Along with dozens of other university branches the strike action by Aberystwyth University UCU has been called off.

Aberystwyth UCU members voted on 13th September not to organise strike action that would disrupt Welcome Week, citing the exceptional pressures on our branch that participating in an action causing maximum disruption for new students would have (most universities are in a teaching week from 24th-29th September).

Subsequently UCU national asked its branches to consult members about branch views on the action that would have lasted from Monday 25th September to Friday 29th September. As a result Aberystwyth University has been notified by UCU national that the action on Aberystwyth campus has been called off.

Forty two universities that have subjected their staff to the most draconian forms of financial penalty for engaging in lawful industrial action will be targeted with 5 days of industrial action next week.

Members of Aberystwyth UCU will be meeting with students new and old to inform them about the industrial action of the last year and what the reasons for it are and why trade unions will take action to protect and improve the rights of working people. The appalling action of some universities in deducting months of pay from university staff for industrial action will be a focal point for our discussions.

Meanwhile another industrial action ballot has just opened in higher education seeking a new mandate for further negotiations and if necessary industrial action later in the year.

Mae UCU wedi anfon sawl ebost yn ddiweddar er mwyn paratoi at gyfarfod o’r Pwyllgor Addysg Uwch (HEC) a gynhelir ddydd Llun nesaf. Yno y penderfynir ar y camau nesaf yn yr anghydfod.

Mae Cyfarfod o Gynrychiolwyr y Canghennau (BDM) wedi’i alw i’w gynnal bore dydd Gwener. Bydd hwn yn bwydo i benderfynu’r HEC yr wythnos nesaf. Gofynnwyd i ni ymgynghori â’n haelodau cyn y BDM.

Cewch ddarllen crynodeb o’r trafodaethau diweddar yma (bydd angen mewngofnodi i’ch cyfrif UCU i weld yr adroddiad). here (login to UCU account to access the report).

Gwiriwch eich e-byst a chwblhewch y bleidlais. check your emails and complete the poll.

The hammering of retirement benefits from the USS pension fund, imposed unnecessarily by university employers upon staff in 2022, was a major motivating factor in why so many university staff have taken industrial action.

A message from the General Secretary of UCU (below) outlines the success of that campaign of industrial action.

———————— FROM JO GRADY —————–

I am very pleased to announce that a consultation launched by the USS Trustee today shows that the scheme is on track to significantly reduce your monthly contributions and to restore your pension benefits by April 2024. This would mean a full reversal of the 35% cut that was made to your guaranteed pension benefits in 2022.

New data included in the report exceeds even the most recent predictions in May, and could see the contributions that you make to your pension lowered to 8% or less, even as little as 6.1%, once agreements between UUK and UCU about ensuring stability for future valuations have been concluded. Today I have written to the Chair of the USS Trustee Board to establish if this can be done earlier than April 2024.

UCU pressure has also meant that USS has recognised the potential to uplift benefits from the surplus in recognition of the last two lost years of benefits.

I have lost count of the times we were told this would never happen or were mocked by pensions ‘experts’ who said our campaign and our actions were pointless. And yet here we are, a step closer to delivering back your pension.

This achievement is yours. Every ballot, every picket line. Not just over the past few months, but over the past few years. We will now use the coming months to ensure the employers fulfil their obligations and we see this through to full restoration.

This is also good news for the university sector as a whole. If the employer, through UCEA, can now table a proper pay and conditions offer then we can bring much needed stability to our sector for the first time in nearly a decade. This is what’s needed. It is what students deserve and it is what staff deserve.

UCU and proud.

In solidarity

Jo Grady
UCU general secretary

Sensible and conciliatory joint statement by the University of York Vice Chancellor and the UCU York Branch executive.

Time for HE leaders to get serious in addressing for the long term the financial and working conditions problems of the UK higher education sector.

A shared perspective on pay and conditions