Strike for USS Day 3 ends in occupation : Day 4 begins...

Day 3 ended with UCL students sleeping overnight occupying the South Cloisters outside the Provost's office in solidarity with the UCU strike.  Yet last night Michael Arthur, UCL Provost and President, was still in denial, posting a missive to all staff recycling the public line of the employers' federation Universities UK (UUK).

The Provost's (UUK's) position turns on a single proposition: that the deficit is real and therefore cuts must be made to our pensions. Yet this is simply untrue. The USS pension "deficit" is entirely due to a so-called "self-sufficiency in gilts" methodology, itself only justifiable in the context of total bankruptcy of the sector!

Currently there is no "deficit", but if USS investment managers followed the Provost's advice, they would risk generating one! The rest of his statement unravels once this is understood. There is nothing "sustainable" about undermining the pension scheme. There is a line-by-line rebuttal of Michael Arthur's statement on our blog.

As the strike continues, more and more staff and students are getting the message.

Again, yesterday we saw very large numbers of pickets across the UCL site. At lunchtime yesterday over 300 staff protested outside UUK's headquarters in Tavistock Square and 150 UCL strikers attended a strike meeting, with 110 staying for the teach-out that followed.

Today is Day 4 of our (initial) 14-day strike. The weather is bitterly cold. Join us on the picket line, even if it is for an hour or two.

So far we have not seen the snow on the picket line we saw yesterday. But the mood on the picket line is just as determined. We are in this fight to win it.

We will have a strike meeting at 12.15 at the 52 Club, 52 Gower Street. One of the UCU negotiators will address our meeting.

Later today, at 2.45pm London Region UCU has called a lobby of the talks between UUK and UCU. This will take place at USS' HQ at 60 Threadneedle Street EC1 (nearest tube: Bank). The talks have been scheduled for two hours only, which causes us concern that the employers are not serious. Nonetheless our negotiators will go to try to talk some sense into them. Colleagues will protest outside the talks to call on UUK to give up. Do join us.

We welcome every opportunity to try to resolve the dispute. The solution is simple, and cost-free for both sides.

Stop pretending there is a deficit and the dispute is over. Value the scheme on an ongoing basis and there is no deficit and no need for any scheme changes.