Uni staff to be balloted over pay strike action
STAFF at all eight universities in Wales are to be balloted from today on possible strike action over pay and pensions.
Just as universities return to some normality after more than 18-months of Covid disruption, further problems are on the way with the threat of action by University and College Union (UCU) members – both academic and support staff – at 152 universities around the UK.
In Wales UCU members at Cardiff, Aberystwyth, Bangor, Swansea and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David will be balloted on pay and USS pension while those at the University of South Wales, Cardiff Metropolitan University and Wrexham Glyndwr University have a different pension scheme and will be balloted on pay only.
The dispute has been rumbling since before Covid hit.
The UCU told UK university employers they have “three weeks to save term” as it begins balloting members today.
It said changes to pensions left members £240,000 worse off and wants a £2,500 pay rise.
UCU general secretary
Jo Grady has written to Universities UK chief executive Alistair Jarvis and Universities and Colleges Employers’ Association (UCEA) chief executive Raj Jethwa urging them to “meet staff demands and avoid disruption this term”.
In a statement the union claimed the sector is “built on exploitation of staff” with university income hitting a total £41.9bn in 2019/20 amid what it described as “cuts to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) pensions, declining pay, the use of insecure contracts in the sector, unsafe workloads and serious equality failings”.
Members at 152 universities will be balloted in total, six will be balloted on USS only, 78 are to be balloted over pay and working conditions, with another 68 institutions facing two ballots over both USS and pay and working conditions.
The ballots (for strike action and action short of a strike) will run at the same time, and for three weeks, closing on November 4.
The union said it is balloting on pensions after employer body Universities UK (UUK) voted to cut thousands of pounds from the retirement benefits of university staff in August. UCU claim the plan is based on “a flawed valuation of the USS scheme conducted at the beginning of the pandemic as markets were crashing” and represent a cut of 35% to a typical member’s annual guaranteed pension and guaranteed lump sum. Employers dispute this calculation putting the cut at between 10% and 18% .
The union said a series of changes between 2011 and 2019 have left typical members around £240,000 worse off each. It claimed university coffers have “bounced back” since the start of the pandemic.
“Pay for university staff fell by 17.6% relative to inflation between 2009 and 2019.
“Since then employers have made further belowinflation offers, despite university income from tuition fees growing by a third in the last five years,” the UCU said in a statement.
“The latest pay offer from University and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) was just 1.5%, despite the monumental efforts of staff during the pandemic.”
The union wants a £2.5k pay increase; an end to what it describes as race, gender and disability pay injustice; a framework to eliminate zero-hours and other precarious contracts and action to tackle unmanageable workloads.
Universities Wales, which represents employers here, was approached for comment.