Aug 12
UUK have consulted Universities about a proposed review of USS’ governance structures, although its proposed terms are highly UUK-centric. We discussed these at a USS sub-JSNCC earlier in the week, where management asked Unions (although I was the only Union member there) to feed back. Documents can be found here: USS-subJSNCC 2022_8 Minutes 5 April 22 …
Apr 26
Jackie Grant, a UCU pension rep. at Sussex, prepared the following graph, which comparatively outlines how pensions are likely to depreciate given the recent cuts pushed through at JNC. The graph highlights just how poor our pensions now prepare us for living in our old age, and how urgent changes to USS governance and valuation …
Mar 31
I have just sent the following letter to Martin Atkinson and Jane Higham in the hope that we can push back against the continuing farce that is the #USSmess. Chris
Mar 21
Dear colleagues, I am writing with an update on the USS pension situation. This will be fairly long so, if you don’t want to read it now, please bear in mind that we periodically update the branch blog with these updates, as well as various bits of news that do not go out through UCU-announce. …
Mar 04
Local Context Whilst we were on strike this month, the University of Kent rejected UCU’s proposal to stave off cuts to our pension pay-outs. This is the text of their rejection: Proposed Consultation Response – UCU proposal feb22.pdf Management’s response is clear: their financial mismanagement has led to the position whereby we must take a …
Feb 09
The USS issue is horribly complex, so UCU pension reps. have been trying to come up with illustrations to make it clearer. This graph shows that reduction in total pension is between 100k and 200k for people born around 1990. Further graphs, calculations and data can be found here.
Nov 19
The USS has responded to our second stage USS complaint which we submitted on behalf of 3,383 colleagues from across the UK on 18th August 2021, which followed our first stage complaint submitted on 22nd January 2021. In their response, and rather than answering any of the questions, they closed our complaint because we have …
Nov 19
Ballot Results The Kent branch recently returned unprecedented levels of support for industrial action in response to the USS and Four Fights ballots. They are as follows: 53.4% turnout and 79% yes vote for the USS ballot, 53.4% turnout and 74.9% yes vote for the Four Fights ballot. In addition, Kent UCU members have voted …
Aug 23
A complaint has been lodged to USS on behalf over over 3,000 UCU USS members in a letter that can be read here. The text below has been modified from an email sent out by Neil Davies, a member highly active in the USS dispute. The second stage of the complaints process should be passed …
Jun 25
Short Summary (TL; DR) Please oppose Option A in the upcoming survey on the USS that management is about to send out. It involves huge cuts to pensions based on an unjustified and debunked valuation. Please complete the HQ survey (previously circulated by email) to indicate when would be the best time to take action as a …