University of East Anglia UCU

Message to members from a rep:

As you are aware, the two national disputes in HE, on pensions, and on pay, workload, casualisation and equalities, are ongoing. There is a reballot open, from now until the 8^{th of} April, so the time is short. The reballot is to renew the mandate for industrial action, and to get more universities joining the action.

 

Please, please don’t doubt the significance of casting your vote in this reballot! Whatever your view of taking industrial action (so whether you vote yes, or no) the absolutely crucial thing is that you vote, so that we get over the 50% threshold of members taking part. If we don’t achieve this, then our ability to protect our collective interests at local level are hugely damaged, and there are some important local issues facing all of us.

 

Below are some links and summarised information on the 2 disputes, along with key dates for the reballot. 

 

The pensions dispute: The organisation that represents university vice chancellors, Universities UK, voted through their proposed cuts to our pensions (amounting to around 35% for younger members) despite a viable alternative from UCU and despite numerous challenges to the legitimacy of the valuation on which they are based. If you would like a clear and concise explanation of the pensions dispute (and let’s face it, it is hard to get our heads around) I urge you to watch this 30-minute video by Sam Marsh, one of the main UCU negotiators. It really does help.

 

The Four Fights dispute (pay, workload, casualisation, equalities):

You can see a couple of infographics here, with the key issues and demands set out.

 

The employers’ current offer of 1.5% is well below inflation. Based on this and the most recent inflation data, the value of our pay has now fallen over 20% since 2009. With inflation likely to keep increasing in the short to medium term, our salaries will fall further and further short of the cost of living.

 

Employers are failing to take effective or meaningful action to tackle persistent gender and race pay gaps that exist in HE. I also feel it is important (and painful) to acknowledge that this is the case at UEA. Despite positive indications at the end of the last industrial action, in 2019, no real terms change has happened locally, on these issues, or on casualisation.

 

Casualisation is rife within HE: around half of teaching-only staff and 68% of researchers are employed on fixed-term contracts. That figure has barely changed at all in the last three years, despite employers’ claims of progress in this area. UEA remains hugely reliant on casualised staff for teaching and research (and our sister unions continue to fight casualisation on behalf of their members too).

 

The average working week in higher education is now above 50 hours, with 29% of academics averaging more than 55 hours. A UCU survey conducted in December 2020 saw 78% of respondents reporting an increased workload during the pandemic. We know that locally, our own member surveys and the UEA Pulse surveys evidence high levels of concern over workload and wellbeing.

 

Finally, workload, pay inequality and casualisation are directly interrelated. The recent UCU workload survey found that women, BAME and disabled staff were all disproportionately likely to report that their workload had increased, and the same groups are also disproportionately likely to be on casualised rather than permanent contracts. Again, this is directly relevant locally.

 

Voting: Remember, you should receive two ballots in one single envelope: one on pensions (USS) and one on the so-called ‘four fights’ (pay, casualisation, workload, gender & race equality). Anti-trade union laws make it compulsory to have physical rather than electronic ballots. Legally, these are two distinct yet related disputes, for which you are balloted at the same time, so you need to please vote on both. Strike action and action short of a strike are expected to take place at the same time for the two disputes. Please do vote at the earliest opportunity!

 

• Replacement ballot request form opens: Wednesday 23 March
• Replacement ballot request form closes: 5pm, Thursday 31 March
• Last chance for new members to join and be included in the ballot: 12 midnight, Thursday 31 March
• Last safe posting date: Wednesday 6 April
• Ballot closes: 5pm, Friday 8 April.

 

Last week we heard that UCU members had voted to accept the proposed reforms put to them following negotiations with UUK, who put in an improved offer after the ASOS of November 2014.

The offer is far from ideal, notably in its introduction of an element of Defined Contributions for earnings above £55,000. This shifts the risk from the employers to employees.

This brings Higher Education pensions closer towards the schemes that private companies have. But the professionals who work in universities don’t get comparable pay to those in private companies – the pension has always been cited as a benefit that compensates for this. But let’s not forget: the VC said in his first interview with the student newspaper Concrete, he is the ‘CEO’ of a multi-million business. We must therefore be aware that on the horizon in this pensions dispute is the fate of universities as in some way ‘public’ institutions, and we must be vigilant to protect their commitment to the public good in the future. USS reform, like the hike in undergraduate fees, is a glimpse of things to come.

 

This aside, we recognise that there were improvements made to the original proposal as a direct result of UCU’s action:

1/75 is an improved accrual rate

The cap for earnings to still receive defined benefits was raised from £40k to £55K and it has been confirmed that this will be uprated in line with inflation (CPI rather than RPI)

The employers agreed to increase their contributions to 18% and to maintain this for 5 years.

 

It remains disappointing that the employers were determined to introduce a defined contribution element to pensions, but it seems that the ballot of acceptance was necessary as negotiations were unlikely to achieve a reversal of this. The negotiating team stated that in their view substantial industrial action would be needed to bring about any improvements. Some within the union feel that further industrial action could have brought more concessions.

Members of staff, including representatives from the UCU committee, attended the pension event that the university organised on February 3, and put questions to Mercers, the actuaries who are acting on behalf of UUK. There was a notable lack of detail on elements such as AVCs, the costs of running a hybrid scheme, and the costs and complexity of the defined contribution pot, which was far from reassuring.

 

What’s next?

USS will hold a 60 day consultation, expected to take place mid-March – mid-April. This will be for all USS pension members – and is a further opportunity to ask for changes.

UCU will continue to call for the valuation methodology to be changed.

UCU will continue to call on USS trustees to explain their actions