Email to staff from the Vice-Chancellor 5 November 2021

Dear colleagues,

I am writing to advise you that we have received the result of the UCU ballot in respect of the USS pensions proposal, and I regret to say that York, alongside 36 other universities (out of a total of 68), faces a mandate for industrial action. 

In my previous emails, I have always highlighted two things: the significant headway we have made on USS to move us away from the really unaffordable contribution levels for staff and the University that were put forward by the USS with the support of the Pensions Regulator; and the common ground that university employers and UCU have on many USS matters, which I know is also the case here in York. I hope that further progress can be made despite the outcome of the USS ballot.

We have not yet received the result of the ballot on pay and conditions, which we expect later today, and we also await UCU’s response on how it intends to respond to these ballot results, which is expected by the end of next week. I will write with further information when we have it.

But let me say for now that my overriding concern is about the deeply adverse impact that industrial action could have on the education and wellbeing of our students who have all experienced significant and devastating disruption to their education over the last 18 months. 

It is clear that everyone in our community - including those who have felt compelled to vote for industrial action - have had to take very difficult decisions on these issues. I know that all of you will be thinking hard about students’ interests in the coming weeks. While we are reliant on national negotiations to try to resolve the pensions issue and some aspects of the pay dispute, I am committed to continuing to work collaboratively with our local UCU branch and to build on all of the work we’ve done so far to continue to provide good employment conditions for all of our staff. 

I intend to do all I can to ensure that we continue to work together respectfully, in all circumstances, so that we can do all we can for a generation whose education has already been severely disrupted and disadvantaged. 

I will write further over the coming days as we receive more information. In the meantime, if you have any questions please email industrial-action-enquiries@york.ac.uk.

Best wishes 

Charlie