The Ballots Begin
Our ballots open on 6th September and run for 7 weeks. The branch is getting geared up for a massive Get The Vote Out (GTVO) operation as we mobilise members to vote and make our voices heard. The stakes have never been higher.
We are in the middle of a huge cost-of-living crisis, which is exacerbating even more the poor pay and the inequalities in our sector. At the same time, we are seeing workers fighting back acoss the UK. Winning a successful ballot is important not just in its own right but as part of this wider fightback.
As previously, we have two ballots being run in tandem, one on USS and the other on pay and conditions. Let me address the second of those first.
We have had continual below-inflation pay increaes for decades, that is a real-terms pay cut. The value of pay in higher education fell by 17.6% relative to inflation between 2009 and 2019. Based on the employers' offer and the most recent inflation data, that figure is now approximately 25%.
UCU's 2021 workload survey (published June 2022) showed that academic staff are working on average 51.3 FTE hours per week (i.e. more than 2 unpaid days each week), academic-related professional services (ARPS) staff are working an average of 44.4 FTE hours per week (i.e. equivalent of one additional unpaid day every week), and staff on fractional contracts can be working 2-3 times the hours that they are paid for each week. Workload has been exacerbated too by ever-increasing administrative burden, reduction in staff members, and the COVID-related changes to teaching and learning: 33% of higher education respondents said their workload was unmanageable most of the time or entirely unmanageable.
Turning to USS, we have seen unjustifiable cuts made to our pension based on entirely bogus premise. Pensions are not some benevolent gift that we get from our employer. They are our deferred pay and it has been stolen from us. UUK has pushed through major cuts to the guaranteed, defined benefit (DB) element of the scheme to prevent employers from having to pay higher contributions.
They claim poverty. Yet, the higher education sector's income has comfortably outstripped every measure of inflation over the past five years, while the proportion of money spent on staff has decreased. The pre-92 universities that are the main sponsors of USS are in a particularly strong position and have no excuse not to pay more to protect staff retirement benefits.
Our employers get more and more from us and we get less and less in return. Enough is enough!
We are about to begin an aggregated ballot. This means we have the opportunity to bring the entire sector out as one, rather than branch by branch. The consequences of this has not been lost on the employers. As was shown last week at Glasgow, tactics to create division between workers are already being deployed. They will not succeed!
We all need to complete and return our ballots and the sooner the better. Let’s make our voices heard. This robbery has gone on long enough!
Grant Buttars, Branch President