UCU - Pensions and Pay Disputes

[hitmouse]

If that's the ones having a Congress fringe tonight then it's UCU Left rather than the swaps alone and its adding to a long list of bloody pop up fronts! They've got fronts for fronts now! Exhausting. That sounds really positive, great stuff!

Yeah, Serge's post kind of made me go "huh, I didn't think that UCU Solidarity were dodgy", but looking into it I realise I was thinking of UCU Branch Solidarity Network, who are on twitter at ucusolidarity, whereas Serge's post seems to be a reference to UCU Solidarity Movement, who are on twitter at ucu_solidarity. I'm not going to make a Monty Python joke here because those jokes stopped being funny before I was born, but god it's hard to avoid them sometimes. (I don't know much about UCU Branch Solidarity, they seem sound from what I've seen of them but am not a UCU member or really involved in this stuff.)

 

[chilango]

How come? Student membership?

Yeah, and the casual paid work I do doesn't count.

 

[SpackleFrog]

Yeah, and the casual paid work I do doesn't count.

You are entitled to do a full membership-if you are a Post Grad student you can have 4 years full membership for free and if you do some kind of paid casual work you can pay (for example) £1 month if you earn under £5k a year.

We have been fighting to change all this student member-with-no-vote stuff, and we're getting there but its been a nightmare. Feel free to inbox me if you want any more detailed advice.

 

[chilango]

You are entitled to do a full membership-if you are a Post Grad student you can have 4 years full membership for free and if you do some kind of paid casual work you can pay (for example) £1 month if you earn under £5k a year.

We have been fighting to change all this student member-with-no-vote stuff, and we're getting there but its been a nightmare. Feel free to inbox me if you want any more detailed advice.

Ta. Ping us a link where I can change/update my status (if you have one handy?)

 

[SpackleFrog]

Ta. Ping us a link where I can change/update my status (if you have one handy?)

Go to the My UCU page: [page title]

 

[chilango]

Go to the My UCU page: [page title]

"Enrolled PhD students who are also contracted to teach at the higher education institution at which they are registered for their PhD studies."

I'm not "contracted to teach". I do some teaching, marking etc. But it's the opposite of contracted!

"Staff members working in further education who are directly involved in teaching and assessing students but on inferior terms and lower pay than colleagues on a lecturer's contract of employment."

Not am I a "staff member"

I do very casualised "odd jobs" that I get passed my way "as a favour" from staff I know.

 

[SpackleFrog]

"Enrolled PhD students who are also contracted to teach at the higher education institution at which they are registered for their PhD studies."

I'm not "contracted to teach". I do some teaching, marking etc. But it's the opposite of contracted!

"Staff members working in further education who are directly involved in teaching and assessing students but on inferior terms and lower pay than colleagues on a lecturer's contract of employment."

Not am I a "staff member"

I do very casualised "odd jobs" that I get passed my way "as a favour" from staff I know.

Yeah I wish they would change that language. They don't get the extent of casualised employment!

Up to you but as far as I'm concerned you're welcome to be a full voting member and being a member without a vote is daft.

Also theyre phasing out the free membership thing because lecturers on £30k a year keep using it but if they can I'd go for it if I were you!

E2A: To illustrate what I mean, I was once teaching on a 'casual worker agreement', certainly not contracted, and it didn't stop me being a branch officer.

 

[SpackleFrog]

Yeah, Serge's post kind of made me go "huh, I didn't think that UCU Solidarity were dodgy", but looking into it I realise I was thinking of UCU Branch Solidarity Network, who are on twitter at ucusolidarity, whereas Serge's post seems to be a reference to UCU Solidarity Movement, who are on twitter at ucu_solidarity. I'm not going to make a Monty Python joke here because those jokes stopped being funny before I was born, but god it's hard to avoid them sometimes. (I don't know much about UCU Branch Solidarity, they seem sound from what I've seen of them but am not a UCU member or really involved in this stuff.)

I think UCU Branch Solidarity is pretty much non factional and came out of the USS strikes etc as just a way for branches to be more connected. But yes, fuck me it all seems very daft and this latest front front could at least have a better name!

I don't think anyone else noticed but the same day that UCU Commons launched, Socialist Appeal launched a UCU Marxists platform, because "UCU needs Marxists", which I found both funny and depressing at the same time.

 

[steeplejack]

Have you met them?

They argue against industrial action - Gareth Brown thinks we should hold bake sales and organise 'smile strikes' instead, he was very clear about this in his VP campaign.

They want a union for middle class professionals.

They think instead of fighting for minimum contract lengths for casualised members we should ask for career development opportunities like paid internships to 'compensate' the casualised.

Someone is seriously soliciting votes based on 'smile strikes' and thinking of an oh-so-clever way to normalise causalisation?

Glad I'm in a different union tbh. On our campus UCU are in a small minority and reliably noisy and ineffectual.

 

[SpackleFrog]

Someone is seriously soliciting votes based on 'smile strikes' and thinking of an oh-so-clever way to normalise causalisation?

Glad I'm in a different union tbh. On our campus UCU are in a small minority and reliably noisy and ineffectual.

EIS?

 

[steeplejack]

Yup

 

[SpackleFrog]

Yup

I'd love to know more about them. Had a speaker from EIS at some dull activist meeting recently and wish they had been given more time to talk about their dispute.

 

[steeplejack]

Can’t pretend to be au fait with internal politics in the EIS but we have good branch officers who work hard for us all, and in whom there’s a lot of trust.

Should edit to add that the EIS represents schoolteachers in Scotland as well, which makes up the bulk of their workload. UCU much stronger in other places.

 

[SpackleFrog]

Can’t pretend to be au fait with internal politics in the EIS but we have good branch officers who work hard for us all, and in whom there’s a lot of trust.

Sounds wonderful!

 

[BoatieBird]

It's quiet in here
The results are in for the USS ballot and sadly only 37 branches out of 68 are in a position to take action due to low turnout

 

[hitmouse]

It's quiet in here
The results are in for the USS ballot and sadly only 37 branches out of 68 are in a position to take action due to low turnout

Any predictions for what the other one will be like?

 

[BoatieBird]

Any predictions for what the other one will be like?

I'd say it's likely to be a smaller turnout if anything, people are precious about their pensions and even that didn't bring out enough votes
My branch is one of the 37 though , small mercies and all that.

 

[redsquirrel]

It's quiet in here
The results are in for the USS ballot and sadly only 37 branches out of 68 are in a position to take action due to low turnout

53% turnout overall that is pretty good, especially of such a short ballot period. There have, and continue to be, mistakes with the strategy and tactic of the union but we should not do down these (surprising) results

Any predictions for what the other one will be like?

Turnout will be lower - in 2019 turnout was 53% for USS and just below 50% for JNCHES matters. My guess would be that the difference could be larger this time as most of the strongest branches are pre-92s (though there are exceptions).

 

[hitmouse]

53% turnout overall that is pretty good, especially of such a short ballot period. There have, and continue to be, mistakes with the strategy and tactic of the union but we should not do down these (surprising) results


Turnout will be lower - in 2019 turnout was 53% for USS and just below 50% for JNCHES matters. My guess would be that the difference could be larger this time as most of the strongest branches are pre-92s (though there are exceptions).

Fair. Yeah, was most curious as to what post-92 ones might get involved in this round? Also, thinking about it I have no idea what academics are doing atm in terms of WFH vs on-campus. Guessing it must vary from place to place, but were you able to do much in-person campaigning, or was this pretty much an entirely virtual ballot campaign?

 

[Wilf]

My place (post 92) has a very 'moderate' UCU branch with a very low activist base, combined with an aggressive management that screws us up to the maximum hours allowed in the workloading system. The ballot will yet again see a high vote for action, but 10 or 20% short of the turnout threshold. Stress levels are through the roof, which should be the perfect scenario for getting people active and voting for action.

 

[Brainaddict]

I'm a voting member and don't do any work at all chilango. Maybe I pretended I do work when I signed up or something, but if I did noone checked, and I didn't have to pay.

Edit - sorry, just seen how old that bit of the thread is.

 

[hitmouse]

I'm a voting member and don't do any work at all chilango. Maybe I pretended I do work when I signed up or something, but if I did noone checked, and I didn't have to pay.

Edit - sorry, just seen how old that bit of the thread is.

No-one in UCU does any work at all, they're all academics innit? (Sorry, couldn't resist)

 

[redsquirrel]

Fair. Yeah, was most curious as to what post-92 ones might get involved in this round? Also, thinking about it I have no idea what academics are doing atm in terms of WFH vs on-campus. Guessing it must vary from place to place, but were you able to do much in-person campaigning, or was this pretty much an entirely virtual ballot campaign?

No-one in UCU does any work at all, they're all academics innit? (Sorry, couldn't resist)

I know this was just a joke but actually a decent proportion of the membership are academic related professional staff and those staff are probably more likely to be back on campus compared with the academics.

For my branch this was an almost totally virtual ballot campaign. But I think that could have helped us. Universities are so siloed, and offices locked down these days that door-knocking is not that easy. On the other hand you can call (and leave a voicemail) for ~50 members in an hours phone-banking.

 

[hitmouse]

Fair - yeah, I vaguely get the impression that among non-academic staff, the people most likely to be in UCU are IT? But I imagine that'll vary massively from place to place. And yeah, hadn't thought about the ways that academia is maybe even more "individualised" than most workplaces, I suppose working hours probably vary enough that there's not really an equivalent to like "leafleting the main gate during a shift change" or similar.

 

[redsquirrel]

Fair - yeah, I vaguely get the impression that among non-academic staff, the people most likely to be in UCU are IT?

Also libraries (IME one of the most unionised and militant sections), but also things like research support, EDI, finance, planning, estates, careers, student support

 

[redsquirrel]

Aggregated turnout of 51% in FourFights.

 

[platinumsage]

I'd say it's likely to be a smaller turnout if anything, people are precious about their pensions and even that didn't bring out enough votes
My branch is one of the 37 though , small mercies and all that.

Seems more branches voted for pay & conditions action than for USS action?

I think UCU haven't done particularly well on the whole USS mess.

 

[redsquirrel]

Seems more branches voted for pay & conditions action than for USS action?

I think UCU haven't done particularly well on the whole USS mess.

Because JNCHES covers many more institutions than USS does.

How so? We've already fought off one attack to stop the defined benefit scheme. We've now got 53% in a ballot run over 18 days. There have been mistakes in the USS fight (not taking the extra 14 days action in 2018 being a prime one) but unions are only as strong as their members.

 

[platinumsage]

How so? We've already fought off one attack to stop the defined benefit scheme. We've now got 53% in a ballot run over 18 days. There have been mistakes in the USS fight (not taking the extra 14 days action in 2018 being a prime one) but unions are only as strong as their members.

I think the best well-funded defined contribution scheme that UCU could win a fight for would be much better for members than whatever eviscerated defined benefit scheme they can hope to cling on to. But it takes proper leadership to even suggest that.

 

[Wilf]

Can't get the institution by institution link to work, but here are are overall figures (from a central ucu email a few minutes ago):

Your branch's results in the Four Fights industrial action ballot are now available at this link, with a spreadsheet containing all other branches' results.

Please note that a branch needs a turnout (that is, votes cast in the ballot as a % of individuals who were entitled to vote) of 50%, as well as a YES vote, before it can legally take part in industrial action in this dispute. This applies to every branch apart from those in Northern Ireland.

The YES vote for strike action was 70% and the YES vote for action short of a strike (ASOS) was 85%.

The aggregated turnout across branches that were required to meet that threshold was 51%. That is our highest ever turnout in a sector-wide dispute over these issues.

The total number of branches that are currently in a position to take action in the Four Fights dispute is 54 out of the total of 146 in the dispute. That is because UCU members at our sector conference voted to ballot on a disaggregated basis, meaning that each branch has to achieve 50% turnout amongst its own members to gain a legitimate mandate, as well as voting YES.