On the go: Staff at 40 universities have begun the next round of industrial action over the controversial conclusion of the Universities Superannuation Scheme’s 2020 consultation.
The first round of the walkout is scheduled to last five days, from March 21 to March 25, while a further 27 universities will see industrial action for five days in the following week.
Additionally, the University and College Union has announced it has opened new industrial ballots at 149 institutions, seeking a mandate to continue strike action throughout the remainder of 2022. The ballots close on April 8.
The strike on March 21 marks the third time staff have walked out over the USS 2020 valuation, the conclusion to which saw employer group Universities UK agree a deal with the USS trustee that it said would prevent “ruinous” contribution rate hikes, but which the UCU argued amounts to a cut to the benefits of a “typical lecturer” of as much as 35 per cent.
UUK has disputed this figure.
The union has also threatened action short of a strike, such as a marking and assessment boycott, and has called on employers to abandon their plans and re-enter negotiations, arguing that universities — whose fortunes have rebounded since the low-point of the Covid-19 pandemic — can afford to meet staff demands for better pay and pensions.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “Vice-chancellors across the UK have the power to end these disputes. The money is there to pay staff properly, tackle punishing working conditions, and reverse pension cuts that will devastate retirement incomes. Instead, university bosses are choosing to sit on reserves worth tens of billions of pounds and make their own staff suffer. That’s why we are out on picket lines yet again.
“By continuing to ignore the longstanding and serious concerns of staff, vice-chancellors are not only pushing their own workforce to breaking point, but also doing serious harm to the future of higher education and preventing it from being the best it can be.”
A UUK spokesperson countered: “Taking university staff out on strike again will not remove the need to reform the USS to ensure it remains affordable for members and employers. The package of reforms proposed by employers has now passed the [Joint Negotiating Committee] and the USS trustee board, and will be implemented from April 1 2022.
“February’s industrial action did not achieve the outcome the UCU intended, and data gathered by [the Universities and Colleges Employers’ Association] suggests turnout on picket lines was even lower than before, with limited disruption to students. With news of more strikes and yet another ballot, reasonable onlookers will conclude that the union has an ideological fixation with strike action and is determined to pursue it, no matter the cost.”
The spokesperson added that, since 2019, “an average member of staff earning £55,000 per annum taking strike action has forgone over £4,800 in pay deductions, to no avail. Scheme members should ask themselves whether they are willing to sacrifice even more to pay higher pension contributions based on the UCU’s unsubstantiated view that another valuation will yield a better outcome”.
“Employers have repeatedly made clear that current contributions are at the very limit of affordability, and a majority of those responding to a consultation on the UCU’s proposal for higher contributions rejected it,” they said.
“Recent government announcements underline the wider financial uncertainty universities are facing, and with the 2020 valuation now concluded, it is time to look forward and identify lasting improvements to the USS that can be made ahead of the next valuation.”
