Cambridge University And Others Set For 14 Day Strikes Over Pensions

By Gavin Mackintosh

Most striking Universities are set to strike for two days in the first week, raise it to three days the next week, then up an extra day the following week.

The University College Union has been locked in a row with the employers’ organisation Universities UK about pensions for staff since last November.

Its members of lecturers, researchers, and associates are furious about employers refusals to maintain adequate standards for its staff in their retirement age

The elite university is among 61 universities nationwide where staff have been balloted for industrial action by the University and College Union (UCU).
Talks to resolve the issue ended in a deadlock last week, forcing the strike will is likely to disrupt lectures and exams in many UK universities.

Universities affected include Oxford University, Leeds University, Sheffield University which has about 1,300 members, Newcastle, Durham University, and Kent University in the U.C.U, and many others.

A £7.5 billion deficit in the pension scheme nationally has led to strong detestation that the scheme is not being implemented in a sustainable manner.

A UCU spokesman said: “Last week talks between UCU and Universities UK ended without agreement and UUK’s plans to transform the scheme were forced through by the chair’s casting vote.

“The dispute centers on UK’s proposals to end the defined benefit element of the Universities Superannuation Scheme pension scheme. UCU says this would leave a typical lecturer almost £10,000 a year worse off in retirement than under the current set-up.

“In the recent strike ballot UCU members overwhelmingly backed industrial action. Overall, 88 percent of members who voted backed strike action and 93 percent backed action short of a strike. The turnout was 58 percent.”