City UCU members, will be taking action to defend our pensions, alongside UCU members at 61 other institutions.

It is estimated that members will lose up to £200,000 in pension benefits. For a typical lecturer that may be the difference between a pension of approximately £18,000 and £10,000 a year. See a fuller analysis by First Actuarial and use this webpage by Cambridge UCU to reveal how much you stand to lose.

The pension cuts being imposed on us by our employers, Universities UK (UUK), are unecessary – there is a huge ‘best estimate’ surplus in the USS, our pension scheme.

Additional background information:

• A helpful factsheet from UCL-UCU that explains why the proposed changes are unnecessary.
• A blog that outlines why UUK’s proposals are the wrong solution to a made up problem.
• A presentation from Sheffield UCU that explains the background.
• A talk by Carlo Morelli, University of Dundee & UCU Pensions Negotiator

Further info is available from www.ucu.org.uk/strikeforuss.

For members taking action.

If you have a question about what to do, please look at the detailed Strike and ASOS FAQ. If this doesn’t answer your question, please get in touch with the national UCU or contact City UCU. 

The most important thing you can do in the days leading up to the action is talk to your colleagues. Together we are stronger. And you will feel more able to take action for all of us if you are doing this with your colleagues.

It is important that members’ anger is visible. So please join us on the picket lines on strike days. More information to follow soon. There will be a London-wide Demonstration on 28th February. And a Teach Out on Tuesday the 27th.

For City Students.

If you want to know more about what’s going on, please see the slide show we have produced. UCU USS Strike 2018 – What’s it about and also this video.

There is also a very helpful statement from City Students Union.

The scheduled strike days are listed below. On these days union members will not be involved in teaching or other work. This means that lectures, seminars, labs, office hours and other meetings are all likely to be cancelled. Anyone involved in strike action will not be paid and so will not be making up lost work on other times.

We value education and are committed to working with our fantastic City students. That means that UCU members will be available to meet and work with you before and after the strike. We hope that you understand that we do not want to damage your education. Rather, we believe that if universities impose this change it will lead to many of the best people leaving and the best new educators being discouraged from entering the sector. This will damage future generations of students.

Because we believe in the value of education and talking about ideas, we are organising a free Teach Out on Tuesday 27th February. It’s open to all. So come along!

Please email the University President and tell him that you want him to publicly call on UUK to return to negotiations. Other University leaders have done this and it is the best way to resolve this dispute quickly.

Scheduled strike days: