December Branch News: Open for a festive treat!

We’ve achieved so much this year, and – with the university now closed until January 2nd – now is the time to take a much overdue break. We’ve made our Christmas wishes: an apology from the university for their conduct during the strike, and the return of our withheld pay, as stated in our collective grievance. There’s lots else we want, too. So much, in fact, that we’ve made a music video about it. Christmas Number One surely beckons!

SUCU News

Attendees at our 29 October EGM passed a motion from the floor, which:

    Offered thanks to our students and @SheffieldSU for their solidarity during the USS Strike
    Called for the branch to file a collective grievance with @sheffielduni on behalf of all of our members, as this strike action would have been unnecessary had @universitiesUK and #USS acted transparently and in good faith. Instead, we were forced to withhold our labour to defend our pensions, and @sheffielducu members suffered an effective pay cut of up to 4%
    Demanded that TUoS commit to a one-off pay award equivalent to the wage deductions related to the USS dispute, to be paid to members no later than February 2019. For the avoidance of doubt, this should be funded by the university’s surplus, not from funds earmarked for students.

In recent months, our members have raised many concerns over how our deducted pay is being spent (or not being spent). In this grievance, we ask management to renew their commitment to fully and transparently fund (via the actual strike pay deductions) projects which support student welfare and student-focused projects.

We want to know:

    What the total amount of strike deductions is i.e. the amount of the available money that is earmarked for the benefit of students, welfare and other departmental projects
    What impact this fund has had so far i.e. how much and on what has the money been spent on
    What the outstanding balance is and how will this be spent to further support students.

Lastly, we are demanding a written apology from the President and Vice Chancellor both to students and staff regarding the mishandling of the USS dispute.

Happy holidays!

We want to wish all of a members a restful and enjoyable holiday season. Especially, we hope those members who have been put under undue pressure by redundancies and restructuring can find some rest and relaxation over the coming weeks. We have your back, and we’ll be fighting for you in the New Year.