Earlier this  month UCU members backed strike action in two separate ballots, one over pension cuts and one over pay & working conditions.

In the pension ballot, 76% of UCU members who voted backed strike action and 88% voted in favour of action short of strike. In the pay & working conditions ballot more than seven in 10 members who voted (70.1%) backed strike action with 85% (84.9%) voting for action short of strike. The National Union of Students (NUS) is backing staff who are taking industrial action.

The overall turnout on the pension ballot was 53% and on pay & conditions it was 51%. Ballots were disaggregated and 58 branches secured a mandate for strike action. UCU called on university bosses to urgently start negotiating to avoid disruption across UK campuses before Christmas. The disputes are over cuts of 35% to guaranteed pensions, pay cuts, casualisation, equality pay gaps and unsafe workloads.

Last week UCU wrote to employer representatives, Universities UK and the Universities and Colleges Employers Association, setting out how university bosses could avoid strike action before Christmas. The union is asking for pension cuts to be revoked; and for employers to improve their pay offer and commit to meaningful agreements and action on casualisation, workload, and equality pay gaps. But employers are currently refusing to revoke pension cuts or to even acknowledge issues like casualisation.

Staff pay has fallen by 20% after twelve years of below inflation pay offers; one third of academic staff are on insecure contracts; the gender pay gap sits at 15% and the most recent Higher Education Statistics Agency figures reveal that, of 22,810 professors in the UK, under a third (27%) were women and only 155 (1%) were Black; staff are also experiencing a crisis of work-related stress with over half showing probable signs of depression.

As well as the three day walkout, staff at 64 universities have a mandate to take action short of strike [NOTE 2]. This will also begin on Wednesday 1 December and will include strictly working to contract and refusing any additional duties. This is set to go on indefinitely for the five months staff have a mandate to take industrial action for.

UCU also intends to reballot a number of branches that missed the 50% turnout threshold imposed by Tory anti-trade union laws. The union said the three day strike will just be the start of sustained disruption for the sector if employers fail to negotiate.

The union intends to escalate its disputes next term. If employers do not make improved offers, further industrial action is likely to continue into the spring, at which point branches that gain a mandate in their reballots will be able to join the action.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: ‘Strikes over three consecutive days are set to hit university campuses next month unless employers get round the table and take staff concerns over pension cuts, pay and working conditions seriously.

‘UCU has repeatedly asked employers to meet with us to try to resolve these disputes. But while we set out pragmatic solutions that could halt widespread disruption to UK campuses, university bosses refuse to revoke unnecessary, swingeing pension cuts or even to negotiate on issues like casualisation and the unbearably high workloads that blight higher education.

‘A resolution to this dispute is simple. But if employers remain intent on slashing pensions and exploiting staff who have kept this sector afloat during a pandemic then campuses will face strike action before Christmas, which will escalate into spring with reballots and further industrial action.’

National Union of Students national president Larissa Kennedy said: ‘Students have a rich history of standing shoulder to shoulder with university staff, who have seen their pensions, pay and conditions slashed in recent years. With vice chancellors’ average total pay packets rising to £269,000 per year, it’s clear employers can afford to resolve their dispute with UCU over staff pay, which has fallen by an average of 20% in real terms since 2009. Staff teaching conditions are student learning conditions, and we mustn’t forget many postgraduate students on casualised teaching contracts will be striking. The onus for minimising disruption for students lies with university bosses: they must come back to the table to address the clear issues in how higher education is currently run.’

A recent report by the Office for Students shows total remuneration for vice chancellor’s averages £269k.

Ends

Notes

[1] 33 institutions will see strikes over both pay and pensions:

21 will see strikes over pay only:

Four will see strikes over pensions only:

Institute of Development Studies
Imperial College London
University of Bath
University of Reading

[2] Six institutions will see action short of strike over pay:

Bishop Grosseteste University
Bournemouth University
Leeds Trinity University
Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts
St Mary’s University College Belfast
University of Winchester

The union’s higher education committee confirmed the timetable for a ballot of 152 institutions in total, seven will be balloted on USS only, 83 are to be balloted over pay and working conditions, with another 62 institutions in the UK facing two ballots over both USS and pay and working conditions.

UCU expects employers to return to negotiations with better offers in both disputes or face action that will disrupt the end of term and continue into the next one.

NUS offered its support for staff planning to take action, saying ‘students will hold employers responsible’ if vice chancellors and employers do not come to ‘a negotiated settlement and address the fundamental issues repeatedly raised by staff.’

The ballots will run from Monday 18 October to Thursday 4 November unless employers resolve the dispute beforehand. UCU’s HEC will meet to consider the results of the ballot on 8 November with action expected to take place before the end of the year.

The ballot over pensions comes after employer body UUK voted to cut thousands of pounds from the retirement benefits of university staff last month. The plans, based on a flawed valuation of the USS scheme conducted at the beginning of the pandemic as markets were crashing, represent an annual guaranteed pension cut of 35% for a typical member.

These cuts come after series of changes between 2011 and 2019 have been shown to already leave a typical member around £240,000 worse off.

UCU produced alternative proposals for reform of USS, which were discussed at the Joint Negotiating Committee with employers, represented by UUK. However, employers refused to match the level of covenant support for UCU’s proposals which they were willing to deliver for their own. Employers also refused a range of delay options to allow more time to negotiate.

Pay for university staff fell by around 20% between 2009 and 2019. Since then employers have made a series of below inflation offers, this despite university income from tuition fees growing by a third in the last five years alone. The latest pay offer from University and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) was just 1.5%.

The gender pay gap sits at 15.5% and the most recent Higher Education Statistics Agency figures reveal that, of 22,810 professors in the UK, under a third (27%) were women and only 155 (1%) were Black.

UCU is demanding a £2.5k pay increase; an end to race and gender pay injustice; a framework eliminate the use of precarious contracts, such as zero-hours employment; and meaningful action to tackle unmanageable workloads.

The staff groups being balloted in both sets of action by UCU include academic and academic-related staff.

University staff previously took the largest strike action UK higher education has ever seen in 2020 over the same issues. The latest Higher Education Statistics Agency data, from 2019/20, shows total income across the sector was £41.9bn with reserves of £46.8bn.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: ‘University staff propped up the entire sector during the pandemic, but they are now being thanked with huge cuts to their pensions, unbearably high workloads, and another below-inflation pay offer – all whilst universities continue to generate a handsome income from tuition fees.

‘The truth is that very well paid university leadership, who manage institutions with bigger turnovers than top football clubs, are choosing to exploit the goodwill of staff, repeatedly refusing to address the rampant use of casualised contracts, unsafe workloads or the shocking gender and ethnicity pay gap in the sector.

‘Our members across the UK know that working in a university does not have to be like this and are clear that they are ready to take action to stand up for their dignity, defend pensions and win long overdue improvements to their pay and working conditions. There is still time for university chiefs to resolve a situation which is entirely of their own making, but they must return to negotiations and make credible offers.’

NUS national president Larissa Kennedy said: ‘As students, we regularly witness how staff and student’s conditions are intertwined. University management forcing staff onto casualised contracts, cutting their pay, and now trying to cut thousands of pounds from their pensions cannot be divorced from the fact that one in 10 students has needed to access a foodbank to survive the pandemic – these aren’t the actions of a university leadership or an education system that have the interests of staff or students at heart.

‘Staff working conditions are student learning conditions and we stand shoulder to shoulder with our educators in fighting for a more just education system. We demand fully funded, accessible, lifelong education where our spaces of teaching and learning belong to the students, staff and communities they exist to serve. Until then, it is entirely in the gift of vice chancellors and employers to come to a negotiated settlement and address the fundamental issues repeatedly raised by staff. If they don’t, students will hold employers responsible.’

The universities being balloted are listed here.

The dispute centres on Novus’s failure to meaningfully engage with UCU’s Covid-19 safety concerns during the latest lockdown. The notice means Novus must meet with UCU within 10 working days to avoid entering into a dispute. It gives the union a strong mandate to push Novus to begin engaging with staff over their concerns. If Novus continues to ignore staff concerns, the union will be forced to declare a dispute and will then consult with members over taking industrial action.

The failure to agree comes after Novus UCU branch members who attended a virtual emergency meeting on Monday voted overwhelmingly to escalate their health and safety concerns. UCU had previously written to Novus after the government set out new guidelines for prisons as part of the latest lockdown. In the letter the union set out a number of demands to make sure education is delivered safely, such as engaging with the union on new risk assessments, which take account of the new more virulent variant of Covid.

The chief executive of Novus, John Thornhill, emailed staff just before the union’s emergency meeting claiming UCU was wrong to say Novus is not following the new government guidelines. In the email he alleges that UCU’s demands are untested and Novus’s existing risk assessments are sufficient. He also said that Novus has ‘to balance the safety of staff with government expectations’, with which it has a contract to deliver learning to offenders. Today Mr Thornhill tweeted that UCU was creating stress and anxiety by deliberately misinforming prison educators.

UCU said Novus was choosing to put the delivery of contracts over staff and prisoner safety and that unless the company addressed its concerns it would consult with members over industrial action.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: ‘Prison educators have done all they can to continue to support offenders throughout the Covid pandemic, all they are asking in return is for their employer to listen to safety concerns and reduce the risk of staff and learners catching Covid. It is incredible that instead of engaging with us, Novus chief executive John Thornhill has said that risk assessments put in place prior to the latest Covid wave, the discovery of the new Covid variant, and the most recent national lockdown are sufficient to protect his staff.

‘There is huge concern from staff that Mr Thornhill is willing to risk their safety to deliver on government contracts. Staff and learners are being put at risk due to Novus’ refusal to engage with us over how prison education can be delivered safely. Unless Novus comes to the table and engages with our demands, we will be forced to declare a dispute to protect staff and will then consult members over taking industrial action. Mr Thornhill should be concentrating on addressing staff concerns, rather than making baseless accusations on Twitter.’