USS strike: lecturers on strike at 57 universities

Vice-chancellors have proposed changes meaning academics could lose up to half their retirement income, analysis shows.

The strike is set to continue for the next four weeks and staff will strike for a total of 14 days.

Earlier this week, the Work and Pensions Committee was told that Royal Mail’s scheme could be enabled by just small changes to existing DC legislation, rather than a full primary legislation, as long as there were clear governance, transparency and communication rules.

The NUS postgraduate campaign is asking students to conform to that exhausted stereotype and stay in bed in front of Netflix on strike days, or better still, join picket lines, showing solidarity with lecturers who are resisting the same forces of neoliberalisation that raised student fees.

Keith Simpson, a senior law lecturer at City University in London, said the proposals would devastate academics’ pensions.

“The hope is that the strike action will anger students enough to force the university to take action”.

Josh Armstrong, a 37-year-old student support worker, said: “The pension plan we have now provides for a secure financial future in retirement, but the new system does not”.

“The University must understand that career academic staff deserve security in their employment and can’t be part of providing a world-class education when they are under threat”.

Olivia Potter-Hughes from the National Union of Students Northern Ireland said: “It is important that a strong message is sent out against any employers who might consider reducing the terms or conditions of staff”.

“For further information on the industrial action, we would encourage students to read the Vice-Chancellor’s open letter and detailed Q&A material for our student community”.

He accepted that while there will be “some disruption” this is not expected to be significant and there are plans in place to reschedule any cancelled lectures.

On the group’s Facebook page, Sussex Supports the Strike claimed one of their members was assaulted during the incident.

Southampton Socialist Students has produced leaflets backing the strike and calling for the resignation of overpaid “vice-cutter” Sir Christopher Snowden, linking the fight over pensions to the fight for free education. Hundreds of lectures, classes, and assessments could be affected nationwide.

While official figures on the number of those involved will not be confirmed for some time, a spokesperson for the University and College Union (UCU) at UEA said roughly 100 people had been on the picket line.

The union warned that the decision in question was the “very reason for the strike”. Tom Harwood, a Durham NUS delegate, told Palatinate he thinks the UCU “are trying to use Durham students as pawns in their dispute”. Around 60,000 students signed petitions demanding compensation for fees lost due to the disruption. However, another student said: “I believe the strike is hugely unnecessary in various ways. We don’t get reimbursed for the money we’ve spent, which is fundamentally unfair”.

The Officers are out striking today because we support workers. On the other, some were pretty furious that the strikes would mean that they would be missing out on key contact hours that could potentially lead to a gap in their learning.