Oli Mouldthe 5.5% pay rise for public sector workers will be welcomed for sure. And hopefully it'll put more pressure on UCEA to get back to the negotiating table with @ucu to work on a proper pay rise for #university staff.
UCUThe Universities Superannuation Scheme will cut contribution rates on Monday 1 January.
The changes were voted through at the latest USS Joint Negotiating Committee and will see employee contributions fall to 6.1%, down from 9.8%. For a member earning £45,000 this will mean a monthly saving of £111 after tax.
This is the latest victory in a pension dispute that has seen UCU members take 69 days of strike action since 2018.
UCU members at the University of Portsmouth are calling on the university to refund deductions taken from the pay of staff who took part in industrial action.
Staff participated in a boycott of marking and assessment as part of the union's campaign to improve pay and conditions. They withdrew labour equivalent to less than 10% of their annual workload but have had 72 days of pay deducted from their wages, which in some cases is close to £10,000.
Vicky Blake UCUIt is currently unclear whether news of the forthcoming talks with the employer refer to the usual formal (expected) schedule of annual talks between UCEA and the trade union side (comprised of 5 trade unions including UCU) or to further discussion of the pay spine, or both. I look forward to seeing the detail on this.
Results and breakdown reported on and linked to from this page: https://ucu.org.uk/article/13270/National-strike-ballot-UCU-members-fall-foul-of-anti-strike-laws)
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National strike ballot, UCU members fall foul of anti-strike laws
UCU members have voted for strike action in your thousands. Returning a huge vote in favour of both strike action and action short of a strike. Sadly, we have fallen foul of the anti-union laws and our ballot has not met the required thresholds.
In August while we waited for the delayed launch of our ballot, I wrote about some lessons we need to learn from the 4 Fights Campaign. (See link ⬇️).
A functional, effective strategy rests on good democratic decision-making and responsive timing.
https://vickyblakeucu.uk/2023/08/13/what-next-lessons-from-this-years-4-fights-campaign/
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The ballot result *is* a clear sign that we need an effective, clear industrial strategy that we can all get behind.
Our first vital step must be listening to lay members & the activists who put in hours of work & direct conversations with members during GTVO.
There is no room for point scoring. We *have* to move forward.
Members' working lives & wellbeing depend on us getting this right.
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The Four Fights ballot result (42.59% turnout, short of the 50% required by anti union laws) is a disappointing, difficult blow for us in #UCU.
Firstly, we owe a massive *thank you* to all the activists who put in enormous amounts of work to get the vote out in very tough circumstances.
The result absolutely *does not mean* our members are in any way happy to accept years of pay erosion, impossible workloads, insecure contracts & pay inequality: we aren't ok, at all.
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Ian Sudbery* Finally, I don't see a lot of evidence that this is senior people banking the USS win and pulling up the drawbridge. At least in my experience, in the work unit i'm the UCU contact point for, its not been a sudden stop in voting from people who expect to benefit from USS.
* Very much a feeling of not being will to lend their voice to another mandate without an explaination of what will be done with it. Its all very well saying lets get the mandate, and then we will discuss what to do, but if you believe that you should do whatever your union asks, then given the decisions the decision making bodies tend to make, this is your oppuntity to enforce an opinion on whether you will be forced to strike against your judgement.
Thoughts on the UCU ballot failure:
* Lots of blame for the GS on socials. In members I speak to people are upset with the "leadership" its true. But to the extent they know, understand and care about the difference between the GS, HEC and congress (which is often , they have similarly negative feelings about all three. Very much "a pox on all your houses" vibe. A common feeling is that the stratgy was bad and the GS made it even worse with the implementation.