UCU Rising is our campaign to fight for our pay, working conditions, and pensions. While our members have seen their pay cut by 25% since 2009, university vice-chancellors and senior management have been collecting six-figure salaries. We are saying enough is enough.
In Sept/Oct 2022, UCU members at UEA were balloted on two disputes. The ballot was run in aggregate, which means that the outcome was determined at the national level, and not at the branch level. Nationally, in the pay and working conditions ballot, the ‘Yes’ vote for strike action was 81.1% and the turnout was 57.8%. In the USS pension ballot, the ‘Yes’ vote for strike action was 84.9% and the turnout was 60.2%. Staff also voted ‘Yes’ overwhelmingly for action short of strike (ASOS) in both ballots.
The outline of the two disputes are explained below:
Pay and working conditions dispute
On the pay and working conditions dispute, the UCU demands are:
- an increase to all spine points on the national pay scale of at least inflation (RPI) + 2% or 12% whichever is the higher
- nationally-agreed action, using an intersectional approach, to close the gender, ethnic and disability pay gaps
- an agreed framework to eliminate precarious employment practices by universities
- nationally agreed action to address excessive workloads and unpaid work, to include addressing the impact that excessive workloads are having on workforce stress and ill-health
- for the standard weekly, full-time contract of employment to be 35 hours, with no loss of pay.
For the pay and working conditions dispute, the union negotiates with Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), which is separate from Universities UK (UUK).
USS pensions dispute
In the USS pensions dispute,
- UCU members demand employers to revoke the massive cuts which they imposed on members of the USS pension scheme, and put pressure on USS to restore benefits to 2021 levels as soon as possible.
- UCU also want UUK to put strong pressure on USS to ensure that the next and all subsequent valuations of the financial health of the scheme to be evidence-based and are moderately prudent.Where prudence should be defined in terms of the likelihood of all pensions being paid from investment returns and contributions going forward. Future valuations should be realistic reflections of the underlying strength of the scheme and the UK higher education sector.
For the USS dispute the union negotiates with Universities UK (UUK), which is separate from the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA).
These web pages contain information about the UCU Rising campaign and the strike action that has been called.
Information and FAQs for members
Information and FAQs for students