London School of Economics branch of the University & College Union (@UCU). Representing academic & academic-related staff, including postgraduate workers.
Mar 29, 2023 • 18 tweets • 8 min read
There's a crisis of academic casualisation and precarity at the LSE. Insecure and short-term contracts are rife. We're social scientists, so we decided to research how serious the problem is. Here's a thread with our key findings, 28-page report + code repository. @ucu#ucuRISING
Public HESA data shows LSE going through a process of steep casualisation of its academic staff from 2014-15 to 2021-22.
Fixed-term academic positions dramatically increased since 2014-15 while permanent positions dropped then stagnated (see gif in tweet above)
Feb 10, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
There seems to be a misunderstanding in some quarters that staff are striking over conditions they voluntarily entered into. Not so.
1. The pay dispute is about the annual pay offers made by employers, below RPI inflation for 12 years, meaning real term cuts from initial salary.
2. The proposed USS cuts are a major change to remuneration (pensions are deferred pay). Younger/early career staff will be losing 1/4 to 1/3 of pension income, totalling *hundreds of thousands of pounds* in retirement. Some way off, but life-changing sums.
Feb 8, 2022 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
At today’s emergency meeting, a large gathering of branch members *unanimously* approved a motion requesting that LSE quickly disclose the preferences of its staff for fallback options on the USS dispute.
These fallback options were outlined in the formal USS consultation as options A-D. The choice of option is the relevant indicator of the extent to which LSE staff paying into USS would prefer an increase in contributions to retain current benefits over a cut to their benefits.
