The following letter was sent today to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of York, who yesterday threatened to stop paying their staff if they participated in legitimate industrial action. If you agree with the sentiment of the letter, please do sign the petition.
Petition that condemns the decision of the University of York to stop paying staff who take part in legitimate industrial action
Please sign the petition if you agree with the sentiments expressed in this letter to the VC of the University of York
30 October 2014
Dear Professor Lamberts,
I recently learned that the University of York intends to withhold 100% of pay from members of the University and College Union (UCU) who participate in ‘Action Short of a Strike.’ As you know, this industrial action has been called in response to the proposed ‘reforms’ to the Universities Superannuation Scheme – proposals that, in their present form, constitute the most serious threat to academics’ pay and conditions in at least a generation, and which will leave thousands of academics many tens of thousands of pounds worse off in their retirement.
Your threat to dock 100% pay on a continuous basis – which amounts to nothing less than old-fashioned union-busting – might be expected of a nineteenth century mill owner, but it has absolutely no place in a university system which, quite rightly, values collegiality. The decision to define any work that unionised academics at York continue to do (including the preparation and delivery of lectures, the planning and running of seminar classes, the hosting of visiting speakers, research, the writing of journal articles, conference papers and books, the supervision of undergraduate, MA and PhD students, the provision of pastoral care, the writing of references and letters of recommendation, the preparation and evaluation of grant proposals, committee work, and the enthusiastic participation in a range of undergraduate admissions and recruitment activities, including open days) as merely “voluntary” is utterly shameful. The decision to calculate deductions in pay on a 1/260th basis – thereby ignoring the substantial amount of work that, as you know perfectly well, is undertaken by academics on weekends – only adds insult to injury. I note the University of York claims to apply “the best ethical standards” in all of its activities, while your latest strategic plan lauds York’s “informality”, “friendliness” and “flat management structure” – all part of a distinctive “ethos”, we are told, that is designed to help “promote a sense of belonging and worth” among your employees (an approach, furthermore, that you claim will be “protect[ed] and develop[ed]” because “it contributes to the dynamic intellectual environment on which our future success depends”). I am very keen to know how your proposed actions in response to the UCU’s action short of a strike tally with these values, and eagerly await your response.
With very best wishes,
Dr Simon Hall Senior Lecturer in American History School of History University of Leeds
P.S. I should like to make it clear that the views expressed in this letter are mine, and do not represent an official stance taken by my department or institution.
PLEASE SIGN HERE IF YOU AGREE WITH THIS LETTER. ADD YOUR OWN THOUGHTS.
On Thursday the union will be asking you to join a comprehensive boycott of assessment and marking. I understand that is a big decision for any educator and I wanted to write to set out why the union believes it is so important that you join this action.
First, without significant industrial action there will be no further movement from the employers and all our pensions will be lower, with losses for some career academic and professional staff running into tens of thousands of pounds. I say this not in a defeatist way nor because I have anything but the highest regard for our negotiators, but because I believe it is true that without considerable external pressure, the employers will not budge.
Second, the democratic ballot conducted by UCU delivered an overwhelming mandate for action with 85% of those voting supporting an assessment and marking boycott. That strength of feeling now needs to be carried through into the action if we are to show the employers we mean business.
Third, because while the boycott will cause you and colleagues considerable difficulties and anguish, if we carry it out effectively it will hurt our employers’ business and reputation more.
Fourth, because despite the disruption they will face our students support us. This is true not just of the National Union of Students, although their solidarity with you is clear, but also of an ever increasing number of local student unions who understand that the downward pressure on pay and pensions within higher education will impact upon the quality of education we provide.
Fifth and finally, the most important reason is that the employers’ proposals are unjust and unnecessary. On the one hand, the scale of the problem with the USS deficit is multiplied because of the unsound methodology used. On the other the employers seek to use this exaggerated crisis to push through radical changes which will be impossible to undo. The result will be that staff working in the richest universities in the UK will have by far the lowest pensions – that simply cannot be right.
I have read like you about the many institutions who now say they are unhappy with the proposals made by Universities UK on their behalf. However, polite ‘behind the scenes’ criticism is not enough. Those institutions who share our concerns must now call upon their negotiators to think again and engage properly with your union.
Those employers, so far few in number, who are seeking to bully staff through threats of punitive pay docking need to think again too. The legacy of this dispute will last for years if employers make a difficult situation worse. No deduction of salary is easy to bear for staff but when major institutions like Imperial College choose to levy a sum of 25% of pay or less for participating in the boycott that just makes the decision of York University to threaten 100% pay deductions all the more obscene.
The union will support members faced with punitive deductions both industrially and financially and institutions who bully their staff will face sector wide isolation, but there is no point in me being anything other than point blank honest with you. If we cannot resolve this dispute quickly, there is little doubt that members will face significant pay docking and that this will hurt financially. However, doing nothing will be costlier still given the cumulative losses to your annual pension income if the employers get their way.
Many members have already been in touch to ask practical questions about what they should and should not do during the boycott. A list of the questions so far can be found here. If you have questions that are not covered here please let me know and I will add your answered query so others will benefit.
I do not pretend that winning this dispute will be easy. Our first task is to persuade the employers to negotiate seriously and that will be a challenge in itself. However, I can say that the union is with you 100% and we will do everything we can alongside your branch officers to defend your pensions.
Thank you for your support of the union.
Sally Hunt UCU general secretary
PS If you know someone not yet in the union please pass this message on. If they join the union here, they can join the boycott.
The campus unions will be holding a stall on the concourse on Friday 31 October between 12 and 2pm to raise awareness around bullying and harassment in the workplace and how to tackle these serious issues. We are working with the HR team to develop new policies for the University on this theme and welcome your input. Please get in touch by email or drop by the stall. We welcome volunteers to help staff the stall on the day!