Thread by @JosephineCumbo

BREAKING: 68 universities in the UK face a further 5 days of strike action this month over #pension cuts and pay.

Staff at the 68 universities this week finished taking up to 10 days of strike action.

UCU, the union, said further strike action was called after employers "forced through pension cuts and refused to negotiate meaningfully over pay and working conditions.

UCU, the union, says preparations are also underway for for a marking and assessment boycott

All universities across the UK to be reballoted for potential action next term, the union added.

The #UCU announced further strike action at UK universities, in the same week it was claimed the #USS pension scheme, at the heart of the pension dispute, had not followed its own rules during the controversial 2020 valuation

UCU said its negotiators had raised "serious concerns" regarding the unfairness of the #USS scheme rules during the 2020 #USS valuation process and made the case to the chair of the Joint Negotiating Committee and both employers and the trustee for "urgent governance reform".

UCU said this week that it was taking legal advice on what options were available to "challenge the way in which processes have been run".

This was in response to a series of claims about the 2020 valuation made by @Sam_Marsh101

https://twitter.com/Sam_Marsh101/status/1498965120449499136

Questions now for @ucu as to whether they have pursued a legal opinion on the serious claims made by @Sam_Marsh101 about the way the 2020 scheme valuation - which resulted in further cuts to pensions, was conducted.

The #USS advised this week that the pension cuts for tens of thousands of UK university sector workers, had been enshrined in the scheme's Trust Deed and Rules following a meeting of the Trustee Board on Monday.

The cuts to #pensions (future accrual) come into effect in April.

#UCU is demanding that #pension cuts for university workers - due to come into effect next month - be revoked.

I am clarifying whether it is technically / legally possible for these changes to be revoked.

BREAKING:

Universities UK, which represents University employers, said the #UCU union union has an "ideological fixation with strike action and is determined to pursue it, no matter the cost."

In response to #UCU's plans for a further strikes this month over #pension cuts, #UUK said:

“Taking university staff out on strike again will not remove the need to reform USS to ensure it remains affordable for members and employers."

It said the cuts would go ahead April 1.

#UUK has also played down the impact of the union's first wave of strikes in February, saying the industrial action "did not achieve the outcome UCU intended", which only led to limited disruption to students.

#UUK said university employers had repeatedly made clear that current contributions to the #USS pension scheme were at the "very limit of affordability", and a majority of those responding to a consultation on UCU’s compromise #pension proposal for the 2020 valuation rejected it.

Questions now for the UK Govt over whether it should be stepping in to help resolve the increasingly bitter dispute over pay and #USS pensions which is disrupting education for thousands of students at universities across the country. @michelledonelan

#USS pension scheme has confirmed it is possible to revoke the #pension cuts that are due to come into effect April 1.

"Ultimately, this is a matter for UCU and UUK’s representatives on the JNC," said the #USS.

Clarification: The #USS pension scheme says “It wouldn’t be appropriate for us to speculate”on whether the April 1 pension cuts can be revoked. “Any change now would need a deed of amendment at least. Ultimately, this is a matter for UCU and UUK’s representatives on the JNC.”

The #USS: “We would firstly need a decision of the JNC, and to understand what that decision involves, before we could give any real indication as to the timescales required to process it.”