UCU Open Letter: HEC to Consult Members on Employer Proposals Now

We, the undersigned UCU Higher Education (HE) members, call on UCU’s Higher Education Committee (HEC) meeting on 30 March to consult with HE members on whether the current employer proposals on pay, terms and conditions, and USS pensions are sufficient to settle our current disputes and/or suspend/call off future industrial action.

The consultation, in the form of an e-ballot, should include several questions. For example, it should include separate questions asking whether members are in favour of accepting or rejecting UUK’s offer on USS and UCEA’s offer regarding the Terms of Reference for joint union/employer reviews of pay, contract types, workloads and pay gaps. In this way, the two disputes can and should be treated, and consulted on as individual, separate disputes.

The consultation should also ask whether members would support the suspension of further industrial action whilst time-limited negotiations are conducted.* 

We would also ask that the HEC makes a decision that reflects the preferences of UCU members. Members take industrial action, and it is members’ views that should determine our industrial action policy.

We urge HEC members to vote for the following motion, supporting consultation on both disputes (pay and pensions), which is being taken to HEC on 30 March.

Click here to see signatories of the Open Letter and here to sign the letter.* 

*Please note: if you sign, only your name, title, Department/School/area and workplace will be shared in the list of signatories below. Note: we have cut the line ‘i.e. whether they favour the “bank and build” approach outlined by the General Secretary’ as it is not crucial to the aims of this open letter and motion, the latter of which is calling for a neutral presentation of the UCEA and UUK offers.