Dear colleague

Yesterday, UCU negotiators met with UCEA for the first time since our ballot on pay and equality opened, despite our repeated requests to meet before the beginning of industrial action. It is clear that it was UCU’s strong ballot result and the prospect of solid industrial action which have brought UCEA to the table, and we thank our members for your strong and vibrant support which has had – and will continue to have – an impact on these discussions. We know exactly what it means to each of us to be called upon to withdraw our labour.

In the meeting, we made it clear that UCU members expect progress on all aspects of the claim, and pressed the employers’ representatives to improve their offer on each of the four interconnected areas of pay and working conditions. UCEA have agreed to return to their member institutions, and have committed to a written response early next week.

We wish to reiterate that while we are pleased that this consultation is occurring, the fact that it is happening against the backdrop of ongoing industrial action is a sign of a significant disconnect between university management and the staff who make up our higher education institutions. We have advised UCEA to strongly encourage their membership to engage with staff on the picket lines, and to listen to what working conditions are truly like in our sector, in order to inform their response about the progress to which they are willing to commit in this dispute.

We will communicate again when we are in a position to do so.

Vicky Blake
on behalf of UCU HE pay and equality national negotiators

The Surrey UCU Branch did not reach the 50% voting threshold imposed by the Trade Union Act (which took force 1 March 2017), we missed this barrier by only 5 votes.

As a result, Surrey UCU would like to make this statement of solidarity with the 60 UCU Branches taking part in the strike action that starts on 25th November and continues for eight consecutive working days.

We encourage our @ucusurrey members and the wider community to donate to the UCU Hardship Fund in order to financially support those taking part in the action: https://www.ucu.org.uk/fightingfund

We thank our colleagues at other universities making sacrifices to defend the Pay and conditions of all HE sector staff, as well as continuing to defend the pensions of those staff members in USS.

In solidarity and much gratitude

@UCUSurrey

Dear USSU,


We are writing with an invitation to our Branch Meeting on 16th September, 13:00, LTL.


We feel that this is particularly important as UCU is about to enter into a double ballot for strike action over the staff USS pension and Higher Education Pay – and we would like the student body to
be informed of developments.

The UCU represents academic, academic-related staff as well as PGR students who are employed by the University. We took fourteen days of strike action in the Spring of 2018 in order to save the guaranteed benefits of the USS staff pension after a drastic change was to be imposed which would have seen future staff pensions gambled on the stock market. The guaranteed nature of the USS pension is at this point no longer under threat – but trust in the scheme is very low especially as USS is radically increasing how much staff members have to pay into their pensions. UCU believes that the increases are unfair and unnecessary – unfortunately, UCU does not feel that the employers have seriously challenged the USS stance and supported its staff members. Since the 2018 dispute, all parties have been taking part in a Joint Expert Panel, but USS is refusing to fully implement the panel recommendations.


There is a lot of information online, please click here:
https://www.ucu.org.uk/strikeforuss
https://www.ucu.org.uk/article/10255/Open-letter-to-USS-members?list=9041


Some quicK figures for you:


PAY 2019-2020


The unions submitted a pay claim this year of 3% plus retail price index (RPI) – the RPI to keep up with inflation and the 3% to override some of the pay-erosion that HE staff have experienced over
the years (UCU estimates that staff in HE have experienced a real terms cut of 21% since 2010) . Plus the unions requested joint working on key issues (gender pay gap, workload and precarious
contracts).The employers have offered 1.8% and minimal joint working. 1.8% meets the current consumer price
index including housing (CPIH) measure of inflation but not retail price index (RPI).


USS


UCU has a policy of no detriment. Due to the lack of serious challenge from the employers to the USS stance, UCU have requested that the employers pay any increase on the 26%
contributions instead of staff members (total contributions should be no higher than 26%, as they were before the dispute in 2018 started).
USS is currently proposing rates well above 30%, climbing as high as 34.7% after 2020 as a replacement for the rate of 35.6% that is already being imposed (members contributions are set to go up to at least 9.6% of salary from this October, and at least 11% after 2020, compared with 8% if the Joint Expert Panel’s recommendations were implemented now).
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch –


Thank you for your time


The Surrey UCU Committee

Dear Michael,

Thank you for your email. I am acutely aware of the challenging situation we are working through at the University, the impact it has had on staff.
I naturally wish to bring clarity and certainty to all of our staff as quickly as I can. The outcome of our recent Enhanced Voluntary Severance scheme, together with other measures we have taken, means that in all likelihood we will not be looking at wide-ranging compulsory redundancies across the University as part of the Continuous Improvement Programme.

Given the ongoing challenges we face with Augar and Brexit, I cannot categorically rule out the need for local action involving redundancies in some areas, but I would see these as operating business as usual, rather than a wider change programme. Any such action would be supported through voluntary severance packages and other means.

I will continue to communicate with staff, both personally and through the Continuous Improvement Programme team, and with you and your Union colleagues about the next steps. We have town hall meetings planned for next week, and we will be engaging staff further to help them shape the steps in the programme, and I am confident this will help provide reassurance on the nature and progress of the programme.

To date we have appreciated the positive and proactive nature of the discussions between the University and colleagues from UCU and other trade unions. I very much hope you will continue to work with us in a positive way that would stabilise the sentiments of staff and let staff get on with the tasks at hand, as we go forward.

Yours sincerely

Max

Professor G.Q. Max Lu AO DL FAA FTSE
President and Vice-Chancellor

APPENDIX

Formal Communication from the Vice-Chancellor with UNISON Branch Chair:

Regarding outsourcing, the University currently outsources a number of functions and activities where this is deemed to be in the interests of the University and our various stakeholders, but this represents a small proportion of our activities, and I do not envisage any significant changes here in the foreseeable future. We value and recognise the qualities of our staff and the loyalty that in-house staff bring to our operations.

Dear Max,

Staff at the University of Surrey continue to work under extremely stressful conditions at a concerning time. The spectre of job insecurity and the prospect of increasing workloads are ever present.

Trust in the Senior Management is clearly at breaking point.

Whilst we appreciate the extension of the EVS protection period to 31 December 2019, we are concerned that, despite our continuing requests, compulsory redundancies are not ruled out .

Therefore, we request that you rule out compulsory redundancies of staff until at least 31st July 2020 to allow time for a period of reflection and to take the stress off our staff.

If this assurance cannot be provided by 12pm on Friday 3rd May, we will take action by facilitating an all-staff vote of no confidence.

I look forward to a positive response.

Michael Moran

UCU Regional Official

Cc
Prof Michael Kearney – Provost and Executive VP
Paul Stephenson – Vice President HR
Neil Jones – UNISON
Gary Strudwick – UNITE
Alison Cottell – UCU
Ade Phillips – Regional Support Official