Lecturers strike again over USS benefit cuts

The strike is the latest episode in a long dispute between the USS trustee, employer group Universities UK, and the University and College Union over the resolution of the scheme’s controversial 2020 valuation.

The trustee has until the end of the month to submit a schedule of contributions to regulators. Absent a deal, the conclusions reached by the 2020 valuation, which saw the scheme’s deficit quadruple to more than £14bn, could see contribution rates increased to as high as 56.2 per cent of payroll.

UUK reached an agreement with the USS trustee over an alternative solution, pledging greater covenant support and a moratorium on scheme exits in exchange for limiting the rate rises to 9.8 per cent for members and 21.4 per cent for employers, though it is currently negotiating amendments with the USS trustee that would see those figures rise to 9.9 per cent and 21.6 per cent, respectively, in exchange for temporarily dropping a proposed inflation cap.

The UCU rejected the employers’ proposal, arguing that it would see cuts to guaranteed retirement income of as much as 35 per cent for a “typical member”, though UUK has disputed this calculation.

The union presented its own alternative proposals under which member contributions would stand at 11 per cent and employer contributions at 23.7 per cent from April to October this year, rising thereafter to 11.8 per cent for members and 25.2 per cent for employers from October.

The union also demanded that employers agree to pay a maximum of 25.2 per cent and members a maximum of 9.8 per cent from April 1 2023, “so as to secure current benefits or, if not possible, the best achievable as a result of the call on the USS to issue a moderately prudent, evidence-based valuation”.

UUK has several times dismissed the union’s plans, claiming they were not a serious attempt to solve the problem. At a press briefing on February 10, a UUK spokesperson argued that the employers’ proposal represented the limit of affordability and sustainability, and that the UCU’s proposals would see employer contributions increased to the point where damage would be done to institutions and students’ university experience.

The UCU countered later that day, issuing a letter from the USS trustee confirming that there was “no impediment” to implementing its proposals and calling on UUK to consult its members on the union’s offer. 

Now, however, it has accused university leaders of “[failing] staff and students, announcing a new round of industrial action over the USS dispute, as well as pay and conditions”.

The strike, the second round of industrial action to take place since UCU members backed the walkout in a ballot in November, is due to last 10 days and involve members at 68 institutions.

The first week, beginning on February 14 and ending on Friday 18, is over the USS dispute and will involve staff at 44 institutions. All 68 will then see strike action on February 21-22 over both pensions and the pay dispute, while a further three days — February 28 to March 2 — will see strike action at 63 universities over pay and working conditions.

Six universities have suggested docking 100 per cent of pay for members involved in the strikes, which the union has warned could lead to further action. To end the pensions dispute, it is demanding that UUK renounce its plans and accept the UCU’s alternative proposals.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “The action that begins [on February 14] and will eventually hit 68 universities is down to vice-chancellors who have failed staff and students. They have pushed through brutal pension cuts and done nothing to address falling pay, pay inequality, the rampant use of insecure contracts, and unmanageable workloads.

“Throughout these disputes, our union has offered simple solutions that would avert industrial action and benefit the sector in the long term, but time and again employers have chosen to continue pushing staff to breaking point, while the sector continues to bring in tens of billions of pounds each year.

“To avoid this period of industrial action, all vice-chancellors had to do was accept UCU’s viable pension proposals and take action over worsening pay and working conditions. That they didn’t is an abject failure of their leadership,” she continued. 

“Students are standing by our members because they know university staff are overworked and underpaid. And they know that this sector, which is awash with money, can afford to treat its workers with dignity. As 10 days of action begins today, vice-chancellors urgently need to get around the table and help UCU resolve these disputes.”

A UUK spokesperson said: “We understand that strike action is unsettling for students and particularly after the disruption of the past two years, so it is disappointing that once again a small minority plan to walk out today [February 14].

“The numbers taking strike action have fallen in every walkout since 2018 — only 9 per cent of staff at affected institutions took part in the last strike in December and the impact of their actions was low. Universities, however, are well prepared to protect students and ensure they do not miss out on the opportunity to learn during this time.

“Employers still want to resolve the dispute and will continue to meet with the union, but any solution must be affordable and viable. It is not in the interests of staff or students for employers to agree to the UCU’s completely unaffordable demands on pensions and pay, which would damage education, research and force job losses,” they added.