Strike for USS - why we are still on strike, planning phase two & organising meeting Thu 22 March

When UCU members rejected the ACAS-brokered agreement on Tuesday 13 March, we rejected an agreement that paid for USS's officially-stated projected deficit. We rejected:

• An immediate devaluation of the pension of 19%;
• A CPI cap that, if it became permanent, could have wiped out 75% of future pensions;
• An expansion of 'Defined Contribution' (DC) from £55K, where it would impact on staff at the top of Senior Lecturer and equivalent grades, down to £42K, the starting salary for Lecturer 'B', Senior Research Fellows, etc., in London.

UCL and the following UCU branches have passed explicit resolutions supporting the 'status quo' of the current USS benefit structure: Goldsmith's, King's College, Liverpool, Ruskin College, and Warwick. More UCU branches will meet and discuss adopting the 'status quo' position this week.

It is time for the employers and USS to rethink their position.

Please sign our petition that sets out the 'status quo' position in more detail: no deficit equals no change. Uncertainty about the future cannot justify making cuts now.

UUK is currently consulting employers on a new offer. Our negotiating team is ready.

In the meantime the UCU is preparing detailed plans for further strike action in the third term. There is some local flexibility in the timetable so to discuss what would be most effective at UCL we are organising a meeting this Thursday 22 March, 13:00-14:00, venue TBC (on the Bloomsbury campus).

Please continue to work to contract and raise our campaign by writing to your MP and signing our petition to the UK Government to accept a role as guarantor to the USS pension scheme. Please also consider resigning any external examiner position(s) that you hold and donating to our fighting fund.