Essex VC speaks out publicly re USS (posted 19 Feb 2018)

This morning the vice-chancellor (VC), Anthony Forster, of the University of Essex became the latest to join the leaders of institutions like Loughborough, Glasgow, Warwick, Birkbeck, Goldsmiths, Strathclyde, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and others in publicly calling for a resumption of national talks to resolve the USS dispute.

In accepting that a solution to the dispute may well mean increases in contributions for employers he says succinctly that ‘principles sometimes cost money.’

Essex UCU thank the VC for speaking out.

See full message:

in Times Higher Education Supplement: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/universities-must-pay-more-protect-pensions

Online link to Essex VC blog: http://blogs.essex.ac.uk/vc/

Wed 14 Feb Strike meeting plus Outdoors Assembly (posted 13 Feb-updated plan)

UCU industrial action meeting/outdoors assembly Wed 14 Feb

There’s had to be a few changes to tomorrow’s plans….(mostly so our branch officials can attend the all staff/student meeting that the VC & Registrar have just announced re our strike action).

12pm- in Tony Rich Teaching Centre TC1.17, Essex UCU Industrial action meeting –firming up plans following last Friday’s meeting. UCU members only.
1pm- still hoping to put slogans on banners….still unsure of location- depends on weather…watch this space….!!
(1.45-2.45 UoE meeting in Ivor Crewe)
Hence 3pm –start of our Outdoors Assembly –meet in square 3 to highlight our message/upcoming action. All staff, students, supportive-guests welcome!

Questions about the strike action (posted 5 Feb 2018)

Essex UCU are holding meetings at University of Essex to plan this industrial action on 9 Feb and 14 Feb. Only Essex UCU members should attend.

Most questions can be answered by reading the the FAQ

Essex UCU branch members with questions pertaining to industrial action that are not answered within the FAQs should email ucu-strike-advice@ucumail.essex.ac.uk

Students with questions should watch this video.

The NUS have supported this action and the Essex SU President will be emailing the student body shortly. Ask your lecturers why they are striking.

With any other queries please email our general enquiry email ucu@essex.ac.uk

Updates on the strike and USS situation can be read at the national website: www.ucu.org.uk/strikeforuss

Strikes to commence 22 Feb 2018

UCU announces 14 strike dates at 61 universities (including here at Essex) in pensions row

29 January 2018

Strikes will begin on Thursday 22 February

UCU has written to 61 universities to inform them of an escalating wave of strikes over a four-week period that will begin with a five-day walkout either side of a weekend. There will then be four days of strikes from Monday 5 – Thursday 8 March and a full five-day walkout the following week (12 – 16 March). The strike dates are:

Week one – Thursday 22 and Friday 23 February (two days)

Week two – Monday 26, Tuesday 27 and Wednesday 28 February (three days)

Week three – Monday 5, Tuesday 6, Wednesday 7 and Thursday 8 March (four days)

Week four – Monday 12, Tuesday 13, Wednesday 14, Thursday 15 and Friday 16 March (five days)

Last week talks between UCU and the employers’ representative Universities UK (UUK) ended without agreement and UUK’s plans to transform the scheme were forced through by the chair’s casting vote.

The dispute centres on UUK’s proposals to end the defined benefit element of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) pension scheme. UCU says this would leave a typical lecturer almost £10,000 a year worse off in retirement than under the current set-up.

In the recent strike ballot UCU members overwhelmingly backed industrial action. Overall, 88% of members who voted backed strike action and 93% backed action short of a strike. The turnout was 58%. A full breakdown of the results by institution is available here.

UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said: ‘Staff who have delivered the international excellence universities boast of are understandably angry at efforts to slash their pensions. They feel let down by vice-chancellors who seem to care more about defending their own pay and perks than the rights of their staff.

‘Strike action on this scale has not been seen before on UK campuses, but universities need to know the full scale of the disruption they will be hit with if they refuse to sort this mess out.’

Essex UCU are holding meetings at University of Essex to plan this industrial action. See your branch email today. With questions from Essex UCU branch members pertaining to industrial action please email ucu-strike-action@ucumail.essex.ac.uk

Strike action looks necessary says GS (24 Jan 2018)

Remember: keep up to date via: https://www.ucu.org.uk/strikeforuss

Members updated on hard-line employer stance

24 January 2018

UCU’s general secretary Sally Hunt has updated members on the implications of the employers’ stance during the latest negotiating meeting and their refusal a find a solution which would not end guaranteed USS pensions.

The outcome of the meeting is that strike action by members is looking increasingly necessary.

She writes:

‘Yesterday we met with Universities UK (UUK) at the Joint Negotiating Committee.

I want you to know that we made multiple attempts to engage with them to find a solution but they would not move an inch from the proposal to end the guaranteed pension.

The result is that this appalling proposal, which will cost staff many thousands of pounds in lost retirement income, has taken one step closer to imposition.

USS will now begin a consultation with fund members with a final decision made by the board at the end of June 2018. There are further negotiating meetings which will take place between now and June at which UCU will continue to fight the proposal to end the guaranteed pension.

In my view, the hard-line position taken so far by UUK on behalf of your university is a betrayal of higher education staff.

So having tried to achieve a negotiated solution, now we must take industrial action.

I say that knowing that action for you will always be a last resort.

But if we do not stand and fight now we will lose the right to a decent retirement income forever.

Arising from the magnificent ballot result the Higher Education Committee has called for fourteen days of strike action, starting with two days a week and escalating upwards, along with action short of a strike which will include a refusal to reschedule classes lost due to the dispute.

The strike action is expected to begin on Thursday 22nd February except in institutions who have reading weeks who may start the week after.

We will be writing to your employer to tell them that without an acceptable national outcome the responsibility to make good your pension loss will fall to them and that action will continue until they finally meet that responsibility.

The work that you do in our universities is what makes them – still – wonderful places to be for students. It is on the back of your endeavour that vice-chancellors boast about their global reputation and reap big rewards. You deserve decent treatment and yet at the moment your concerns are being treated with contempt.

We must, and will, fight back.

Thank you for your support.’

clear ballot result from Essex branch in favour of industrial action (22 Jan 2018)

email from Dr Cathy Crawford, President of Essex UCU branch (22nd Jan 2018):

Dear Essex UCU members

We at Essex voted 91% in favour of strike action, and 93% in favour of action short of a strike.

Thanks for voting! And thanks especially to the reps and others who helped achieve our splendid turnout (61.5% of Essex members voted, above national average).

Let us hope this overwhelmingly clear UCU mandate will make the employers more constructive than they have been so far!

Formal negotations start tomorrow.

Dr Catherine Crawford· Senior Lecturer in History· President Essex UCU

Last day to vote in USS ballot -closes 19 Jan

If one of your resolutions was to vote in the USS ballot and you haven’t done yet, make sure you do today. The ballot closes on 19 Jan hence the last posting date realistically is TODAY. We need 50% turnout at each institution by law to take action.

More info here – https://www.ucu.org.uk/strikeforuss

I have voted!: ballot open, please tell us when you’ve voted (Dec 2017)

Please vote in the USS ballot.

When you have posted back your ballot paper, please email lcollins@essex.ac.uk with ” I have voted” in the subject line so we know you’ve voted. Or take a photo of your envelope and tweet to us https://twitter.com/ucuessex (the VC follows our twitter feed so let’s show him how much support we have)

We’ll compare these responses to the members list and follow up if we don’t hear from you. That’s how important it is that you vote. Please encourage your UCU colleagues to vote

Closing date for the ballot is Friday 19 January 2018 so we are working to Tuesday 16 January 2018 as the last date for posting.

If you have not received a ballot paper, please check the address it has been sent to by logging into your contact details here https://ucu.custhelp.com/app/utils/login_form

There is no electronic ballot paper. If you need a replacement ballot paper you can order a replacement here

If members are out of the country on sabbatical, tell us so you can be excluded from the ballot and thus won’t count towards the 50% turnout.

If you have any further queries please contact us, but don’t put “I have voted” in the subject line please, else we’ll get very confused.

Click here to read more about why we have to fight these proposals By law we need a turnout of 50% in order to take action against these cuts, so we won’t be able to do anything to protect your pension unless you vote YES for action.

USS ballot for industrial action opens this week (28 Nov 2017)

Email to members from Sally Hunt, UCU General Secretary

Dear colleague

The USS ballot for industrial action begins this week, with papers going out on Wednesday and likely arriving towards the end of this week or early next.

Put simply: we need your vote

Since I wrote last week, my office has been inundated with messages of support, questions and campaign ideas. I have no doubt about the anger so many of you feel about the employers’ proposal to remove future guaranteed pension benefits.

However we – every single one of us – need to work together to channel that anger into votes.

The law now requires at least a 50% turnout of members. Even if there is a 100% vote for action to defend pensions, if we do not reach the 50% turnout figure we cannot take action.

Please don’t assume that this issue is such a no brainer that the union can do without your vote this time. We can’t!

At stake in this dispute is tens of thousands of pounds of your and colleagues’ retirement income.

Please, once you have voted, help us by encouraging others to vote. We need them too!

At stake is the future of our pension fund – will it be a guarantee of secure income in retirement or a lottery?

Please talk to colleagues not yet in UCU about joining, every new member adds strength to our position.

At stake is not just the fight for a better deal for staff today, but for the next generation too.

In twenty years I have not seen a worse proposal tabled by your employers – one that will needlessly damage the retirements of thousands of individuals, leave USS benefits far behind those of school teachers and new university academics, and break the covenant between this and the next generation.

The proposal is all too typical of the leadership that exists in the sector.

They are adept at defending their own salaries and benefits but will do nothing unless pushed to defend yours.

So now we need to push.

Across UCU there is unity about the need to fight back.

One day strikes will not shift the employers. Only the threat of sustained strike action aimed at severely disrupting our universities will make a difference.

Please help us by playing your part.

When your ballot paper arrives, please use your vote and vote YES for action.

Sally Hunt
UCU general secretary

Link to branch online petition about probation and interim REF

Essex UCU branch have launched an online petition about probation and the internal REF within University of Essex on the web:

http://speakout.web.ucu.org.uk/university-of-essex/

This is mainly of concern to academic staff given the issues, but we very much welcome any signatures also from non-academic staff in support. It is very important to secure the position of especially our junior colleagues on probation. The petition is self-explanatory.

It is an OPEN petition, meaning anyone who accesses the URL can sign it. Hence I will ask you importantly to PLEASE FILL IN YOUR Essex email and ask others to do the same. (The petition asks for names too so it is not a matter of anonymity.) This will allow us to track and count signatures from Essex.

Many thanks for your support