Over 70,000 university staff at 150 universities will strike for three days later this month over attacks on pay, working conditions and pensions. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Royal Veterinary College, University of London, Scottish Association for Marine Science at University of the Highlands and Islands. Critics of the changes offered the following main arguments against implementing the changes to the scheme promoted by UUK. Teachers in England will strike over pay again on two dates in July, the National Education Union (NEU) has announced. A further valuation would follow in 2020 and in the absence of an alternative agreement, the contribution rate would rise to 34.7% in October 2021 with members paying 11% and employers 23.7%. Wagner's network in Africa faces uncertain future, Prigozhin's soldiers rage while others cry conspiracy, How one temple feeds 100,000 people a day. With a 56.4% turnout, 85.6 members gave UCU a mandate for strike action regarding the Four Fights; with a 58.4% turnout, 89% of members returned a mandate for action; the votes also gave a mandate for action short of a strike. The unions also rejected an offer to create a new taskforce to help reduce workload by an average of five hours a week for teachers and leaders. Fresh teacher strikes are slated for 5 and 7 July as unions warn of coordinated action this autumn. We're not getting what we paid for," she said. The NEU, ASCL, NAHT and NASUWT are all balloting their members for industrial action in schools in England in the Autumn Term. Employers imposed a pay rise worth just 3% this year following over a decade of below inflation pay awards. [7][78] UUK stated the defined contributions proposal would compare well with private-sector competitors, with employer contributions double the private sector average. Closing on 21 October, the ballot resulted in a mandate for strike action at all branches nationwide on the Four Fights, and at all branches participating in USS on pensions. [459] On 28 April, the University of Glasgow, in conjunction with the local UCU branch, announced its willingness to contribute more to USS,[460] but other such progress was not in evidence. Providers are able to receive their own responses to these questions through the NSS Results Portal. Response rates are consistently high. Part 1: The Transitional Space of the Picket Line". Thanks to that funding, a 4% teachers pay award is already affordable for schools, nationally. As of May 2019, the Pensions Regulator and Financial Reporting Council were investigating the allegations. But as well as applying sticking plasters on the current marketised system, the Government needs to see that their profit-driven model is broken. [188]:84 Accordingly, these concerns formed the basis of ballots for industrial action across all UK higher education unions (UNISON, Unite, EIS, GMB and UCU), running parallel to industrial action on pensions. Its recommendations were put to a special congress of the union of 7 December 2019. The government also offered a 1,000 one-off cash payment which was lost when talks failed. [465] This represented the lowest level of support among union members since the disputes began in 2018. Youll find accessible, straightforward information on popular topics, Q&As, interviews, case studies, and more. [279][280] On 22 October 2018 UCU announced the results of the ballot. [155] The news was welcomed by UCU. A Report on the First National Student Strike in U.S. History, May, 1970 (Chicago: Urban Research Corporation, 1970); New York Tmes, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Atlanta Constitution digital copies from ProQuest Historical Newspapers. The IFS also published an assessment of schools funding and costs. [312] The Times reported that 'by and large' students 'support their lecturers and their anger is with universities and vice-chancellors'. On 26 May 2019, UCU's Higher Education Sector Conference voted to commence a further dispute with USS employers. [309], The National Union of Students supported the strikes, as did the Labour shadow secretary for education, Angela Rayner. For more information and/or to see if you are eligible for persistent or prolonged disability benefits, visit Canada.ca. A further 69,000 academic staff were on "atypical contracts" and so are not counted in the main staff record, while an estimated 6,500 were on zero-hours contracts'. [140], On 13 June, a tumultuous UCU congress included calls for the general secretary, Sally Hunt, to resign over what was perceived to be undemocratic practice within the Union's prosecution of the dispute. [324], On 4 December, UCU began reballoting thirteen branches which had nearly succeeded in achieving the 50% voter turnout necessary to take strike action, in the belief that the strike action at other branches would galvanise members into voting. The NSS data is published in the same way as in previous years; however, there are minor changes in the way the data is presented: See the complete questionnaire used for the National Student Survey 2022 (PDF). [7] Staff at 68 universities founded before 1992 are members of the USS pension scheme and were involved in disputes about that scheme. [417] USS commented that the case "has absolutely no merit". [313] In Edinburgh, students occupied David Hume Tower in solidarity with the strike,[314] while students at Strathclyde University occupied a lecture theatre (both in support of the strikes and in protest at what they called 'rampant mismanagement, alleged corruption and irresponsible fossil fuel investment at the University of Strathclyde'). [117], On 22 March, UCU sanctioned fourteen further strike days to fall in the April to June 2018 exam period should the talks fail to come to a resolution. About the 2023 survey. As of 19 March, it had been signed by 133 MPs. The UKuniversitysector generatedrecordincome of 41.1bn last year with vice chancellors collectively earning an estimated 45million. How are students affected by uni marking boycott? ', Email: UCU press office [77] They said they had a legal duty to put in place a credible plan to reduce the deficit by the summer of 2018. [228], By 8 March, extensive student support for the strikes was still being reported, observing that students were joining with staff in solidarity against the marketisation of UK higher education. The National Union of Students (NUS) has backed the strikes, which will be the biggest ever to hit UK universities and could impact 2.5 million students. The 2021 statistics are based purely on 2021 data. Asserson estimated that one million students had been affected by the strike, with 575,000 teaching hours lost. She said further disruption could be avoided if concerns were "addressed with urgency", and added that, if not, "even bigger action" would follow next year. As is normal process the School Teachers' Review Body has submitted its recommendations to the government on pay for 2023/24, said the spokesman, adding it would consider the recommendations and publish "in the usual way". He found that the methodologies by which USS's 'test 1' measures the pension scheme's viability were flawed, and that by maintaining previous investment strategies, USS would have the surplus it would require to meet its future liabilities. [79], USS had a legal responsibility to satisfy the UK pensions regulator that the scheme was sound, and the regulator was requiring change. The questions about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the student experience were not repeated in the 2022 survey. [283] This ballot achieved a turnout of only 41%, so again led to no industrial action.[281][284][285]. USS argued that the unusual market conditions at the time had both positive and negative effects on the outlook of fund and that, net, the valuation was representative of the fund's standing. As reporting noted, the strikes took place in the context of wider tensions over higher education and pension provision in the UK. [169] On 11 October 2019, it was reported that Hutton had been dismissed as a director of USS on the grounds that, according to an independent investigation, "she had breached a number of her director's duties owed under company law and contract". A fixed total contribution rate of 30.7%, 'subject to a 2020 valuation'. However, leaked reports suggested the School Teachers Review Body report made significantly different recommendations a 6.5 per cent pay increase for the 2023-24 school year. UCU rejected the offer during the summer and moved to take industrial action. 2023 BBC. Student Strike For Education In this section Active Campaigns NUS Policy & Research Student Wins In March 2022, Arts SU joined Students and Students' Union's from Universities nationwide, to stand up for a reformed system of Higher Education. [330][331] The report was welcomed by UUK and UCU and media reporting suggested that negotiations in its wake could lead to the cessation of impending industrial action;[332] as strikes loomed in February, however, the UCU general secretary Jo Grady commented that 'most importantly, employers have not yet offered to cover the unfair contribution increases that are pricing members out of the scheme', implying that this was a key sticking point. Lesley McCorrigan, 'Fourteen Days, Hold Tight: Reflections from Leeds on the USS Strike', Esther Muddiman, Rowan Campbell and Grace Krause, "Let's Keep it Casual? [126][11] However, staff would not take part in additional strike action if UCU members vote to accept the UUK proposal. [130], The result of the ballot was the UCU members accepted UUK proposal. NUS is leading a National Student Strike for Education on Wednesday 2 March 2022, and Goldsmiths SU is taking part. Our pensions system is a hot mess, University pension boss's 82,000 pay rise, The university pensions strike is a last resort for STEM academics, Examining the Numbers on Pension Valuation, http://www.dannydorling.org/wp-content/files/dannydorling_publication_id6103.pdf, UK university staff offered 1.7 per cent pay rise for 2018-19, Striking staff defiant as v-cs close ranks on pay and pensions, Students hit by 14-day university lecturers strike, Higher Education Staff Statistics: UK, 2018/19, UK universities rely on casual staff 'for up to half of teaching', 'Genie out of the bottle' on casualisation after pension strikes, Young European researchers set groundwork for policy changes, Bratislava Declaration of Young Researchers, #IchbinHanna: German researchers snap over lack of permanent jobs, Universities brace for government scrutiny after Policy Exchange report, Revealed: British university vice-chancellors' five-star expenses, British professionals revolt as austerity hits the middle class, Theresa May's university review will not scrap fees, Universities and the allure of capital markets, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/university-debt-credit-crunch-looms-as-debt-spirals, "University pension fund deficit soars to 17.5bn", If you look at the economics, it's completely reasonable for university lecturers to strike over pension changes, "USS strike: social media has collapsed the case for pension cuts", USS strike: we can't ignore reality of our deficit, says pensions boss, "Why I'm a striking lecturer: I want to stop the slow death of public education | Becky Gardiner", Universities UK chief Alistair Jarvis: union's pension demands will cost 1bn a year, USS strike: academics are wrong to walk out, USS strike: regulator is to blame for pensions crisis, University lecturers begin strike action over pensions, "The university pension strike will only end when we're listened to | Sally Hunt", "Financial health overview - Higher Education Funding Council for England", Universities threaten to punish striking staff over cancelled lectures, Universities strike blamed on vote by Oxbridge colleges, "Oxbridge universities 'given greater say than other institutions' on pensions cuts driving higher education strike", The solution to university pensions? Will schools be closed again if teachers go on strike? [437], The National Union of Students supported the industrial action, citing polling evidence that suggested that 73% of its members supported staff in their industrial action and that 9% were opposed;[438] some local student union branches, however, opposed the strikes. Information on the UK-wide higher education negotiations for 2022-23. Meanwhile, UCEA did not alter the offer it had made on 27 January. Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has previously said strike action was "extremely disappointing". [26] On 15 March it was announced that negotiations with UUK promised the restoration of pension terms comparable with 2017 levels, while UCEA had offered to, in UCU's words, "agree new standards, frameworks and principles to tackle other forms of casualised contracts, reduce workloads and close equality pay gaps". As part of the normal process, the independent School Teachers Review Body has submitted its recommendations to government on teacher pay for 2023-24. [4] In the latter dispute, employers were represented by the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA).[4]. Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the worlds largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. If they don't, strike action will escalate in the New Year alongside a marking and assessment boycott. The union is now holding another ballot on more strikes for this Autumn. Thousands of UK academics 'treated as second-class citizens'", Second class academic citizens: The dehumanising effects of casualisation in higher education, REVISED PROPOSALS presented on 27 January 2020, UK universities make offer on sector working conditions in dispute, What's in UCEA's offer on contractual arrangements; workload and mental health; and gender pay gap and ethnicity pay, Staff at another 14 universities can join strike action, Union calls 14-day strike in UK pay and pensions dispute, Union tries to keep members on board as more strikes near, UCU announces 14 strike days at 74 UK universities in February and March, Employers refuse to back down on eve of UK university strikes. A French police officer is being investigated for homicide after shooting dead a 17-year-old on Tuesday morning in the Paris suburb of Nanterre after the youth failed to comply with an order to stop his car, the local prosecutor's office said. The Union asked that, failing that, employers "must cover any increases in full that are needed to maintain current benefits until USS's governance and valuation methods and assumptions have been overhauled". Harry Yorke, 'Universities told they face fines if strikes harm students', University and College Union and Universities UK, ', The Joint Expert Panel on the Universities Superannuation Scheme commissioned by the University and College Union and Universities UK, '. Others have a coffee in one hand and a banner in the other, painted: "Fight for revolution.". [7], On 23 March 2018, it was reported that the international disputes lawyers Asserson had begun co-ordinating a no-win no-fee suit for compensation for students affected by the strikes, inviting students to sign up to participate online. Clarke, Lauryn, "Reflecting on the Impact of Strike Action on Problem-based Learning at York Law School". 70,000 staff will walk out and make clear they refuse to accept falling pay, cuts to pensions and insecure employment. In the event of strike action at a school, the school leaders or local authority that manages the school will take all reasonable steps to keep the school open for as many pupils as possible. [402], In April 2020, UCU and UUK issued a joint statement on their position in relation to USS, in this respect presenting a united front against the pension trustees;[403][377] Alistair Jarvis, the chief executive of UUK, published a prominent Times Higher Education article entitled "Attractive pensions benefits are possible without huge price hikes". Otherwise, pension contributions from employers and staff would have to sharply increase, potentially resulting in redundancies and cuts to other areas of teaching, research and student support. In 2020 the Office for Students (OfS) and the UK funding and regulatory bodies began a two-stage review of the NSS with an aim to ensure the NSS remains fit for purpose and continues to support regulation and student information across the UK. Schools will usually let parents know how they are being affected but if you are unsure, you should contact your childs school. The National Union of Students (NUS) hosted its first-ever 'Student Strike for Education' in Central London yesterday (Wednesday 2nd March) in a bid to build strong student momentum behind its "New vision for education" campaign. [409][410] In March 2021, UUK challenged the valuation and particularly questioned the role of The Pensions Regulator in shaping USS's assessment. Although the majority of Union members who voted elected to take industrial action, the turnout only passed the 50% of members required by the Trade Union Act 2016 at seven universities (alongside which three Northern Irish universities, unaffected by the legislation, also voted to strike). [27] On 17 April 2023, UCU, satisfied with progress, paused industrial action concerning pensions, but a marking and assessment boycott was declared with regard to the Four Fights dispute.[28][29]. The most comprehensive solution to manage all your complex and ever-expanding tax and compliance needs. The "National Student Strike" event is coordinated by the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition (NYSPC). [139] The Joint Expert Panel was scheduled to report in September. [427][428] These figures were very similar to the ballot results in 2019, despite the tumultuous events of the pandemic year 202021. In Scotland, the pay dispute has ended following a revised pay offer from the Scottish government. The National Education Union (NEU) has announced two additional strike days in schools in England on 5 and 7 July. To reduce the burden on universities and colleges during and in the aftermath of the pandemic, providers in England were not required to promote the survey to their students. Anthony Forster, vice-chancellor at the University of Essex, described a staff consultation process that led Essex to support retaining defined benefits via increased pension contributions. [375], The prospect of convulsive changes to university staff workload and working conditions caused by universities' responses to the pandemic increased the complexities and tensions surrounding the dispute. The starting salary for new teachers outside London would have risen by 7.1% to 30,000. Fresh UK pension scheme talks 'could avert further strikes', UCU calls 14 more days of strike action in higher education, Statement of the first meeting of the tripartite group, What Researchers Think About the Culture They Work In, Researchers facing 'shocking' levels of stress, survey reveals. [103][104][102][105] Many UCU members used the Twitter hashtag #NoCapitulation to express their disapproval of the agreement,[106] helping to co-ordinate a strong response to the proposals. Elsewhere in the UK, teachers in Northern Ireland, and NAHT members in Wales, are continuing to take action short of a strike. [482][483] Strikes took place 24, 25, and 30 November,[484][485][21] at which time UCU and Unison were joined by ten branches of Unite;[486] reports of the number of striking staff included 70,000 people at 150 institutions. Leaked emails suggested they would not negotiate on UCU's key issue, retaining defined benefits. [180], On the first day of the strikes the UUK head office in London was occupied by students. According to Esther Muddiman, Rowan Campbell and Grace Krause, "the industrial action undertaken by members of UCU in 2018 in response to a dispute about pensions provision acted as a catalyst for discussions about workload, staff wellbeing, equality, pay and conditions and, we argue, moved the issues of precarity and casualisation up the agenda and brought about new ways of community-building in HE". The Governments judgement of the affordability of teacher pay increases is, as usual, based on national figures, which equate to the position for an average school. In 2022, we consulted on potential changes to the NSS that would take effect . [435] UCU did not recommend that staff should refuse to make up missed teaching following these strike days,[436] though this policy was reversed regarding strikes in FebruaryMarch 2022. Short-term contracts were pushing "more and more work on to a smaller group of people" on permanent contracts. VideoThe endangered languages that are fighting back, When Miss World in India threatened 'cultural apocalypse', Belarus leader welcomes Wagner boss into exile. NUS will use tomorrow to recommit to its vision of changing education and society for the better by calling on all students to walk out of the education system which wasn't built for them and join the national student strike on 2nd March 2022. "[5] Dr. Jo Grady, a senior lecturer in employment relations at Sheffield University, stated her belief that Twitter had helped people connect "outside of traditional union frameworks" and that this was ironic as their employers were the ones who encouraged staff to use social media as a tool for self-promotion.[5]. On 29 January, UCU announced that 88% of UCU members had voted to back strike action and 93% backed action short of a strike. The next valuation was to be informed by an "independent expert group", 'aiming to promote greater transparency and understanding' of the methodologies, assumptions, and viability of the scheme. [111], As of 14 March, UUK's consultation with its members remained ongoing. UCEA chief executive Raj Jethwa said the UCU's pay demand was "unrealistic". Full details for UCU press office, UCU |University and College Union, Carlow Street, London NW1 7LH
For example, universities, whose capital expenditure had traditionally been funded to a significant extent by government funding, were increasingly borrowing from private capital markets, making them concerned about their credit ratings, and with uncertain consequences for their finances and governance. Master's-degree student Amin Isat, 23, has joined the picket line at the University of Manchester to "show solidarity" with his lecturers. University Strike 2019: Why Are UCU Lecturers And Staff Taking Action? The most recent one, on 2 May, affected more schools than ever - with fewer than half of schools (45.3%) fully open. For NSS 2021, the core questions did not change, but there were a few changes to parts of the survey which had been developed in agreement with the UK funding and regulatory bodies: The COVID-19 question results were not published at provider level, but the findings were presented by several broader sector splits such as subject and mode. Universities should accept a slightly riskier but probably more lucrative investment strategy, leading to a deficit of 5.1 billion rather than 6.1 billion, a level accepted by the majority of institutions when it was proposed by USS in September 2017. Proponents of the meaasure argued that Israel's military is abusing human rights in Gaza and pointed to the deaths of 1,700 Palestinian civilians during recent bombings. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you through the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning. Teachers in England are to stage fresh strikes in their long-running dispute over pay. Time and again our calls have fallen on stony ground, they said. A further ballot during summer 2022 raised the number to twenty, and these branches began strike action on days selected by local branches in September and October 2022. "I'd rather be teaching than here, freezing," one PhD student says. Make sure your address is up to date, pledge to vote and join the 26 June Zoom, . [286] Later that month, the UCU congress resolved to campaign to win an industrial action ballot on this offer, with a campaign naming the 'four fights' of pay, equality, casualisation, and workload. [261], The Chinese embassy in the UK also made representations to the Department for Education, expressing concern for the situation of Chinese students in the UK. The full strike dates are: Wednesday 1 February 2023 (one day) [355] Negotiations continued throughout that week. Following 4 December, Union members were also to begin action short of a strike. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Screen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. [96], On 23 March, UNISON announced that its consultative ballot of its USS members had returned 91% support for industrial action, and that it would begin a formal ballot for strike action in April. [263], Some scholarly societies issued statements supporting the strike or its goals. [379] While triggered by situations arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, these protests were in the wider context of rapidly rising student rents. [100], The agreement was specifically for a three-year "transitional benefit arrangement" lasting from 1 April 2019, maintaining defined benefits up to a salary threshold of 42,000, reducing the accrual rate to 1/85, but raising contributions to 19.3% of salaries for employers and 8.7% for members. The ballot closed on 27 June 2018, with 82% of participating members voting to reject the offer from the university and Colleges Employers' Association of a minimum pay rise of 2 per cent, rising to 2.8 per cent for the lowest paid. [203], Some universities decided to cushion the financial impact of strike action on their staff by deducting pay for the days not worked over several months. The deadline to respond to the consultation was 26 May 2023 and analysis of the responses is underway. Lecturers stage a strike outside the gates of Queen's University in Belfast. [175]:1315 As some universities had seen local strike action during 201718 in addition to the 14 days of national strike action, fears arose that staff members who were on strike for more than 20 days in a year might have their visas revoked, and that this might in turn impinge on their legal rights to take industrial action. Emmanouil Platanakis and Charles Sutcliffe, 'AssetLiability Modelling and Pension Schemes: The Application of Robust Optimization to USS'. UCEA offered little, if any, commentary on the UCU strikes during this period, but spelled out its position at the end of March in its statutory statement on the 202223 New JNCHES pay negotiations. It is unclear how much teaching will be called off, as union members do not have to say whether they will be striking. Describe your experience of using this website. The Government has also offered a one-off payment of 1,000 for the current academic year. [17] Strike action ran as scheduled, without producing a change of position from UUK or UCEA. Explore the National Student Survey data in full. Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. This dispute has the mass support of students because they know their learning conditions are our members' working conditions. USS strike: social media has collapsed the case for pension cuts, https://www.facebook.com/shitpostingoncompanytime/, (Still) writing a history of now: #NoCapitulation, Notice of Trade Dispute Over USS Pensions, "UCU members back strikes over both pensions and pay and conditions", UK university staff offered 2 per cent pay rise, UK university staff to vote on strike action in pay dispute, Trade union laws frustrate national support for strike action on pay, UK union members vote to strike over pay but turnout falls short, The pay ballot shows that the UCU is stronger than ever, Final pay offer promises 1.8 per cent minimum rise for UK staff, UCU announces eight days of strikes starting this month at 60 universities, University strike could affect more than a million students, says union, https://www.ucu.org.uk/media/8195/Workload-is-an-education-issue-UCU-workload-survey-report-2016/pdf/ucu_workloadsurvey_fullreport_jun16.pdf, UK university strikes: Walkouts at 60 institutions to hit more than a million students, UCU announces eight days of strikes, starting late November, As a university leader, I think we can afford a better pensions deal for striking staff, Essex v-c says universities can afford to pay more into pensions, UCU accuses universities of 'playing games' after they offer to talk about anything but pay, One in three union members joined strikes, say employers, University staff launch 8-day strike across UK, Statement from today's meeting between UCEA and UCU, "Solid" support for strikes as staff rally over pay and pensions, Why we're asking college lecturers to stop striking over pensions and get back to talking, International students crossing picket lines "out of fear of losing visas", Students complain they are being asked to 'snitch' after university asks for names of striking lecturers as eight day industrial action begins, Picket lines are trespassing, University of Birmingham tells its striking lecturers, "University of Reading investigates security staff clash with students", The Guardian view on university strikes: a battle for the soul of the campus, Universities strike is over more than just pensions.
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