by Gabriella Alberti, seconded by Lata Narayanaswamy. Motion as amended carried.

USS ballot outcome

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

Good morning members

Many of you will already be aware of the outcome of the ballot on the USS dispute, which arrived in our inboxes at about 7pm last night. This branch has yet again smashed the anti-union 50% legal ballot threshold, with a turnout of 60.8% – 75.2% of those of you who voted said that you are prepared to take strike action, and 85.5% of you who voted said that you are prepared to take action short of a strike.

The results of the Four Fights ballot will be out at some point today – they take longer to count as more branches have been balloted, but I do not expect to see much difference in those results.

This is a magnificent outcome, which repeats what we achieved in 2019, in very different circumstances. 

I want to pay particular tribute to everyone who volunteered as part of the effort to get the vote out – texting, calling, messaging people to ensure that as many people as possible exercised their democratic right to have their voice heard. The importance of this work can be seen across the Pennines  – our comrades at Manchester University missed the threshold by one (1) vote, amid reports of  massive postal delays. Newcastle UCU were short of the threshold by about 6 votes; UCL by 17. Discussions will be had about whether these branches will reballot to be able to join the action, and we will do everything we can to support them.

To remind you, we have an Extraordinary General Meeting next Tuesday 9th at 1pm – we will send a link out on Monday. What we will do in this meeting is discuss the branches views on next steps which we will then feed into a UK-wide  branch delegate meeting on Friday 12th. UCU’s higher education committee will then meet on Friday afternoon to make decisions about how we will take industrial action on this mandate. Because of legalities it often takes a little while for those decisions to be announced to members, so we may need to be patient, and the employer must be given 2 weeks notice of any industrial action, suggesting that we can expect any action to start in very late November or December.

 Our employers, of course, can avoid the disruption of industrial action, by working in collaboration, with each other and with us, to find settlements to these disputes, and I hope they have woken up this morning determined to do so. In the meantime, we are determined to build our solidarity and our creativity to take effective, powerful action to bring them back to the table. 

This was an immense branch effort – I’m proud of us and proud to be your President.

In solidarity

Chloe

Your pay; did you know…

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

Three reasons to vote YES, YES in the UCU ballots:

● Twelve years of below inflation pay offers have given us a 20% pay cut

● This year’s pay offer is just 1.5%, but inflation is at 4.5%

● You are also facing a 35% cut to your guaranteed pension

You can check the cut to your pension (deferred pay) here:  http://uss-pension-model.com/

Post your ballot envelope today. We can win.

Email to all members, 29 October 2021, from branch campaigns officer Lesley McGorrigan

USS – Notice of statutory consultation

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

Notice of statutory consultation by employers in relation to Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS)

Email to all members from branch pensions officer Mark Taylor-Batty, 28 October 2021

This morning many of you will have received the formal written notice of a statutory consultation in relation to USS. It contains details about proposed changes to your USS pension, most of which would take effect from 1 April 2022, if implemented. These are the changes that UUK presented and were pushed through the JNC in August, bringing negotiations to an end and thereby instigating a ballot for industrial action. UCU are now asking you to decide whether you accept a loss of income in retirement of potentially tens of thousands of pounds (and the younger you are the more you will lose) or whether you will stand with your union colleagues by voting ‘yes/yes’ in the ballot to do all we can to improve that situation. We will address the details of this consultation in an email next week. 

In this email I want to outline some of the impacts of the changes to your pension, and address some of the things stated in the presentation for the University by USS’s partners and advisors Mercer’s. 

The representative of USS’s advisors in that presentation yesterday stated that the UCU’s proposals had not been tabled at the JNC, but did not give the detail of how UUK had blocked UCU’s ability to table those proposals. The UCU proposals were on the agenda, and had been fully costed by USS and were viable. But, in order to be formally tabled,  they relied on the UUK applying the same covenant supporting measures that they were offering for their own proposals. UUK refused this, and therefore obliged UCU to remove the proposal from the discussion. As such, it is now questionable simply to state that ‘the UCU did not formally table any proposals’ without offering that context. Please note also that the UCU’s proposals, unlike the UUK’s, were a starting point to moving to a much better position with a new valuation. Unlike the UUK’s, these also involved better intergenerational opportunities. If you would like to see the full details of the UCU proposal you can read it here, and see how this compared with the UUK’s in this WONKHE article.

These old UCU proposals are not part of our demands now, as there have been significant developments since then, not least the Dual Schedule of Contributions that USS has filed to the regulator, which means that in the case that UUK revoke their cuts before the end of February, contributions for current benefits would go no higher than 11% for members until October 2022, giving more time for a solution built around an updated valuation, and obviating the ‘fall-back’ position and associated numbers that were circulated this morning. 

The Mercer’s talk seemed to indicate that the Pensions regulator had required a March 2020 valuation. While there is a requirement to provide a valuation of a DB pension every three years, if anything tPR had discouraged a March 2020 valuation, and certainly did not insist on that as the valuation date. USS is the only UK DB pension scheme to insist on a valuation set at the onset of the pandemic. See more here. You may wish to know that the current value of the assets of the scheme stands at around £90bn, which is more than £20bn higher than the 2020 valuation assumed they would be now when calculating a ‘deficit’ of around £15bn. Here are some of the details of the changes to your pension that are proposed by UUK, and what they might mean for you.

KEY INFORMATION

  • From 1 April 2022, each year members will build up a pension in the USS Retirement Income Builder, the defined benefit section of USS, at a lower rate of 1/85 of salary compared to the current 1/75 of salary, and a separate lump sum of 3/85 rather than 3/75, up to the Salary Threshold. This means that you will have a smaller defined benefit pension in retirement, because each year you will put aside a smaller proportion of your salary toward that pension.
  • From 1 April 2022, the Salary Threshold will reduce from £59,883.65 to £40,000. This means that any money you do set aside for a defined benefit pension is capped, and that if you earn over £40k, you will contribute additionally to a defined contribution pension with salary above that point, with an unknown pension outcome.
  • From 1 April 2023, the Salary Threshold will continue to increase annually in line with official pensions, which are currently increased in line with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), but subject to a lower maximum increase of 2.5% a year until 31 March 2025 or if earlier, the date of any change concluded by a review by the JNC of the amount of the Salary Threshold. This means that the 1/80th of your salary set aside with grow in line with CPI inflation in the background, but if inflation goes over 2.5% (as indeed it is now, and predicted to go to 4% next year) your pension savings will not rise in the background to keep up with costs of living.
  • Benefits earned in the USS Retirement Income Builder from 1 April 2022 will continue to see increases applied annually before and after members retire, but subject to a lower maximum of 2.5% a year. Ditto.

From 1 April 2022, there will be a change of benefits for those who are members of USS for a short period (more than three months but less than two years).

What to do next

  1. Read more about the proposals and our dispute on the UCU website here: https://www.ucu.org.uk/strikeforuss
  2. Use the modelling tools to understand how the changes could impact you. (See opposite for a graph that indicates what impact the cuts would have on someone aged 40 earning £40k).
  3. Vote yes/yes in our ballot. If you have not received your ballot papers, today is the last day you can order a replacement – do so here.

Participate in the formal consultation, perhaps after considering the guidance we will issue.

Graphic showing effect of UUK cut from March to October 2022 of 40 year old earning £40k. Graph shows current pension line reducing gradually from a little above £250 to £250, and the "UUK pension" falling more steeply from a little below £250 to a little above £150.

From email to all members from branch pensions officer Mark Taylor-Batty, 28 October 2021

Equality and the ballots

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

One of our ‘Four Fights’ is about inequality.

We are calling on Higher Education employers to address the scandal of the gender, ethnic, and disability pay gaps.  

While salaries at the top of universities continue to grow, and there are ever more senior managers on six figure salaries, very little has been done to address the inequalities that blight our sector. Across Higher Education, women are paid on average 15.1% less than men, there is a 17% pay gap between black and white staff, and the pay gap for disabled staff is 9%. During negotiations about ‘pay and related matters’, employers make supportive noises about this and say they are happy to have working groups to discuss it, but they will not agree to actual commitments to do anything.

We think this is unacceptable, so we are asking you to vote Yes Yes in the Four Fights (pay and related matters) ballot.

Last time we were in dispute with the employers over equality, in 2019/20, we were starting to see some progress towards a national framework, binding on all HE employers, rather than vague wishy washy promises. That was abandoned by employers when the pandemic struck in March 2020 and UCU called off further strikes. We need to push them back to meaningful, agreed action to tackle the injustice of the ethnic, gender and disability pay gaps, and also to take proper account of the impact of intersectionality.

The employers’ body UCEA say they have no mandate from their members (ie university leaders) to do anything about inequality. Leeds management tends to say “Oh but we are only one university, we have no influence on this”. But actually, Leeds could choose to push within UCEA and show sector leadership to ensure that these commitments are made. It is a national issue and UCEA needs to proactively seek a mandate from its members and agree to binding commitments across HE.

We know from experience, and from the latest round of negotiations where our negotiators were basically given a big No, that the only way to see change on equality as well as on workload, pay and casualisation, is to be willing to take industrial action.

So please vote Yes Yes in the Four Fights ballot, to push UCEA to committing to genuine agreements towards a more equal workplace.

Pay inequality lasts throughout life into retirement – lower pay leads to lower pension. We need solidarity from every member on the equality issues because everyone deserves a decent, fair wage now and a decent retirement. We all deserve decent and secure working conditions, a genuinely accessible work environment and a healthy work life balance.

If you haven’t received your ballot papers, please request a replacement at https://yoursay.ucu.org.uk/s3/USS-HE-replacement-form  Do it now!  – today is the last day to get a replacement.

Please vote Yes Yes Yes Yes.  And post your votes soon because the ballots close next Thursday and we’d recommend getting your vote in the post by Monday to be sure of it getting there in time.

In solidarity,

Ben Plumpton and Megan Povey

Joint Equality Officers, Leeds UCU

PS If any members would like to attend the UCU Equality Groups Conference in early December (on Zoom) please let us know, see https://www.ucu.org.uk/membersannualgroupsconference (there are five separate half-day conferences for black, disabled, LGBT+, migrant and women members, and a plenary session for all equality strands)

Email to members 28 October 2021 from joint branch equality officers Ben Plumpton and Megan Povey

Ballots || USS, Four Fights and Casualisation

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

An overview of how issues and experiences of casualisation resonate with the issues we are balloting over from joint branch casualisation officers Joanne Armitage and Xanthe Whittaker. If you are a casualised member and would like to talk about striking whilst casualised, please contact Joanne or Xanthe.

Four Fights 

The Four Fights dispute encompasses concerns around pay, equality, workload and casualisation. It demands the fair treatment of staff across the sector and these issues all intersect. Casualisation is right at the centre of this dispute. Insecure employment exacerbates issues of equality and fair pay. Fixed-term and hourly-paid contracts are often used to fill up leaky parts of workloads leading to fragmented teaching. Casualised staff get paid less and promotions are more difficult.

Around 50% of teaching-only staff are precariously employed and 68% of researchers. UCU notes that these figures are not improving and there are currently 75,000 members of staff employed on casualised contracts in HE.

Those of us who are precariously employed are well aware of how casualisation feels; it affects our lives and sense of self. But the culture of casualisation erodes rights, protections and security for all staff. Casualisation can make it feel really difficult to complain! Demand better workloads! More pay!

****Vote YES! for secure work****

USS Pension Dispute

What do casualised workers stand to lose? 

* Staff on casual contracts and early career academics will be the most affected by proposed changes to USS; will have a greater proportion of our pension across our career subject to these worse conditions.

* Employee contribution increases will make the scheme even less affordable for more staff on insecure contracts and low pay. Already many casualised staff choose to opt out of the USS scheme

What about intergenerational fairness?

* High rates of opt-out among casualised workers already reflects an unfairness to those on insecure contracts, who face further insecurity in retirement if they have no access to a pension. For some, retirement may be pushed out of reach. Staff who opt out are already losing that part of their income which is made up of the employer contribution to pensions.

* How is the issue of intergenerational fairness resolved by offering early career staff a worse pension scheme? We need a healthy scheme—which USS demonstrably is—that continues to provide defined benefits to all generations, and a stop to the employee contribution hikes which are pricing people out of USS.

* Finally , addressing job insecurity would mean far less reluctance among people to join a scheme when their future in the sector is so uncertain.

Central to UCUs negotiating position on USS is ensuring that USS is accessible and affordable to casualised and low income workers with a plan that would manage the scheme and protect defined benefit pensions even for new entrants.

****Vote YES! for a fair and affordable pension scheme****

In solidarity,

Joanne and Xanthe

Email sent to branch members 27 October 2021 by joint branch anti-casualisation officers Joanne Armitage and Xanthe Whittaker

Ballots graphics to download

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

Leeds UCU have made some graphics for members to use during the ballot period: Click on each link to see the graphic full size and download it if you want (right-click and ‘Save Image As). To use an image as a Teams background it needs to be mirrored.

Also UCU HQ have a large set of posters,flyers and graphics you can download from this page (scroll to the bottom) – some that are particularly useful are

Dispute meeting 22 October

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

– a chance to ask national negotiators

Want to know the latest on our two disputes (Four Fights and USS)? Want to ask the UCU negotiators something? Not sure what we want to achieve by taking action?

Come along to our members meeting on Friday 22 October, 1-2 pm (Zoom link in an email from Chloe).  Send your questions in advance, get involved!

Friday’s meeting is for discussion (no motions will be submitted or debated). Robyn Orfitelli from Sheffield (UCU ‘pay and related matters’ negotiator), Deepa Govindarajan Driver from Reading (UCU pensions negotiator) and Vicky Blake (UCU President), will be joining us to give us a brief update and answer your questions.  Please submit questions in advance if you can, using the form in Chloe’s email, which will help the presenters. You can of course raise questions from the floor as well. As this is a disputes meeting it will not be recorded so if you want to ask a question please attend the meeting – and please encourage others to do so as well.

There will also probably be a local meeting in your school or service – look out for a message from your departmental rep – and they will greatly appreciate your help in talking to colleagues and encouraging everyone to vote. It is crucial that everyone plays their part in union democracy by voting in the ballots.

Ballot papers should have arrived by Thursday 21st October, to the address you have on myUCU which for most people will hopefully be your home address. (Remember, trade union law says balloting must be done by post rather than electronically). If you do not receive your ballot paper, there will be a form on the UCU website from Friday 22nd October to order a new ballot paper to be sent.   FAQs about the ballot are at https://www.ucu.org.uk/article/11810/GTVO-HE-ballots-2021

This is a short ballot period – the closing date is 4th November at noon, but realistically you should plan to get your ballot in the post by 1st November to ensure it arrives in time. A first class reply envelope is provided.  So get those ballots in the post asap, and encourage your colleagues to vote too. We hope to have the result by Monday 8th November. The branch will hold an Emergency General Meeting at1pm on Tuesday 9th November to discuss the outcome of the ballot and consider next steps. We understand that we will have the opportunity as a branch to feed into national decisions about, for example, the nature and extent of industrial action, and this meeting is how we will decide what our position is – so please put the date in your calendar now (link will follow nearer the time) and come and make your voice heard.

Further information:

Vote now! Vote #YesYesYesYes!

You can download some ballot graphics (including the infographic below) here: www.leedsucu.org.uk/ballots-graphics-to-download

UCU, COP26 and the university Climate Plan

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

At a UK level, UCU is part of the Trade Union Coordinating Group, campaigning for action on the climate crisis and for climate justice, which work is particularly urgent in the lead up to COP26, and together with the National Union of Students, we are campaigning for universities to decarbonise and decolonise.

At Leeds, seven ‘Climate principles’ were agreed back in 2019, and subsequently the Sustainability Service worked hard, along with students and staff, to develop a Climate Plan, in order to reach the agreed ‘net zero by 2030’ target. However, this Climate Plan has not been adopted, no significant action has yet been taken, and there has been no strategic investment to reduce carbon emissions. Leeds UCU  agreed a motion on these issues at our General Meeting on 7th October 2021 and the two emails below come out of that:

  1. Message to UCU members from the branch Climate and Ecological Crisis Working Group
  2. Letter from all three campus trade unions to the Vice Chancellor about the university Climate Plan

If you’d like to get involved with this work at Leeds, you can join the branch Climate and Ecological Crisis Working Group – email ucu@leeds.ac.uk for details.

1. Message to UCU members from the branch Climate and Ecological Crisis Working Group

COP26 starts very soon, and we as a union need to do everything we can to raise climate awareness and to campaign on this issue. We’d like to highlight some key opportunities for colleagues to get involved.

  • UCU have worked with the NEU, NUS and others to launch a Climate Themed Learning Month this November, which we would encourage all staff to take part in. Take a look at the range of resources available, and get your students thinking about the climate crisis this November whilst the spotlight is on the global negotiations in Glasgow.
  • From 7-10 November, UCU are taking part in the COP26 Coalition’s People’s Summit, as an alternative to business as usual of false solutions and inaction at the COP negotiations. The summit will be held both in-person in Glasgow and online.

This is a critical time to raise our union voice for climate justice, join us!

Leeds UCU Climate and Ecological Crisis Working Group

2. Letter from all three campus trade unions to the Vice Chancellor about the university Climate Plan

Sent: 18 October 2021 14:41
To: Simone Buitendijk
Subject: The Climate Crisis and the University’s Climate Plan

Dear Simone, 

We are writing because we are concerned by our institution’s lack of progress towards meeting the crucial targets required to achieve net zero by 2030. We were encouraged when Council approved the Seven Climate Principles more than two years ago. However, we are very concerned about the lack of progress made by the University since that time and are particularly concerned at the failure to put the principles into action.  

As active citizens of our University community, staff and students have been following closely and contributing to the development of the Climate Plan for nearly three years. However, we were last consulted on it in April this year, when we were told it would go to Council for approval in May. Six months later and we have heard no updates on its progress – the silence is deafening. Given the urgency with which we need to tackle the climate emergency, this delay makes us extremely anxious and makes us doubt the University’s commitment to this vital issue.  

Therefore, we ask you urgently to update us on the state of development of our Climate Plan. What processes are in place for its implementation and what are the timelines? We cannot allow this to be delayed from one Council meeting to the next, as it has been for the last 18 months. 

In announcing the staff stoppage for the global climate strike in September, the For Staff news article stated that: “We’re committed to taking action on climate change through our Seven Climate Principles, and we use these to guide all University activity in moving towards a sustainable, low-carbon future”. 

We would like to know how the commitment to take action on climate has been realised in the past 12 months? What aspects of the Seven Climate Principles have been implemented and with what results? 

We would also like to hear about representation structures available to staff and students providing feedback and sharing concerns about matters related to climate and sustainability? Further, we would like to understand what the future official channels available for staff and students will look like to feed into the ongoing nature of the “live” Climate Plan?  

An update on progress for sign off and implementation of the Climate Plan is well overdue.  We would also expect to receive an update about the investment planning needed to make sure that the Climate Plan delivers its goals. After 27 months, we truly believe there is no more time available for delays. We also do not see reason for the COVID-19 pandemic delaying the implementation of the Climate Plan any further, especially in light of the rising income stream of the University given unprecedented student recruitment. We are facing a global emergency and appropriate funding should be released as a matter of urgency.  

Also, it is not clear to us how and in what form academic support “to evaluate the business case for adopting net zero based on the Stern Review” will be used. We have serious concern about the reference to a “business case” to evaluate and justify the reduction of carbon emissions. As a research-based and educational institution we should be acting in the public good regardless of any business case. We really do not see how such approach can be driven by values as you regularly proclaim.  

Finally, in light of your recent communication (eNews 15/09.21) and the information available on the website (Climate Plan | Sustainability Service | University of Leeds ) we understand that the Climate Plan for our University is due to be released in 2021.  

Please can you clarify the timeline of activity from now to its release date, which given Christmas closure, we assume will be no later than mid-December? 

We look forward to receiving your answers to our questions. And we would very much welcome a meeting with you where staff and students can hear your answers and ask additional questions in the spirit of our values-driven mission as a University. 

If we are shown a genuine willingness to tackle this issue, we very much look forward to working with you to achieve these goals. 

Yours sincerely, 

Chloe Wallace: Branch President, Leeds University UCU
Jo Westerman: Branch Chair, Leeds University Unite
Nick Allen: Branch Chair: Leeds University Unison 

Islamophobic hate incidents

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

Branch president Chloe Wallace responds to Islamophobic hate incidents on campus

UCU opposes all forms of racism. Some staff have recently been targeted with Islamophobic literature sent  to their Leeds University addresses.  Leeds University UCU condemns the Islamophobic incidents and we stand in solidarity with our members and all others affected.  This is not the first time such Islamophobic hate incidents have occurred on our campus in recent years and we aim to bring together all members and anti-racists to help put a stop to it.  We ask the University of Leeds to make a similar statement, including an assertion that Islamophobia is a form of racism.