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We sincerely thank everyone who voted in the recent UCU re-ballot on USS, whose results were announced on Monday. See Appendix 1 below.

We are calling a General Meeting for next Thursday, 27 January, 1-2 pm to discuss next steps.Ìý

Unfortunately, despite a higher ‘Yes’ vote for strike action in both absolute and percentage terms, overall participation fell, partly as a result of an increase in membership. The turnout did not meet the 50% threshold set by the Conservative Government in the 2016 Trade Union Act, which means the union cannot action the ballot.

We are still in dispute over USS, and National negotiations continue. As we discussed at our union meeting on Monday, the changes that UUK wish to push through will reduce the value of members’ future pensions by around 30-40% (depending on age), even before the impact of the 2.5% CPI cap is taken into account. This cut is of the order of all three pension changes from 2011 onwards put together. The 2020 valuation is widely contested. There is every reason to keep up the campaign, and we can support other branches if they take action. But at this time we do not have a live ‘strike mandate’ on USS.

We still have a live ballot mandate for the Four Fights dispute (pay, casualisation, workload and equality) enabling further action. As CPI hits 5.4%, and RPI excluding mortgage payments reaches 7.5%, the 1.5% increase the employers imposed in September looks extremely small. (These rises are before the expected rise in fuel prices by Easter.)

UCU’s national Higher Education Committee (HEC) met yesterday to consider the next steps in both disputes following a Branch Delegate Meeting that Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø UCU delegates participated in. We are not likely to hear about the outcome of HEC decisions until early next week.

Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø UCU Executive Committee

@ucl_ucu

Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø UCU website

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Appendix 1: USS Ballot results

JanuaryÌý2022

Turnout:Ìý45.4% (1,327 / 2,921)

Strike:Ìý1,111 (84.17%)

ASOS:Ìý1,200 (90.98%)

NovemberÌý2021

Turnout:Ìý49.4% (1,395 / 2,826)

Strike:Ìý1,082 (77.9%)

ASOS:Ìý1,250 (89.8%)