Lecturers' strike: universities refusing to bow on pension reforms, leaked letter reveals

Students face further disruption during the summer term, as a leaked letter reveals that university heads will refuse to alter their decision on pension reforms.

Lecturers are poised to escalate their protests in the coming months, threatening to wreak havoc on students who are due to sit their exams and finals.

On Friday, university heads bowed to lecturers’ demands and agreed to meet on Tuesday for talks with University and Colleges Union (UCU), which represents academic and campus staff.

But a leaked email, seen by The Telegraph, discloses that the vice-Chancellor membership body Universities UK (UUK) will not go back on plans to make controversial changes to the pension scheme. 

Hours before publicly calling for Tuesday’s crunch meeting, Alistair Jarvis, chief executive of UUK, wrote a private letter to vice-Chancellors.

He explained that UUK is not prepared to “re-open negotiations” with the union if there is no alternative proposal to the current plans, adding that “talks without preconditions cannot achieve a sustainable resolution to the dispute”.

A separate “key facts” document, published by UUK about Tuesday’s meeting, states that any talks about the future of the pension scheme “would not re-open” the decision taken in January, which had prompted the UCU's ballot for strike action. 

Sally Hunt, general secretary of UCU, said that Mr Jarvis’ letter shows “contempt” for lecturers, accusing UUK of being deceptive.

“Publicly they spin that they want to talk, while privately they say they have no intention of actually discussing the one issue that can stop the strikes,” she said.

“We want this dispute resolved so we will be there on Tuesday. But we hope they have a serious change of heart before then if there is to be any point to the talks.”

Union officials will meet on Friday to consider the response from universities so far, and decide on their next steps. They have warned that unless UUK radically changes its stance on pension reform, strikes will continue in the coming months.

Union officials may also decide to encourage lecturers on action which falls short of a full strike. This could include refusing to mark assignments, refusing to cover for absent colleagues or refusing to reschedule lectures which have been cancelled.

Ms Hunt said that “nothing is off the table”, and industrial action could continue if the dispute over pension reform is not resolved. The union has a ballot that allows for strike action, or action short of a strike, up to July 19.

Last week, lecturers at 57 universities - including Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol, Durham and Exeter - went on strike in a row over changes to staff pensions.

More universities will join the walk out as strikes continue over the coming weeks, with over a million students facing disruption if the full 14 days of industrial action go ahead as planned.

The strike is over proposed changes to pensions covered by the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), which they say could make them £10,000 worse off each year in retirement.

The UCU has drawn up a list of 18 “dove” vice-Chancellors who have broken ranks to express sympathy with striking lecturers or urge a return to the negotiating table.

The leaders of Cambridge, Bristol, Warwick, Durham and Kent universities were among those to call for the resumption of talks last week.

Professor Chris Day, the President of Newcastle University, issued one of the strongest worded statements, saying: “I absolutely support staff’s decision to strike”, adding: “I’m not sure what else they can do to express their concerns”. He said that he planned to persuade his fellow vice-Chancellors of the need to resume talks.

A spokesperson for UUK said: “Universities UK has never refused to continue to try to find an affordable, mutually acceptable solution. We would be willing to discuss a credible proposal that addresses the significant financial issues the scheme is facing.

“UUK remains at the negotiating table, however UCU refuse to engage on how best to ensure the long-term sustainability of the scheme. If a credible, affordable solution were to be put forward by the union, employers would want to consider it.”