Dear Friends and Colleagues,
It’s completely predictable that UUK just rejected central UCU’s proposal: it suggested we have contribution rises of 2% of salary for employees, and 3.8% for employers – that’s about a £1000 pay cut for a typical lecturer or senior lecturer, plus a £2800 bill for employers, when the pension fund has a record surplus, and assets of £92 billion. It was done based on the mistaken basis that we cannot update the 2020 valuation assumption of 0% asset growth. But UUK’s current proposals are far worse – a massive 35% total cut to your pension, leading to a loss well over £100,000 in a pension for a typical early career lecturer. Our joint statement with KCL management shows the way forward, and that we will get a deal if we put enough pressure on the employers.
This is why we need to be all out in force next week – when we are on strike on both USS and on pay, workloads, equality and security (‘the four fights’) – and the following week. The disputes should have never been decoupled in the first place, because they are interconnected and we cannot have one undermining the other. Precarious members, women and racialized global majority workers must be at the centre of our disputes, and they have given so much energy to our strike action so far. We need to build on this strength to oppose the cuts to our pension and organise for escalating action in the months to come to bring about structural change in the governance of the sector. This has never been just a question of ‘reasonable proposals’, it’s a question of power. And we have the power to win.
This coming week, including the Tuesday 22nd February Joint Negotiation Committee, we need UUK and UCU:
- to recognise that a pension fund with £92 billion in pension assets has a huge surplus not a deficit: a £30bn surplus even if we went through war and depression;
- to recognise that they can change the valuation assumption of 0% growth to a prudent assumption;
- to agree not to cut benefits or raise contributions: no detriment, and the status quo;
- to agree for the future to develop a credible valuation method, reform the failed governance of USS, and divest fossil fuels.
Among the central actors in this crisis, we also need change: members must be in control of our strike. This is why our Branch has repeatedly called on the UCU General Secretary and the members of the appropriate committees to organise an emergency Branch Delegates Meeting with voting power ahead of the next HEC meeting on 25 February that will decide on the next steps of our disputes. We need to ensure there are no more flawed proposals from UCU, that UCU negotiators have credible legal advice and support, and that UCU develops a clear, member-led strategy to win our disputes. To this end, the UCU should publish details of its strike fund which VP Mercer says has ‘never been healthier’ and can therefore support escalating action.
We believe that if we take control of our disputes, we will also be able to push:
- Principals and Vice Chancellors to take control over the agenda of their representatives at UUK, because we cannot have this damage to the pension when there’s a surplus – this is what our joint statement with KCL management implicitly recognises, as so does that of Imperial, Cambridge and Oxford;
- the USS trustee directors to refuse to comply with proposals for pension cuts. If they don’t, they should be defunded under Scheme Rule 62.6: this is still in the power of the Joint Negotiation Committee, to withdraw its agreement for ‘all expenses and costs’ (p.207).
If UUK attempts to force its plans to cut 35% of the pension when there is a massive surplus, we have further options. These not only include legal action against USS (our first hearing is 28 February), but also options against universities and against decision-makers personally, such as under the Equality Act 2010 section 61 for cuts that have a discriminatory impact, in violation of the ‘non-discrimination rule’ for pensions.
But these legal options will only be effective if we have all the organised strength of our members behind. This is why we believe UCU must call for escalating action for an indeterminate time. Given that our members stand to lose 100s of 1000s of pounds, and some are threatened with 100% deductions for ASOS, this is the rational thing to do, whereas cuts to a pension with a multi-billion surplus is not.
So, what matters now is to build our collective strength to create the conditions for winning our two disputes and democratising the sector.
Join our activities on Monday and Tuesday’s March for Education! We can stop the pension robbery.
KCL UCU
19 February 2022