September Branch News: GTVO for Fair Pay, national consultations, and the JEP report
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September Branch News
Next meeting: 2nd October, 1pm, Octagon Council Chamber
An open meeting to discuss both the pay dispute and where we go next on USS following the JEP report - please come along and share your views.
National UCU news
Fair pay: the ballots are out!
On 30 August, UCU sent out ballots to members of 147 institutions, including post-92 and FE institutions, meaning that almost 90% of our membership are currently voting on whether we should take part in strike action, and action short of a strike.
The USS strike was a historic event with unprecedented sector participation, and our fight for fair pay has the potential to be over twice as large. With UNISON members also being balloted, this dispute is sector-wide in a way that has never been seen before in education. If over twice the number of institutions who were involved in USS threaten industrial action, we will send a message that our employers simply cannot ignore.
As a committee, we believe that action on this scale is not only warranted, but that the current state of marketization of Higher Education demands it. Our employer cannot continue to increase our workload while cutting our pay in real terms. Our employer cannot continue to appeal to austerity budgets to justify their lack of investment in staff, while engaging in restructures that place staff at the lowest grades at risk, and increasing the salaries of the highest paid individuals at the university. The Goldsmiths and Southampton UCU branches have put together resources which outline the numbers underlying this hypocrisy, and over the coming weeks, we will be sending you resources with our equally stark figures here at Sheffield.
Ballots must be received by 19 October. If you need a replacement ballot, request one here. Just as in the USS dispute, please remember that because of the 2016 changes to trade union law, we must have at least a 50% turnout or we cannot take industrial action, so please vote! This committee endorses a YES-YES vote.
How can you get involved?
Come to our meeting on 2 October at 1pm, in the Octagon Council Chamber! In addition to presenting data on declining pay at the University of Sheffield, we will be taking questions. In the meantime, keep your eyes open for department meetings about the dispute, and please keep talking about the underlying issues. This is about much more than a pay raise, it is about adequate, fair, and equal compensation for labour in HE. Do you want to write about an issue related to the pay dispute for the Sheffield UCU blog? We would love to hear from you.
USS Update
After several months of waiting, September has been a huge month for USS news!
Last week, the Joint Expert Panel released their report, based on expert testimony they have been collecting over the past 3 months. The report corroborates the claims that UCU activists have been making for over a year now regarding the unsuitability of Test 1, and the health of the Scheme. Both Josephine Cumbo and USS Briefs offer clear summaries of the report, and if after the summer, you are looking to refresh your memory of events leading up to the JEP report, USSBriefs44 provides a summary up through August.
The JEP’s report comes on the heels of an article on USS in Times Higher Education co-authored by the former head of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, stating that “...it is plain that the USS is not facing a funding crisis now or in the reasonably foreseeable future,” and that “The increase in the ‘deficit’ is wholly attributable to changes in the assumptions made in the process of technical valuation, at a time when the finances of the USS have substantially strengthened.”
With all of this new information, it is clear that substantial negotiations and discussions will occur over the coming months, at both a national and local level. Sheffield continues to be at the forefront of these discussions, through our local USS working group, and at a national level, with representation on the Joint Negotiating Committee, and through the newly formed National USS dispute committee, which includes three members of Sheffield UCU: our pensions officer Jo Grady was elected to represent the South Yorkshire and Humber region; Anti-Casualisation officer Sam Morecroft will be representing the national Anti-Casualisation Committee; and branch member Themesa Neckles is representing the national Disabled Members Standing Committee.
How can you get involved?
All UCU members are entitled to provide Feedback on the USS member consultation! At the end of August, the USS trustee proposed significant increases to member and employer contribution. This proposal was made without waiting for the JEP report, and especially in light of the JEP’s conclusions that the scheme is healthy and extensive contribution increases are not necessary, we suggest that members respond to the employer consultation to express your opinions. We’ve written up some of our committee’s response bullet points for you to look at, in case they are helpful.
Balloting for the democracy commission and NEC casual vacancy
Earlier this week, we wrote to you about the Democracy Commission, which will examine the democratic processes of our Union, including leadership structure and how important decisions are made. This commission has arisen out of the branch motion passed by Sheffield UCU at our April EGM, which was passed at UCU Congress.
All members should have received an electronic ballot to vote for HE and FE representation on the commission. We have been asked by many members for our recommendations for this ballot, and on Tuesday, we sent around our voting recommendations, which include the candidates that we, as a committee, believe best support the grassroots, member-led momentum that arose out of the USS strike action. Most importantly, we endorse our Vice President Jess Meacham, a co-author of the original branch motion, who is standing for an HE position.
You should have also received a paper ballot to fill a casual vacancy on the UCU National Executive Council, for the representative of black members (who shall be a woman). Of the three standing candidates, the committee endorses Naina Kent (Hackney Adult Education), who we believe would bring a great deal of previous TU activist experience to the role.
As always though, we encourage you to read candidate statements and come to your own decisions. If you are missing either ballot, you can contact Kay Metcalfe (kmetcalfe@ucu.org.uk, tel: 020 7756 2500) to request a replacement.
SUCU news
Two weeks ago, we held an Extraordinary Branch meeting, where we discussed our ongoing national campaigns, as well as local issues such as restructures. We unanimously passed three motions. The first was a motion of No confidence in the current approach to organisational change.
We also unanimously passed a motion to support and donate to the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union organiser fund, which will help to organise trade union support for low paid workers in the South Yorkshire area, including (but not limited to) fast food workers.
Lastly, we passed a motion in support of the Campaign to reinstate Jim Newell, who was summarily dismissed from the University of Salford based on a set of flawed criteria that reflect the ongoing marketisation of HE.
Click here to see all of the branch motions in their final versions, including any amendments that were made from the floor.
On 12th September, the Times Higher published an article about the way that the University of Sheffield is using its apprenticeship levy - in part to fund senior managers to take our MBAs. See here for more.
In other local Sheffield news, following on from an extensive campaign by Sheffield Save Our NHS, centralised emergency care will be staying in Sheffield! Read more about this major victory here, and a massive thank you to all of our members who continue to devote their time and energy to this campaign.
Upcoming Events
Monday, 24 September: Sheffield TUC is hosting a performance of 1868, a play about 150 years of union struggle. This forms part of a festival of events running until 6th October in conjunction with Sheffield People’s Assembly Against Austerity - Vision Sheffield, which believes that ‘a better, fairer world is possible’. For full details, contact tucsheffield@gmail.com.
Until 27th September, an exhibition called Dystopia and Resistance is running at the Millennium Galleries as part of the Festival of the Mind. Check out the USS strike quilt here.
Friday, 28 September: As part of its Regional Equalities Forum, the TUC is holding its first Yorkshire Regional Women's Conference, which is open to all women trade unionists in the region.
Wednesday, 3 October, 3-5pm: As part of Black History month, UCU’s Yorkshire and Humber Black and Minority Ethnic Network are running a seminar on ‘Surviving the workplace – empowering yourself’ at Leeds Beckett University, Woodhouse Lane, Broadcasting Place, Room A103. All UCU members welcome!
August Branch News: USS latest, #FairPayinHE, and an update on restructures
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August Branch News
This month: We are officially in dispute over #FairPayinHE, university management has backtracked on their commitment to international staff, and a concerning update on restructures.
National UCU news
USS update
The USS Joint Expert Panel is continuing to meet and hear evidence on the methods and assumptions by which USS is valued, and they will be issuing their first report in late September, so watch this space!
In the meantime, USS members will have received an email on 10 July informing you that USS has elected not to wait for the JEP’s report, and to instead move forward in implementing cost sharing measures immediately, to address the ‘deficit’ which they continue to claim exists. This means that USS is imposing a series of increases in employer and member contributions, the first of which will take effect in April 2019.
We are disappointed in USS’s decision to not wait for the report from the JEP, but we hope that in late September when the report is released, we will be able to reach a better deal to replace the contribution increases.
If you haven’t already signed Sam Marsh’s petition to make USS show its workings, please do so! The more information we have about the assumptions underlying our pensions, the better we are able to fight for a fair resolution.
Fair Pay: We are in dispute
As of July 24, UCU has officially lodged trade disputes with each university employer that was part of the UCEA pay negotiations, including the University of Sheffield. In their letter to employers, UCU has clearly identified four areas of dispute, and the actions necessary to resolve them. This included a significant raise to the appalling 2% pay offer, which is just the latest in a long series of real term pay cuts, which across the sector, amounts to a 21% average pay decrease since 2009.
Our dispute is about more than the inadequate pay offer, however:
(a) there is still no nationally agreed plan of action to close the gender pay gap, even in the face of the 2016-17 HESA report of an average 11.8% gap for academic staff across the sector. At the University of Sheffield, the 2017 gender pay gap is 15.2%.
(b) universities are increasingly relying on precarious contracts – HESA has reported over 72,000 staff on highly casualised contracts in 2016-17. This practice is shameful, and reflective of the continued marketisation of the sector, which we must push back against.
(c) despite continuing evidence that excessive workloads are contributing to endemic mental health issues across the sector, 83.1% of HE staff respondents to UCU’s workload survey reported that the pace of their work has increased over the past 3 years.
IMPORTANT: This month, UCU will begin an official ballot of all members on the employers' pay offer, and whether we should take industrial action over fair pay. This committee advocates rejecting the pay offer, and voting in favour of industrial action.
UCU General Secretary Sally Hunt has called a members consultation on whether our union should support the push for a referendum on any final Brexit deal negotiated by the government. While the branch committee agrees that this is an important issue with widespread consequences for members, universities and wider society, there are varied and deeply-held views both on the committee and amongst the membership on the wisdom of calling a second referendum, and on devoting significant union resources to campaigning for it at this time. As such, our advice to members is to exercise their own judgment in the consultation ballot, which will be sent to them shortly.
SUCU news
International staff visa reimbursement
In May we announced the significant results of a year long campaign for greater support for international staff, which included a commitment from the University Executive Board and the Vice Chancellor to allocate funding to reimburse staff fees related to Tier 1 and 2 visas, including the NHS-surchage, and indefinite leave to remain fees. In addition, dedicated HR support would be provided for international staff, and a system of interest free loans developed to support costs associated with dependents.
This agreement arose out of a meeting with the VC in January 2018, which led to the preparation of a joint paper, co-authored by members of the Sheffield UCU committee, international staff members, and the deputy director of HR. This paper, which specifically proposed and costed the support scheme described above, was submitted to UEB, and in March, we were informed that it had been approved. No mention was made at this time, or any later time, that the NHS-surcharge -- which the Home Office has announced will soon increase to £400 per year -- would no longer be included in the reimbursement scheme.
This month, we have learned that university management has since backtracked on the January version of this agreement, and the university website now explicitly excludes the NHS-surchage from reimbursement.
We are extremely disappointed that the employer does not intend to cover this exorbitant fee, which following Brexit will impact a much larger segment of staff, and we are especially disappointed that we were not properly informed of the intent to make this change, as it directly contradicts the proposal that we jointly co-authored with members of HR. We are following up on this with management, and will let you know when we learn more.
Committee statement on restructures
As we have been indicating over the past few months, the SUCU committee is increasingly concerned with management’s approach to the Professional Services Transformation Project. This concern has reached a tipping point based on the way the ongoing APSE restructure is being conducted, which has led us, along with the other campus trade unions, to ask for an emergency meeting with management.
In light of these events, this committee no longer has confidence that management’s handling of restructures shows a duty of care to staff and students of this university. Please see our statement.
Upcoming Events
9 August - #LetAhmedStay Fundraiser: Sheffield UCU member and Computing Science student Ahmed Sedeeq is in a protracted battle with the Home Office over his claim for asylum. An appeal against the refusal of his asylum claim is being heard in late August and branch members are helping him fundraise for his legal fees, which are estimated at more than £12,000. You can donate here, or come along to a fundraiser BBQ after work on Thursday, 9 August at the Echo Beach popup bar in the city centre.
3-5 October - The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists: Townsend Theatre Productions is putting on a new one man show based on Robert Tressell’s 'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists', about exploitation in the workplace and societal inequality. Tickets available here.
July Branch News: Pay offer rejected, local campaigns, and a new VC
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July Branch News
This month has seen significant milestones in our campaigns to end casualised labor and sexual harassment at the university, the announcement of a new VC, a result on the pay consultation, and USS updates. Lots to follow!
National UCU news
UCU has now announced its USS negotiating team, to be chaired by Renee Prendergast (delegated by Douglas Chalmers as Chair of the HEC), and including our Branch President, Sam Marsh, Carlo Morelli and Amanda Williams, with Marion Hersh in reserve.
Sheffield was one of 20 HE branches to call for a special HE sector conference on USS, and we sent 4 delegates to the conference, held on 21 June in Manchester. A range of important motions were passed, particularly centering around transparency by the Joint Expert Panel, and their accountability to members.
Speaking of the JEP, they met for the fourth time this past week to hear evidence from actuarial advisors representing UCU and UUK, on the assumptions underlying the 2017 valuation, alternative valuation models, and Tests 1-3 used by USS (particularly Test 1). The JEP has since released the following, somewhat less than transparent statement about the meeting.
Pay offer rejected!
The results of UCU’s e-consultation on UUK’s final pay offer are in! With a 47.7% turnout, HE members have overwhelmingly rejected the pay offer (85%), and are prepared to take industrial action in defence of pay (65%). UCU has announced that, beginning in August 2018, it will ballot higher education members about industrial action. You will be hearing much more from us about this ballot over the next month, and it will be absolutely crucial for us as a branch and union to have the highest level of participation possible, in order to send a strong message that unfair pay is unacceptable.
Congress rescheduled
A recall UCU Congress has been rescheduled for 18 October, 2018, to continue the business of the meeting earlier this month, which was disrupted by staff walkouts (our delegates’ report). We have been informed that Motions 10 and 11, which criticise the general secretary, are on the agenda and will be heard without further disruption.
Local SUCU news
Following over a year of negotiations, we are very happy to be able to announce a significant milestone in our ongoing campaign to improve terms and conditions for teaching staff. The University has committed to a number of significant positive changes, and we hope to build on this major win in the continuing fight for fair and secure employment for all university staff.
After running an action group with UCU members in January, we have worked with representatives from the other campus unions to form a sexual harassment working group. We are meeting regularly with HR (approximately every 3 weeks) to work towards (1) creating bespoke institutional guidance, support and policy around sexual violence, (2) developing training in this area, and (3) revising reporting mechanisms and disciplinary processes related to sexual violence. This is an urgent issue which we're hoping to make fast and meaningful progress on in the coming months, and we will keep you informed of how it developments.
We also want to highlight UCU’s dedicated 24/7 sexual harassment support helpline, in collaboration with Education Support Partnership. This helpline is confidential and free of charge to any UCU member, and can be reached at 0800 138 8724.
A new VC
Last week, the University announced that Professor Koen Lamberts will begin as VC on November 1, 2018. Professor Lamberts has recently stepped down from his prior role as Chair of the Employers’ Pension Forum for HE, which he held since 2015. In this role, he chaired the EPF’s writing of a report on HE pensions for UUK which “puts forward a set of principles, designed to underpin decisions on pension provision”. As we stated last Monday, the committee is looking forward to working with Professor Lamberts, and to discussing issues, including the USS pension scheme, which are important to our members.
Ongoing restructures
In last month’s branch news, we noted that the university has been conducting an extensive series of restructures, currently directed at Professional Services. Reviews and restructures usually mean a heightened period of uncertainty for staff as roles, teams and services are altered, with some staff at risk of redundancy throughout the process. In the past 18 months we have supported members in the restructures of Research Services, Student Recruitment and Admissions, Academic Programmes and Student Engagement (APSE; which is ongoing), and the restructures of many smaller teams -- and there are more restructures scheduled to begin in Autumn 2018. These restructures have already impacted hundreds of staff members at the university, and we are increasingly concerned about both their scale and the pace at which they are being implemented, as well as the considerable casework pressure they place on trade union representatives. We are addressing these major concerns with university management, and are continuing to insist that restructures occur according the procedures they have agreed on with us.
Message of Solidarity
We would like to offer our support to the Hungarian Academy of Science and Central European University, and make our members aware of their fight against anti-democratic government encroachment on their academic freedom.
Upcoming events
On July 13 and 14, Stand up to Racism has organised local and national demonstrations against Trump and Tommy Robinson. We encourage members to sign their related petition “We must unite to halt the rise of the far-right”.
Statement on the appointment of the new President and Vice-Chancellor
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Sheffield UCU would like to extend a warm welcome to Professor Koen Lamberts. We look forward to working with him very much.
The University of Sheffield’s Chief Operating Officer, Andy Dodman, wrote to us recently to reiterate that the incoming President and Vice Chancellor will ‘play a key role in building strong and meaningful industrial relations here at Sheffield.’ Sheffield UCU members may recognise Professor Lamberts’ name from his role as Chair of the Employers’ Pension Forum for Higher Education, where he was also Chair of the USS sub-committee. In August 2017 he wrote for Universities UK1 about the USS scheme, noting that the scheme was £12.6bn in deficit. ‘With a deficit this large’, he wrote, ‘doing nothing is not an option’.
We hope to have the opportunity to discuss this and other matters with Professor Lamberts very soon.
Dr Sam Marsh
President
Sheffield UCU
1 https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/blog/Pages/Addressing-the-university-pension-fund-deficit.aspx
June Branch News: a ballot on pay, and the VC hears our concerns
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Come to our AGM and party tomorrow!
AGM, Thursday 7 June, 1pm (sandwich lunch from 12.45), Council Room, Firth Court
End of year party, Thursday 7 June, 7.30pm, Hagglers Corner (get your free ticket)
June Branch News
With pension discussions delegated to an expert panel, the annual pay offer is badly judged, and we meet again with Sir Keith to firm up plans for the future.
Last week saw the first meeting of the Joint Expert Panel (JEP), established to report on the valuation which resulted in the bitter dispute over USS earlier this year. Joining the chair are three nominees from UCU and three from UUK. The terms of reference include a presumption of confidentiality, but we have been told that the chair is keen on transparency where possible. We have yet to hear any reports on how the work is going, but will share whatever we get. Our fingers are crossed.
We expect a consultative ballot over the annual pay offer to land imminently. With mammoth gender pay gaps, chronic casualisation and unmanageable workloads across the sector, the final offer from the employers falls short of the action UCU demanded, and is backed by a headline figure of just 2% on the pay spine: yet another real-terms pay cut. This is a dismal response to a spring of discontent. Time for vice-chancellors to think again? The ballot will come with a recommendation from UCU to reject the offer, and we strongly recommend that members vote in favour of industrial action.
A panel of UCU committee members met with the vice-chancellor again on Monday to discuss unfinished business from the USS dispute. Top of the agenda was the use of the strike pay deductions, likely to total over £1m. We will be in touch with departmental contacts to provide details of this discussion, but we have confirmed that the money does not need to be spent by the end of the academic financial year, and that departments who choose to do so could return the money to a central pot to be allocated to student-facing projects, in discussion with the Students Union. There may also be scope for departments to donate the money to specific university level projects of their choosing. We strongly recommend that student-staff committees be involved in discussions about how the money is spent, to ensure that it is used for students.
The wide-ranging discussion with the VC also included the need for greater support for our international staff (and for Sheffield to put itself at the forefront of a campaign), improved representation of the staff voice in the university's governance, the need for a reformed USS Working Group to prepare for the outcomes of the JEP and more. We pointed out how constructive the meetings with the vice-chancellor have been, and asked for them to become regularised. We hope that they will.
You may not be aware of the large-scale restructuring that is going on at the university, with many fellow members in very uncertain positions. The university management has a right to review its operations, but it must do so according to the policies and procedures they have agreed with us, and we holding them to this as best we can. Added to this, those in Jessop West have been banned from opening windows due to a dangerous design flaw, and this policy has had significant knock-on effects including a ban on out-of-hours access. The claim that there is nothing that can be done until the legal aspects have been looked into (which could take up to a year) is hard to accept and causing significant anger.
Finally, if you haven't yet lost office bins from your department, it may only be a matter of time. Sold as a green initiative, but more likely to be a misguided attempt at an efficiency saving, you might like to read and sign this open letter to EFM on concerns that this could lead to job losses for cleaners and increased workload elsewhere. Those who attended our 'how to write like a manager' teach-out may be especially amused by Aberystwyth University's announcement of a similar policy.
Appeal for Ahmed
You may have heard about the case of Ahmed Sedeeq, the Sheffield University PhD student held for 10 days during the Christmas holiday season in Morton Hall Immigration Removal Centre, who is fighting against being deported to Iraq.
Because of the hostile environment policy, Ahmed is now finding himself with impending housing issues as his passport is still with the Home Office and he is unable to get adequate housing without showing a landlord proof of his right to stay in the UK. Ahmed must move out of his flat by the end of July.
Unis Resist Border Controls is looking for lecturers and/or PhD students who might have a spare room in Sheffield that they could provide Ahmed so that he does not find himself destitute. If you can help, please contact them at UnisResistBorderControls@gmail.com.
What on earth happened at Congress?
You may have heard about last week's fraught national Congress meeting, where staff walkouts brought about significant disruptions to proceedings. Please do read our delegates' report on what went on, which will be discussed at our AGM on Thursday. We also highly recommend the superb USS Briefs podcasts made this weekend, featuring discussions with delegates from Sheffield, Exeter, Oxford and KCL among others, and this highly articulate article by Craig Gent.