Important motions to be voted on at Branch Meeting tomorrow 27th Nov 1pm

Venue: Council Chamber, Octagon Centre

Two very important motions that could change the direction of the USS dispute will be discussed and voted on tomorrow. Its vital that as many branch members as possible attend so the meeting is quorate.

Many UCU branches are calling for a Special Higher Education Sector Conference to review the negotiators’ strategy. Such a conference is the only way for members to change the current negotiating position. According to UCU rules there needs to be at least 20 branches calling for a special Higher Education Sector Conference. SUCU Committee will be proposing the following motion at the General Meeting this Thursday:

Motion on Special Conference on HE Pensions, Sheffield UCU GM 27 Nov 2014

This UCU branch supports the call for the requisition of a Special HE Sector Conference to debate the campaigns to defend pensions in HE, and to defend the capacity of the UCU to call industrial action short of a strike as part of those campaigns.

Proposed: SUCU Committee

A second motion will also be proposed by Committee at the meeting, that addresses the need for local flexibility to take and schedule industrial action:

Motion on Punitive Pay Deductions, Sheffield UCU GM 27 Nov 2014

This branch recognises the absolute necessity to effectively fight the attack on our pensions, and in particular to prevent the introduction of a Trojan Horse ‘Defined Contribution’ element.
The branch is deeply disappointed with the extensive concessions made already to the employers by our negotiators, in particular the abandonment of the final salary pension. We believe this was unnecessary and destructive, as there was tremendous support for action in the ballot on our side, and the employer side was publicly falling apart as the supposed scheme deficit was exposed as an artifice. The concessions should be taken off the table.
In response to the recent assessment boycott our employer was going to make punitive deductions. They were going to deduct 25% of pay from staff engaged in the assessment boycott, a far greater proportion of salary than of work, and were to deduct 25% until the assessment work was done, presumably until the end of the dispute, however short the assessment work itself. Compare that to the two hour strikes in our pay dispute earlier this year, which of course did not and could not result in indefinite 28% pay docking.
If an agreement is not reached with the employers in the coming negotiations and the industrial action resumes it is essential that our response is effective and deals appropriately with punitive deductions. We are pleased that the HEC on the 19th November reaffirmed the policy explicitly stated in the ballot that there would be national strike action if employers make punitive deductions.
If action resumes we would urge the HEC to allow local branches to flex the approach to assessment boycotts and strike action, as each is most effective at different times in different universities.

Proposed: SUCU Committee

Note – amendments can be proposed at the meeting, or could be circulated beforehand if requested.

Other agenda items are: reward and recognition negotiations update.

Display this poster and encourage colleagues to attend this meeting.

SUCU-General-Meeting-Agenda-27-Nov-14