On 15 March, the University and College Union (UCU) announced that university employers have made offers for the “Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) pension to be restored by April 2024.” This will mean the restoration of the 35 percent pension cut made in April last year.
Furthermore, employers have offered to put an end to zero-hour contracts on an involuntary basis, and agreed to implement new standards which would address “casualised contracts, reduce workloads and close equality gaps.”
The UCU general secretary, Jo Grady, has stated, “Today, on our tenth day of strike action and after weeks of intensive negotiations, university employers have finally agreed to put forward a set of proposals on pay, conditions and pensions. This breakthrough is down to the strength, determination and sacrifice of university workers who have stood on picket lines.” Grady appeared on video on the official UCU twitter stating “you have won your pension back.”
However, the offer has been criticised, as it does not contain a salary increase over the 5-8 percent that has already been proposed. Moreover, the addressing of gender, ethnicity and disability pay gaps will be done through data collection and progress reviews, with no commitment from employers to implement changes. Addressing the zero-hour work contract will also be dependent on the decisions of individual institutions. Therefore, while many issues raised by workers will be addressed, they will not be binding.
UCU leadership have faced backlash from members. One UCU national negotiator tweeted they were not shown the proposal before it was given to UCU members, nor was the Higher Education Committee (HEC). In regard to the informal e-ballot released on 16 March ahead of negotiations taking place today, votes have been made by the Lancaster University and Queen Mary University branches, with majority voting “no” to pausing strikes, as well as accepting the offer. LSE’s UCU branch conducted a consultation with members with “non-confusing questions”, where 86 percent voted not to settle for the proposal, and 79 percent voted not to pause strike action.
UCU members at the Liverpool John Moore’s University voted yesterday they would not put forward the “non-offer” to their members, and have made a vote of no confidence in Jo Grady. No confidence votes have also been made by UCU members at King’s College London (KCL), stating “UCEA’s [employer body] ‘offer’ made no improvement on headline pay, offering only talks on other matters till February 2024”.
“This branch believes that: acceptance of this offer constitutes a serious defeat for the UCU… the GS [General Secretary] has defied Union rules, procedures and policy… This Branch resolves that it has no confidence in the General Secretary.”
On 17 March at 1pm, it was announced that a protest is to occur at the UCU headquarters with the purpose of lobbying the Higher Education Committee meeting.
This is a developing story. The Beaver will continue to update on developments with the ongoing UCU strikes.
