Leaked letter from chief-executive of UUK may extend strikes

The Telegraph recently reported that a leaked letter from Universities UK (UUK) has come to light suggesting that universities shall not be open to renegotiation of the pension plan at talks tomorrow.

The private letter was from Alastair Jarvis, chief executive of UUK, addressed to university vice-chancellors, explaining that UUK is not prepared to “re-open negotiations” with the union if there is no alternative proposal to the current plans made by the UCU, adding that “talks without preconditions cannot achieve a sustainable resolution to the dispute”.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the UCU, has responded to the letter’s information by saying that the UCU has a ballot for strike action until 19 July and thus strike action could continue as late as this if a resolution is not reached.

Last Friday, UUK agreed to meet with the UCU this Tuesday to discuss the current proposed changes to pension plans, which could result in lecturers losing up to £10,000 per year from their pensions.

However, this leaked email discloses that the UUK will not go back on plans to make controversial changes to the pension scheme.

A separate “key facts” document, published by UUK about Tuesday’s meeting, also stated that any talks about the future of the pension scheme “would not re-open” the decision taken in January, which had prompted the UCU’s ballot for strike action.

Sally Hunt has accused UUK of showing “contempt” for lecturers and being “deceptive” about their public stance on negotiations: “Publicly they spin that they want to talk, while privately they say they have no intention of actually discussing the one issue that can stop the strikes.”

What this means essentially is that the talks are meaningless. It is an empty political gesture that’s designed to convince the public that UUK are there to negotiate when they don’t seem to know what negotiation really means

– Duncan Adam, Vice-President of Warwick’s UCU branch

Hunt has also suggested that there will be little point to the talks on Tuesday unless UUK has a “serious change of heart”, and thus is not afraid to continue the strikes longer than the proposed 14 days. Hunt added that “nothing is off the table”.

Warwick SU’s President Hope Worsdale reacted to the letter with the following: “It is unsurprising that UUK continue to behave appallingly during this dispute, as they have done since the start. Entering into negotiations in bad faith is an insult to the thousands of lecturers who are risking so much to undertake this unprecedented industrial action, and it’s also an insult to students who want nothing more than their staff to be able to return to work with fair pensions secured”.

“This strike can and will end when UUK do the right thing and withdraw their damaging proposals that are coming under more and more criticism”.

Duncan Adam, vice-president of the Warwick UCU branch, when asked about his thoughts on UUK’s unchanged stance said: “What this means essentially is that the talks are meaningless. It is an empty political gesture that’s designed to convince the public that UUK are there to negotiate when they don’t seem to know what negotiation really means.”

“We would hope that UUK would look at the action that we have put on the last few days and across the country and seriously think about their own position. They know that this can’t continue indefinitely, we know that this situation can’t continue, obviously it’s creating disruption. But we don’t have many alternatives left. We’ve got to show them that we simply can’t stand for their proposals.”

A spokesperson for UUK has said: “Universities UK has never refused to continue to try to find an affordable, mutually acceptable solution. We would be willing to discuss a credible proposal that addresses the significant financial issues the scheme is facing.”

“UUK remains at the negotiating table, however UCU refuse to engage on how best to ensure the long-term sustainability of the scheme. If a credible, affordable solution were to be put forward by the union, employers would want to consider it.”

UUK outlined on 22 February in a parliamentary briefing that there is currently “a substantial past service deficit of £6.1bn” and thus changes need to be made to the current Universities Superannuation Scheme.

“Universities have made clear that increasing employer contributions beyond the current 18% is not affordable or sustainable, with universities reiterating that this would necessitate significant budget cuts elsewhere and the diversion of funding away from universities’ core missions.”

However, Mr Adam suggested that the figure of £6.1bn relies on layers of caution and thus is considered “recklessly prudent” by the UCU.

“They’re presenting the deficit as a matter of objective fact. As the UCU have continually said, the deficit is a matter of conjecture, it’s built on assumptions about how yields will be, how long people will live, and these sorts of things. They build in layers and layers of caution, which is what we call recklessly prudent.”

“This sort of thing looks worse than it is because of the cautious assumptions made. So, we would dispute the actual existence of a deficit in the first place. They’ve taken one of the estimates and they’re presenting that as an objective fact.”

UUK remains at the negotiating table, however UCU refuse to engage on how best to ensure the long-term sustainability of the scheme. If a credible, affordable solution were to be put forward by the union, employers would want to consider it

– UUK Spokesperson

The vice-president was also keen to highlight that “the last thing that our members here, and nationally, want to do is to harm the students. Our members don’t come into this for the money or the self-aggrandisement, they come into this because they genuinely want to do their own research, they want to teach and they want the further knowledge to pass down to the next generation.”

“We do not want to harm students and we do that very reluctantly. And I’m sure you can see that in terms of how reluctant traditionally the UCU has been to take sustained action. This is unprecedented in terms of what we’re doing now, previously we’ve had one or two days here and there, we’ve even had two-hour stoppages at times. We’re taking this stand because of the situation we’re in.”

Should the UCU not approve of the stance of the universities after Tuesday’s talk, it has also been suggested in the media that UCU officials may encourage lecturers on action which falls short of a full strike. This could include refusing to mark assignments, refusing to cover for absent colleagues or refusing to reschedule lectures which have been cancelled.

The UCU recently published a list of 18 vice-chancellors who have expressed sympathy with striking lecturers or urge a return to the negotiating table, including Warwick’s own Stuart Croft.

Professor Chris Day, vice-chancellor and president of Newcastle University, issued one of the strongest worded statements, saying “I absolutely support staff’s decision to strike,” and adding, “I’m not sure what else they can do to express their concerns.”