MAGAZINE

Est. 1986

MAGAZINE
– Est. 1986 –

UCU STRIKES: WEEK THREE

ALL THE ACTION FROM THE FRONT LINE

UUK & UCU Negotiations Continue Amidst Twitter Meltdown

Week three of industrial action saw UCU and UUK enter into official negotiations via mediation service, Acas. Talks began on Monday 5 March but quickly came to a close when UUK informed UCU that they would not be able to meet again to discuss UCU’s tabled proposals until Wednesday 7 March.

UCU claimed that they had delivered their proposals to UUK a week before talks were scheduled to begin. UUK in their press release said that the ‘proposal put forward by UCU had not been properly costed with USS’ and thus they were delaying any further talks so that the proposal could be recosted accordingly.

UCU hit back saying ‘we have cleared our diary, but we cannot negotiate with a row of empty chairs’. Angered UCU members proceeded to take to Twitter, asking UUK why they hadn’t realised that the proposals needed recosting sooner, pushing for talks to resume on Tuesday 6 March instead.

The back and forth that ensued on Twitter saw UUK claim on multiple occasions that they were in fact ‘happy to meet with UCU tomorrow’ but when pushed further repeated that they needed more time for recosting the proposals.

Employers willing to meet @ucu at any time or place to resolve pensions dispute - full statement after first day of talks at ACAS #USSstrikes pic.twitter.com/ZGexMABVBO

— Universities UK (@UniversitiesUK) March 5, 2018

UCU in response to UUK’s seeming change of mind proceeded, again via Twitter, to ask UUK to make the proper arrangements with Acas to meet the following day, Tuesday 6 March.

Glad you've changed your minds. Can you let @acasorguk know? They still have you scheduled in for 3:30pm on Wednesday. We'll be at Acas tomorrow. What time? #USSstrikes https://t.co/5c0CUPC8UV

— UCU (@ucu) March 5, 2018

Consequentially, talks were reinstated for the rest of the week, beginning at 12pm on Tuesday 6 March with strike action continuing. When talks adjourned for the weekend on Friday 9 March, UCU reported that there had been ‘constructive engagement and progress on the challenging issues in the dispute’. UCU maintained that strike action would indeed continue into week four.

As discussions continued, the position of Oxford and Cambridge has come under increased scrutiny. When UUK first looked to make changes to USS, they released a survey for institutions to submit their position on where risk should be best placed. It is alleged that wealthy colleges of Oxford and Cambridge were given the same weighting as large institutions and that their vote was counted alongside the individual vote of Oxford and Cambridge universities.

This would, if these colleges had voted in favour of the closure of defined benefit, have distorted the vote and enabled UUK’s hardline response to USS. The USS spokesperson categorically denied these accusations, responding that, “Oxbridge votes did not distort the UUK pension risk survey – we consulted more than 350 USS employers, all the USS employers, as we are obliged to do, and took account of all the responses we received.”

This is despite King’s College of Cambridge University coming forward to say that their response to the UUK/USS survey ‘was not, and should not have been taken as, the considered view of the college’.

In light of the allegations that Oxford and Cambridge’s position was propping up UUK’s hardline stance, Oxford University joined the ranks of Manchester, St Andrews, Warwick and Imperial College in overturning and distancing themselves from the UUK position on USS reform. On Wednesday 7 March, Oxford’s vice-chancellor, Louise Richardson, sent an email stating that the university council ‘will be recommending that council reverse its response to the UUK survey in line with congregation’s resolution’.

Cambridge’s position also looks more precarious as over a 100 senior academics have written to vice-chancellor Stephen Toope to ask him to call in similar fashion to Imperial College for an independent panel of pension experts to examine the USS fund.

Further strike action could disrupt exam season

As strikes head into week four, UCU released a statement on Friday 9 March announcing that the ‘union's higher education committee (HEC) has sanctioned another 14 days of strikes, if necessary, designed to hit the exam and assessment periods between April and June’.

The union was collecting information from sixty five universities on when the most effective and disruptive days for strike action would be. General secretary of UCU, Sally Hunt, stressed that planning further action was a ‘necessary precaution against the failure of talks to deliver an acceptable settlement’ and that she had given her ‘personal commitment to Acas that UCU is serious about reaching an agreement’.

Orbital Magazine spoke to Chris Howorth, Chair of Royal Holloway UCU Committee, about potential disruption over the exam period. Howorth told us that whilst UCU would be keen to find ways of ‘disrupting the organisation’ staff ‘recognise the level of student support’ and thus ‘to harm students is not what we want’.

Howorth continued, “This is something that is so important we can’t let go. But as I say, academics have been so impressed with student support. We don't want to harm students and what they are looking for from university - namely a good education and good degrees. And we take that responsibility incredibly seriously and we continue to take it incredibly seriously even through this dispute.”

Listen to Howorth’s full comments, below.

Tap here to play

RH Picket Lines continue

As strike action continued, picket lines at Royal Holloway grew in size. Picket lines by UCU members had been policed under strict instruction by Mark Smith and Gillian Hemus, Director of HR, to stick to government guidelines of no more than six people at any one entrance. This policing is despite UCU picket lines across the country allowing upwards of thirty people.

Picketers previously had focussed their efforts inside the gates of campus to mitigate safety concerns posed by the A30. Small picket lines still circulate inside campus by Founder’s Building whilst other picket lines have continued on the Piggery Gate and Spring Rise entrances onto campus.

However, picket supervisors went against the ‘friendly advice’ of Mark Smith and allowed picketers to gather outside the front gate picket line in numbers excess of 15 members. Picket lines remained good natured and friendly with picketing staff greeting students on their way on to campus. Music at the picket lines continued as staff took advantage of the warmer weather to perform traditional protest songs and inventive UUK reimaginings of classics.

Students have also continued to turn out in large numbers at the student demonstration outside of the front gate. Students and staff also joined together for a few brief moments to take a solidarity photo for the workers striking at Hinkley Point power station.

ASOS & Planting Questions

Last week saw Royal Holloway temporarily added to the Academic Boycott list after they failed to clarify their position over action short of strike.

What is action short of strike (ASOS)? Action short of strike is working only to the strict terms of a contract. Measures include not rescheduling missed classes and lectures, not covering for absent colleagues and not undertaking any voluntary activities. Action short of strike begins on the first day of industrial action and continues even on days where strike action isn’t taking place.

Universities impacted by UCU industrial action have had a mixed response to ASOS, some threatening to deduct 100% of pay for working only to contract. Royal Holloway released information that threatened to deduct 100% of pay for working only to contract, even including a threat that if staff joined a picket line on their lunch break, they could face 100% deductions in pay.

Royal Holloway UCU wrote to Principal Paul Layzell in light of the College’s position asking for further clarification by 5pm on Wednesday 7 March. When the College failed to respond adequately to Royal Holloway UCU’s concerns by redirecting concerned staff members to their same guidelines on ASOS, Royal Holloway UCU called for Royal Holloway to be placed onto the Academic Boycott List.

The list encompasses all institutions which hold ‘punitive’ measures against action short of strike and who threaten to deduct pay for such measures. Currently, nine universities are listed as under boycott, calling for alumni and external teaching staff to take appropriate action.

As outrage spiked on Twitter over Royal Holloway’s lack of clarification, alumni and external examiners expressed their disappointment over their position. It seemed this outrage pushed the College to reverse their position on ASOS. The college announced a clarification on Friday 9 March saying, ‘During the current dispute, working to contract and fulfilling contractual duties will not result in us withholding salary. Neither will we be asking Heads to instruct staff to cover for absent colleagues, reschedule lectures or classes cancelled due to strike, nor undertake any voluntary duties during this current dispute.’

Whilst the College have reversed their position, Royal Holloway UCU were quick to note in their blog post that this was ‘not a complete victory’. They detailed that ‘the threat of 100% pay deductions for partial performance remains in force and could be used against anyone at any time’. Thus, whilst staff are currently able to take part in action short of strike without fear of a 100% pay deduction, the College could easily reinstate their former position if they so wished.

Further anger at the College and Paul Layzell continued to surface after Orbital Magazine reported that Royal Holloway UCU had accused the Principal and College of attempting to drown out organic questions from UCU members at the Staff Open Meeting scheduled for Monday 12 March. An email sent to line managers asked for ‘two trusted colleagues’ who could ask for pre prepared questions on topics other than the pension dispute. See the full story here.

“This is something that is so important we can’t let go. But as I say, academics have been so impressed with student support.”

Chris Howorth

Chair of Royal Holloway UCU

Orbital Magazine are proud to support and document our striking academics. For the latest coverage straight from the picket line follow @TheOrbitalRHUL on Twitter and our reporting hashtag #RHStrikes.

Words and Photography by Emma Halahan.
Web by Jamie Woods.