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On strike, and On Striking.
Feb. 21st, 2022 08:18 pmToday a group of picketers gathered at Cambridge University Press and Assessment's shiny Triangle building, where the University Council were about to meet and discuss their response to UUK as to whether they felt the UCU pensions proposal could be accepted, or whether it should be rejected.
It was cold, it was wet, it was *very* windy, and we were not very welcome, but we were in good spirits. Someone handed me the megaphone, and instead of just chanting I found myself making a brief speech about why we were there, in the hopes it could perhaps be heard inside. To be fair I think any noise we made was only heard in a rather muffled way, so they probably missed the details of what I, and several other more articulate people had to say, but we were there, and making our point clear - there are alternatives, 35% average cuts to peoples pensions are an offensively unnecessary step.
We heard, from UCU Council members, that in the end the only people able to vote on the matter were those who were not members of the USS Pension scheme, leaving only 8 voting members, who decided not to accept the UCU proposals. We understand there will be a joint statement of some sort from Cambridge and some other universities, but it has not reached us yet, and it's not yet clear what the official Cambridge University position is, or will be.
To say we're disappointed is both an understatement, and somehow untrue - as there was a certain inevitability about it. There is a strong feeling that USS and UUK don't *want* to find a position which makes the pension scheme work, they want to wind it down and come up with something with far less risk to *them* instead, regardless of whether it's what's best for staff, or even for the university itself, or for the education sector as a whole.
There's only one more day of USS strikes scheduled. While we're out again next week that will be on the "Four Fights" dispute alone, which is trying to tackle casualisation, gender/race/disability pay gaps, workload, and pay levels themselves. All of which combine to make the UK education sector a less and less attractive place to work. This year's pay offer is even further below inflation than the last few have been. We're angry, and we're not going away, but it would help so much if more of our colleagues could stand up and at least send us a message to say "We *are* on strike, even if we're not at the pickets", because we need to know we're not fighting alone.
It was cold, it was wet, it was *very* windy, and we were not very welcome, but we were in good spirits. Someone handed me the megaphone, and instead of just chanting I found myself making a brief speech about why we were there, in the hopes it could perhaps be heard inside. To be fair I think any noise we made was only heard in a rather muffled way, so they probably missed the details of what I, and several other more articulate people had to say, but we were there, and making our point clear - there are alternatives, 35% average cuts to peoples pensions are an offensively unnecessary step.
We heard, from UCU Council members, that in the end the only people able to vote on the matter were those who were not members of the USS Pension scheme, leaving only 8 voting members, who decided not to accept the UCU proposals. We understand there will be a joint statement of some sort from Cambridge and some other universities, but it has not reached us yet, and it's not yet clear what the official Cambridge University position is, or will be.
To say we're disappointed is both an understatement, and somehow untrue - as there was a certain inevitability about it. There is a strong feeling that USS and UUK don't *want* to find a position which makes the pension scheme work, they want to wind it down and come up with something with far less risk to *them* instead, regardless of whether it's what's best for staff, or even for the university itself, or for the education sector as a whole.
There's only one more day of USS strikes scheduled. While we're out again next week that will be on the "Four Fights" dispute alone, which is trying to tackle casualisation, gender/race/disability pay gaps, workload, and pay levels themselves. All of which combine to make the UK education sector a less and less attractive place to work. This year's pay offer is even further below inflation than the last few have been. We're angry, and we're not going away, but it would help so much if more of our colleagues could stand up and at least send us a message to say "We *are* on strike, even if we're not at the pickets", because we need to know we're not fighting alone.
