Email to staff 25 April 2022

Dear Colleagues

I am writing to inform you about the results of the latest UCU ballots on USS and on pay and conditions. York, along with a number of other universities, did not meet the threshold for further industrial action.

I am very relieved at this outcome for our students as they approach the upcoming assessment period, given all the other difficulties they have faced over the last two years.

But I also understand the very real concerns that have driven previous mandates for industrial action. I will continue to listen to those concerns during my current round of departmental visits and as we launch our new What’s Important To You? survey. 

However, local engagement can only be part of the equation. As a sector we really do need to resolve these concerns. As I have said in previous communications, such as my response to the open letter I received from colleagues at York, I firmly believe that to do so all parties involved will need to take a different approach if we are to break a cycle of dispute now extending back several years. 

I also strongly believe that we at the University of York have an opportunity to shape this approach.

For my part, I will continue to look for creative, multi-year solutions on pay which reflect current inflationary pressures, as well as to explore the scope for national frameworks on casualisation, pay gaps and workload. We have made good progress on some of these issues at York, and these may provide an example nationally. And we should also have a wider conversation on the mix of cost and income pressures universities face, and how we can best manage these to ensure pay rises are affordable at all universities across the sector. 

We also need to tackle the long-standing problems of the USS scheme ahead of the next valuation. I recognise the worry and anger about future benefits that has resulted from the outcome of the 2020 valuation. I remain firmly of the view that any improvement in the next valuation, compared to 2020, should go directly to member benefits. 

I also remain convinced that we - that is UUK and UCU - need to use the period prior to the next valuation to improve the scheme's accountability, its design, and its flexibility for lower-paid colleagues. UUK and UCU surely have a common and deep interest in shaping the future of the scheme and pressing both the USS and the Pensions Regulator to recognise the unique features and strengths of the sector. 

I will continue to work to this end in national discussions, and I trust UCU colleagues at York will be working in similar ways through their channels. There is more to be achieved by working together around common interests, than in continued dispute. I hope we at York can set an example.

With very best wishes

Charlie