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Michael Otsuka Profile picture
Michael Otsuka
@MikeOtsuka
Professor of Philosophy, Rutgers. On UCU's national USS negotiating team 2021-22. Photo not up to date. Neither is yours, unless it's a live webcam image.
4 subscribers
Jul 4, 2023 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
.@ucu says👇they've "received a letter from UCEA confirming their willingness to enter urgent negotiations..." However, the letter from @ucea1 says "the purpose of such a meeting is to explore ... whether a basis can be identified for the resumption of negotiations..." 1/ @ucu @UCEA1 That appears to fall short of the expression of a willingness to enter into urgent negotiations. The linked👇@ucea1 letter also says "As we have consistently stated, our mandate from the sector does not permit us to improve upon the 2023-24 pay uplift." 2/
ucea.ac.uk/our-work/colle…
May 30, 2023 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
Now that @ucu's Congress is back in person (it went online during Covid), union policy is set by about 300 of its 120,000 members who are prepared to spend all 3 days of the spring bank holiday weekend in a conference center somewhere in the UK.... 1/ ...listening to speeches on dozens of motions on a range of topics which needn't have any apparent relevance to the work of a UK University and College Union. The drafters of the notorious Ukraine motion didn't even bother to draw some tenuous connection to higher education. 2/
May 27, 2023 • 11 tweets • 4 min read
🧵on the @ucu candidates for USS negotiator whom Congress delegates will elect. Here's the list of candidates👇. The three who are elected negotiators become UCU-appointed members of USS's JNC & the 2 reserves = alternates. 1/
ucu.org.uk/media/13818/El… Image Mark Taylor-Batty (@cupofassam) & Jackie Grant are currently elected negotiators & JNC members. They have been instrumental in putting things on track for a full restoration of benefits👇. They clearly merit reappointment. 2/
ucu.org.uk/article/12962/…
Dec 1, 2021 • 28 tweets • 12 min read
🧵explaining what's so wrong with @USSEmployers VC Alistair Fitt's claim on @BBCr4today that "Modelling published by the @USSpensions trustee themselves shows that impact [of UUK's proposed pension cuts] is likely to be between 10% & 18% for the vast majority of members." 1/ As I've drawn to @USSEmployers's attention on more than one occasion👇, the 10-18% range is based on an outdated & otherwise indefensible assumption which understates the detrimental effect of the 2.5% cap on CPI revaluation. Please read🧵👇. 2/
Oct 21, 2021 • 28 tweets • 12 min read
In his 18 Oct letter to @ucu GS @DrJoGrady, @AlistairJarvis repeats this false £860 claim.👇 He writes: "a university staff member earning £40,000 per annum would be paying an additional £860 in pension contributions next year for the same benefits". 1/ The actual annual increase is +£550, not +£860. When we break this down by month, paying an extra £40 per month from April to Oct 2022 would make it possible for this member to retain current pension benefits rather than take the hit of the UUK cuts.👇2/
Jun 5, 2021 • 11 tweets • 5 min read
🚨🚨🚨The SAUL pension scheme announces that it is in SURPLUS -- 109% funded -- as at 31 April 2021. It was, however, in deficit -- 94% funded -- as at 31 March 2020 triennial valuation date. (@JosephineCumbo) 1/
saul.org.uk/#/page/sauls-h… Image It appears that SAUL's actuary has certified the Schedule of Contributions at 30 April 2021 date of signing rather than 31 March 2020 valuation date. Hence the schedule assumes a surplus & therefore no deficit recovery contributions. 2/
Apr 11, 2021 • 24 tweets • 10 min read
A thread on why I share our @ucu GS's reaction👇to the recent @USSEmployers proposal to cut our pensions by lowering the DB/DC threshold from £60k to £40k, reducing accrual from 1/75 to 1/85, & capping CPI revaluation at 2.5%. 1/
As @jogrady mentions, this proposal is almost identical to the instantly reviled & reject March 2018 ACAS agreement. Here's why it's a provocation for @USSEmployers to try to push this through once again. 2/
Jan 3, 2021 • 10 tweets • 6 min read
.@ucl's outgoing & incoming heads have issued a statement👇that stands out for its acknowledgement of how bad things are in London, its responsibility to the wider community, & of what needs to be done. (@SusanLiautaud) 1/3
ucl.ac.uk/news/2021/jan/… Image The statement notes👇that their position is out in front of the current position of the UK govt but correctly maintains that this is the most responsible course of action. Also draws attention to the risks of travel into London when transmission is dangerously high. 2/3 Image
Oct 18, 2020 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
🚨UK longitudinal study of 201 individuals with #LongCovid reveals a high proportion are relatively young & without pre-existing health conditions. Also reveals "almost 70%…have impairment in one or more organs four months after initial symptoms". 1/4
medrxiv.org/content/10.110… ▶️"prevalence of pre-existing conditions (obesity: 20%, hypertension: 6%; diabetes: 2%; heart disease: 4%) was low"
▶️Only 18% had been hospitalised
▶️Mean age: 44
▶️"impairment in heart (32%), lungs (33%), kidneys (12%), liver (10%), pancreas (17%), and spleen (6%)"
2/4
Oct 16, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
🚨"you're in that very, very fast upward swing of the epidemic, and a day's delay matters, a week's delay really matters... We saw that in March/April... The red lights are flashing...". SAGE member @JeremyFarrar case for circuit breaker starting NOW. 1/2
bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod… Image Informative piece on the 21 Sept SAGE meeting, Johnson's decision not to follow their advice & the subsequent alarm of scientists. @JeremyFarrar 'described the measures [the government adopted] as "the worst of all worlds".'👇 2/2
theguardian.com/world/2020/oct…
Oct 14, 2020 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
According to the recently released SAGE papers👇, keeping universities open plays a greater role in spreading Covid-19 infection -- ~0.3 (0.2-0.5) increase in R -- than any other activity, apart from keeping secondary schools open -- ~0.35 (0.2-0.5). 1/
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl… By contrast:
▶️General directive to work from home where possible decreases R by 0.2-0.4
▶️Closure of bars, pubs, cafés and restaurants decreases R by 0.1-0.2
▶️"Stopping all contacts between different households in the home might reduce Rt by ~0.1-0.2" 2/
Oct 13, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
This tweet from yesterday👇on the Manchester VC's interview with @bbcnickrobinson is now my 5th most viewed for 2020, at 92k and rising. Countdown of the other 4 below. 1/5 #4 with 136k views: 2/5
Oct 12, 2020 • 32 tweets • 13 min read
Jaw-dropping @BBCRadio4 interview w VC of University of Manchester: surprised by rapidity of outbreaks!; claims the main problem was failure to sufficiently communicate to students the need to follow guidelines! .@OfficialUoM VC: "I think we were surprised by the speed and scale of the numbers that tested positive. ...It was very much a feature of something that seemed to happen very fast about a week after they returned – a week to 10 days -- and now they're coming down." 1/
Sep 15, 2020 • 21 tweets • 8 min read
A thread on the impending, foreseeable @UniversitiesUK car crash: Cases have been surging since the re-opening of schools & the call to return to work in early September. 1/10 With the re-opening of schools, demand for tests now outstrips supply, and it will be a struggle for schools to remain open as a result. 2/10
theguardian.com/education/2020…
Jul 31, 2020 • 36 tweets • 16 min read
🚨If university students aren't tested every 2-3 days, "colleges are very likely to fall prey to outbreaks that will place vulnerable people on campus & in the surrounding community at risk for serious illness and death." 1/
consumer.healthday.com/infectious-dis… This according to @ADPaltiel, a Professor of health policy at @YaleSPH, in comments on epidemological modelling, for which he was lead investigator, published today in JAMA👇. 2/
jamanetwork.com/journals/jaman…
Jul 27, 2020 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
New paper👇on another superspreader event involving a choir. This one in France on 12 March. Choir practice in indoor non-ventilated room 45m2. Infection spread to 70% of 27 participants. 1/
medrxiv.org/content/10.110… The paper also mentions multiple superspreader events involving choirs👇. 2/
Jul 8, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
"Sweden suffered a vastly higher death rate while failing to collect on the expected economic gains." x12 more deaths per capita than Norway, x6 more than Denmark. Central bank projected fall in GDP: NOR -3.9%; DNK -4.1%; SWE -4.5%. See also👇. 1/3
nytimes.com/2020/07/07/bus… "supposed choice between lives & paychecks is a false one: A failure to impose social distancing can cost lives & jobs at the same time. ... simplistic to portray government actions such as quarantines as the cause of economic damage. The real culprit is the virus itself." 2/3
Jul 2, 2020 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
Your @UniversitiesUK employer has a legal duty to assess the risks of resuming teaching in person👇. Make sure yours has assessed the risks of airborne (aerosol) Covid-19 transmission in the *specific* classrooms in which you're assigned to teach. 1/7
universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-ana… Rate of ventilation of classroom (either air changes per hour or litres per second) is crucial to an assessment of airborne transmission risk👇. Make sure your employer informs you of the ventilation rates of the classrooms they've assigned you. 2/7
thelancet.com/journals/lance…
Jun 28, 2020 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Every @ucu member will be charged £15. 120,000 members x £15 = £1,800,000! So the @UCULeft-controlled HEC blew a huge hole in union finances, by calling members out on 22 days of strikes w/o figuring out how to pay for them. Recklessly irresponsible. 1/ And then @UCULeft turns around and condemns the very levy that a majority of their own NEC members supported to bail themselves out of their own profligacy. @UCULeft has no shame. 2/
Jun 25, 2020 • 21 tweets • 9 min read
If a university in England with 10,000 students resumed in person teaching today, we can expect that 6 students would be Covid-19 infected, 4 of whom would be unaware of this fact. 1/8 Esp if not wearing good face masks, these 4 would place many others at risk by attending classes in enclosed rooms, esp if lacking good ventilation. Even with 2m distancing, they'd place others at risk via aerosol transmission throughout room. See👇. 2/8
Jun 23, 2020 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
In the long term, neurological injury from Covid-19 could cause more death & far greater disability than the more immediate & apparent damage to the lungs. 1/
bbc.com/future/article… Image About 50% of those diagnosed w the coronavirus have experienced neurological problems. 2/ Image