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USS enewsletter – by UCU University of Leeds Branch

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by
 
The USS enewsletter is brought to you by the Leeds UCU Communications team. If you have any concerns about USS issues raised in it, please contact vice-chancellor@leeds.ac.uk
Fantastic strikes!
The first 14 days of strikes saw snow, sub-zero temperatures, heavy rain and wind.  None of this deterred the amazing UCU strikers, and pickets were out in force every morning. We had a pink gazebo, handwarmers, and wonderful witty placards. Our lovely students supported us every single day. There were two huge and energetic marches down to the city centre, and lunchtime rallies saw inspiring speeches, visits from MPs, and a LOT of singing – see what you think of ‘Strike up your life‘ and ‘Strike you up‘.
Student support
The student support at Leeds has been great – despite being concerned about the effect on their studies, they understand how important this issue is. “Leeds Students Support UCU” have marched with us, brought us biscuits, spoken at rallies and organised meetings with the VC.  Around the country the same is true – and there have been at least a dozen student occupations.
Double-docking our pay
UCU members will lose pay for the 14 days of strikes (and any future strike action).  But our university management also intend to deduct 25% of staff pay, ongoing, for staff who do not recover teaching which would have happened on strike days. Thus deducting pay for the same thing twice. Most universities who were threatening this have now agreed not to double-dock. Leeds is one or a very few universities still threatening this. Think this is unfair?  Write to vice-chancellor@leeds.ac.uk and copy to ucu@leeds.ac.uk. And please sign our Open Letter to the VC.
Pressure on Leeds management
Alumni are coordinating a donations strike and external examiners are resigning in protest (see the growing list on this Twitter thread). Alice Goodman, the widow of the poet Geoffrey Hill whose archive is in Special Collections, wrote a strong letter to the VC urging him to reconsider, and to be “brave, wise and honourable”. Many historians are considering not attending the International Medieval Congress at Leeds in July, and all sorts of other events at Leeds have been boycotted.
Why didn’t UCU accept the ACAS ‘deal’?
A proposal came out of the ACAS talks between UCU and Universities UK (the employers), for each side to consult on. The proposal, for a temporary 3 year arrangement, did include an element of defined benefit, which was a slight improvement, but staff would still see average pension cuts of about 33% (compared to 40% in the original employers’ plan). Also contributions would have increased, benefits wouldn’t keep pace with inflation, and staff would be required to reschedule missed teaching. The proposal included an independent investigation of the scheme valuation, but this sounded like a talking shop not a genuine agreement to find a better solution. This proposal was democratically unanimously rejected by UCU branches across the country.
But isn’t there a deficit?
Experts have discredited Universities UK’s claim of a six-billion-pound deficit (tinyurl.com/uss-deficit1, tinyurl.com/uss-deficit3, tinyurl.com/uss-deficit4) – some of the valuation assumptions are very questionable, and independent analysis in fact shows a healthy picture. UUK made the decision to go for major pension cuts in a strange, unaccountable fashion (tinyurl.com/who-uuk, tinyurl.com/uss-bursars). Its behaviour has strained the patience even of some employers (tinyurl.com/go-churchill) who see the need for a fair deal for staff. You may have received an email “An Urgent update from the trustee” forwarded from USS. We would recommend reading this with extreme caution – see more details about the assumptions.
Oxbridge are rowing back!
Many individual Oxbridge colleges (who were counted as equivalent to big universities in the employers’ consultation) are now saying their responses supporting a big pension cut were not official. There has been uproar at both Oxford and Cambridge about this. Oxford’s VC has reversed her position, and the Cambridge VC has said he would support employers paying more while a more long term solution is developed and agreed.
About Universities UK (the employer body)
They are not subject to Freedom of Information and refuse to release details of their consultation. Their CEO, Alastair Jarvis is now urgently hiring a PR firm who will undoubtedly work to discredit UCU and cost a lot from our pensions. We need openness and transparency from UUK, not spin. We note that our Vice Chancellor, Sir Alan Langlands, is on the Board of UUK and thus has influence that he could use for the benefit of staff.
What happens next?
Talks are expected to restart soon. Everyone hopes UUK will offer an acceptable deal but, if not, there will be further strikes after Easter (dates not yet decided). Nobody wants more strikes, but we cannot let the proposed changes go through. Some universities are already making constructive moves that show relations are improving, eg tinyurl.com/go-bristol, tinyurl.com/go-cambridge, tinyurl.com/go-leicester, and Glasgow’s VC said their “position is essentially the same as that of the UCU “.

Leeds UCU want to see:

1.      A truly independent investigation into the USS scheme valuation, by a panel agreed with the union (i.e. not stuffed with finance firms with a potential interest in getting rid of defined benefit schemes and making profits from managing individualised pension pots)

2.      A continuation of the current USS arrangements for the next 3 years whilst the investigation happens

3.      No double docking of pay or any other detriment to members taking industrial action.

We want this sorted out once and for all, otherwise in 3 years’ time the employers will come back demanding further pension cuts, as they did in 2011 and 2014.

Who will be the worst affected by the pension cuts?
Early career staff: older staff will already have contributed a significant proportion of their pension under the existing arrangements, so only a small part of their pension will come under the new scheme.  Many older staff are striking nevertheless, because they want to support younger colleagues and the future of the profession.

Women: over their lifetime women tend to earn less and have more caring responsibilities, which often means a shorter period of paying into a pension. See the Open Letter to Athena SWAN which explains how the proposed USS pension reforms are directly in conflict with the Athena SWAN principles.
Advice for staff on Tier 2 and Tier 5 visas
Please check the UCU advice on how taking strike action could affect your right to remain – be aware that taking unpaid leave for a total of 4 working weeks or more within a calendar year could lead to you losing your sponsorship from the University. This does not have to be the case – the Cambridge VC for example has agreed that strike days will not be counted as ‘unauthorised absence’. Please everyone sign the Statement in support of the right to strike for international staff.

 

Academics for pension justice
This new group have crowdfunded specialist legal advice about potential mismanagement by the USS – see details.
Where does a dinosaur fit in?
Southampton have the ‘dinosaur of solidarity’ who dances at demos, meets their VC, and is writing a children’s storybook in tweets!
How you can help
  • Please sign our Open Letter to the VC which sets out what we would like him to do to help resolve the dispute, and to treat staff at this university with respect and dignity.
  • If you’re a UCU member but didn’t strike, understand that UUK believe this means you are happy with the pension cuts. If that’s not the case, please join the Action Short Of Strike by working to contract – work your hours, take breaks, don’t take on extra voluntary duties, don’t cover for absent colleagues.
  • If you’re in the USS pension scheme but not in UCU, please join. Every single person who gets involved will make the action more effective and help speed up the resolution of the dispute.
  • We’d be very grateful for donations to our local Fighting Fund – this will help strikers cope with the financial loss, particularly those on low incomes, part time posts or precarious contracts. Drop a line to ucu@leeds.ac.uk and we’ll give you the bank details to donate online. Many thanks to other union branches, Labour Party branches and retired members who’ve already given us generous donations.

 

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This page was last updated on 11 April 2018

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