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, 21 tweets, 30 min read
Thread on @ucu's strike demands re #USS pensions in their dispute w @USSEmployers. These demands are stated clearly & succinctly in the strike ballot material👇. 1/
@ucu @USSEmployers These demands imply 8% member contributions (rather than the current 9.6%) until *at least* Oct 2021, since that's the earliest feasible point at which contributions can be influenced by a new "valuation ... in which we are able to have faith". 2/
@ucu @USSEmployers GS @DrJoGrady makes clear here👇that @ucu's demands extend to a guarantee of 8% *beyond* Oct 2021 as well👇. 3/
ucu.org.uk/article/10293/…
@ucu @USSEmployers @DrJoGrady The sweeping blue-highlighted demand in the official dispute letter👇@ucu sent to @USSEmployers also implies no increases in member contributions beyond 8%, beyond as well as until Oct 2021. 4/

ucu.org.uk/article/10143/…
@ucu @USSEmployers @DrJoGrady As I note in this blog post👇, it would be irresponsible for @USSEmployers to commit to 8% beyond Oct 2021. They will not agree to this. 5/

medium.com/@mikeotsuka/th…
@ucu @USSEmployers @DrJoGrady .@USSEmployers could, by contrast, responsibly commit to 8% member contributions *until* Oct 2021. As @aechitty1 notes👇, employers have confirmed to @TPRgovuk that this is affordable. 6/
@ucu @USSEmployers @DrJoGrady @aechitty1 @TPRgovuk .@ucu's HEC meets today. It's likely they will decide to give @USSEmployers the legally required 2 weeks notice of the onset of strikes, starting in mid-November, unless @USSEmployers agrees to meet the balloted demands by then. 7/
@ucu @USSEmployers @DrJoGrady @aechitty1 @TPRgovuk An obvious response from @USSEmployers will be to offer to lower member contributions from the current 9.6% to 8.8% until Oct 2021, on condition that @ucu calls off strikes. 8/
@ucu @USSEmployers @DrJoGrady @aechitty1 @TPRgovuk In late August, @USSEmployers had offered 9.1%, on condition of calling off the strike ballot👇. (9.1% was the member rate implied by JEP proposals.) 9/
ussemployers.org.uk/sites/default/…
@ucu @USSEmployers @DrJoGrady @aechitty1 @TPRgovuk Now that 2/3rds of balloted @USSEmployers universities have met the 50% turnout threshold, the rationale for a further reduction to 8.8% would be that this restores member contributions to the status quo prior to Oct 2019. 10/
@ucu @USSEmployers @DrJoGrady @aechitty1 @TPRgovuk Would @UCU's HEC agree to put such an 8.8% offer till Oct 2021 to consultative e-ballot of members? 11/
@ucu @USSEmployers @DrJoGrady @aechitty1 @TPRgovuk Since @UCULeft has a controlling majority of HEC👇, probably not. Rather, they'll insist on 'no detriment', 'no capitulation' 8% beyond as well as until Oct 2021.... 12/
@ucu @USSEmployers @DrJoGrady @aechitty1 @TPRgovuk @UcuLeft ...thereby impaling @ucu members on the 2nd horn of the dilemma I sketch here👇. 13/
@ucu @USSEmployers @DrJoGrady @aechitty1 @TPRgovuk @UcuLeft If, however, more reasonable voices prevail on HEC, then it's likely that members will be given the opportunity, before strikes begin in mid-November, to accept or reject a @USSEmployers offer of full DB at 8.8% till Oct 2021. 14/14
@ucu @USSEmployers @DrJoGrady @aechitty1 @TPRgovuk @UcuLeft While noting that determination of the member/employer split was ultimately up to JNC, JEP proposed 9.1% member, 20.1% @USSEmployers, until 2020 valuation. 1/7
@ucu @USSEmployers @DrJoGrady @aechitty1 @TPRgovuk @UcuLeft That was a fair & reasonable proposal, issued in a report unanimously approved by a panel consisting of equal @ucu & @USSEmployers appointed membership. 2/7
@ucu @USSEmployers @DrJoGrady @aechitty1 @TPRgovuk @UcuLeft What we now have (Option 3) = 9.6% member (+0.5% over JEP), 21.1% employer (+1.0% over JEP), until 2020 valuation. That's a reasonable sharing of the increases over JEP, with employers absorbing twice as much of the increase as members. 3/7
@ucu @USSEmployers @DrJoGrady @aechitty1 @TPRgovuk @UcuLeft In August, @USSEmployers proposed 9.1% member (same as JEP), 21.6% employer (+1.5% over JEP), until 2020 valuation. It would have been reasonable for members to call off the strike ballot to accept this proposal where employers bear 100% of increase over JEP. 4/7
@ucu @USSEmployers @DrJoGrady @aechitty1 @TPRgovuk @UcuLeft If @USSEmployers now propose 8.8% member, 21.9% employer, until 2020 valuation, members would pay 0.3% LESS than what JEP proposed, & employers 1.8% more. 5/7
@ucu @USSEmployers @DrJoGrady @aechitty1 @TPRgovuk @UcuLeft Unless one regards JEP's originally proposed 9.1% member, 20.1% employer contribution split as grossly unfair to members (in spite of the fact that it arose from a report unanimously endorsed by @ucu as well as @USSEmployers appointees)… 6/7
@ucu @USSEmployers @DrJoGrady @aechitty1 @TPRgovuk @UcuLeft …it would be hard to deny that 8.8% member, 21.9% employers, is a fair & reasonable basis for a settlement. 7/7
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#USS

More from @MikeOtsuka see all

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Michael Otsuka
@MikeOtsuka
I've just stumbled upon SAUL's latest actuarial report. Recall that SAUL is a pension scheme almost identical to #USS, except that it has invested much more successfully.👇 1/
medium.com/@mikeotsuka/wh…
Recall that at SAUL's last full valuation (as at 31 Mar 2017), they were 102% funded, w a £56 million surplus. The 31 Mar 2018 position was pretty much unchanged: £59 million surplus, equivalent to a funding level of 102%. 2/
How has SAUL done during the following 12 months? First, recall that, during that period, #USS's funding position fell from 94% to 92% funded. This is in part because their well-paid (>£1,750,000) investors fell short of their self-imposed benchmarks👇. 3/
Read 25 tweets
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Michael Otsuka
@MikeOtsuka
@NJSHardy I assume you mean lower even in the absence of 'contingent support'. Where has @TPRgovuk stated openness to this👇?
@NJSHardy @TPRgovuk tPR Dec letter says if you want to take on more investment risk to lower the discount rate & contributions, e.g., along lines of JEP proposals, then you must show that it's sufficiently underwritten with contingent support... 1/
@NJSHardy @TPRgovuk ...preferably in the form of contingent cash contributions with robust triggers. It's clear from tPR's most recent letter that they had sight of USS's CC option 2. It's also safe to assume that the #USS triggers are as demanding as they are on account of tPR guidance. 2/
Read 19 tweets
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Michael Otsuka
@MikeOtsuka
Why I think a boycott 👇 of Trinity College by Cambridge academics is justified even though they’ve behaved less dishonourably than many of the colleges of whom the boycotters are Fellows. 1/
docs.google.com/document/d/1EH…
In this linked post from Feb 2018, in which I “broke” the story of Oxbridge’s attempt to undermine USS, I quoted the following from Cambridge University’s submission to that consultation 👇. 2/
medium.com/@mikeotsuka/ox…
I then asked: “if Oxford and Cambridge so dislike the ‘we’re all in this together’ last-man-standing mutuality of the scheme, why don’t they just leave the USS?” My answer 👇. 3/
Read 14 tweets

Related threads

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Tabeenah Anjum
@TabeenahAnjum
#Thread
After spending a week in the curfewed #Kashmir with my parents, I just got back to Jaipur

In this thread I discuss how restrictions on communication is affecting #Kashmiris living in or outside the valley

The communication ban & Curfew enters 10th day - Aug 14, 2019
With no landlines , mobiles, internet working in the valley , this is the second longest communication blockade witnessed since 2016.
And what makes it worst is that not even a single post office is operational from last 10 data since the valley is under curfew #KashmirUnreported
Administration has arranged telephone lines in the district HQs & police stations for parents who want to speak to their children.

BUT how do people reach those spots under curfew?

Is one telephone line sufficient for the population of lakhs ?

@HMOIndia #Kashmir
Read 6 tweets
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Nick Hardy
@NJSHardy
Since employers are circulating a lot of misinformation about #USS, a little thread on where things stand:

More than one regulator is investigating USS after one of its trustees turned whistleblower, accusing it of covering up evidence and possibly over-inflating the deficit.
If applied in full, the JEP proposals would lead to a contribution rate of 26% or lower. But USS rejected two of the main JEP proposals and insisted on a rate of 33.7%. Its key reason for doing so was debunked by The Pensions Regulator months ago:

UCU and UUK's actuarial advisers, First Actuarial and Aon, regard a 26% valuation as not only acceptable and compliant with regulations, but preferable to the higher rate of 33.7% proposed by USS. Unlike UCU, employers are ignoring their own advisers and standing by USS instead.
Read 14 tweets
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Sheffield UCU
@sheffielducu
USS UPDATE! Last week @UCU's Higher Education conference voted overwhelmingly to ramp up preparations for an industrial action ballot over #USS to begin in September. Why? And what's at stake? Read on... 1/
Firstly, why a ballot? When the Joint Expert Panel's report dropped in September, there was hope from all sides that it had the potential to end the dispute. Adopting its recommendations would mean a shift in philosophy from #USS and rate increases low enough to negotiate on. 2/
Both @UCU and @USSemployers backed the JEP report, the latter with the strikes still fresh in the mind and eager to put the dispute to bed. The issue, as was always likely to be the case, was with #USS itself. 3/
Read 17 tweets
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Dustin LaPres
@DstnLap
#Thread
Tragically what the #CorruptGOP doesn't seem to get is that because they are not dealing in facts, & they are propagating falsehoods to their base, an entire generation of Republican voters, workers, apparachik's at every level; the U.S.A. loses ultimately. There are
People basing real decisions, at real jobs- both public & private sector-on false information. We have the most powerful military, biggest Economy, in the most industrialized nation in the world making Domestic & Foreign Policy based on fasle information.
This can & will end only one of two ways. Either we reverse course before catastrophic consequence or we experience what could be the most catastrophic multi-national event that has occurred since WW2 & the most grave consequences since our Nation's inception nearly 300 yrs ago.
Read 24 tweets

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