{"id":1137,"date":"2019-06-28T14:12:12","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T14:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/?p=1137"},"modified":"2019-12-16T14:13:19","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T14:13:19","slug":"two-strikes-and-youre-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/06\/28\/two-strikes-and-youre-out\/","title":{"rendered":"TWO STRIKES AND YOU’RE OUT"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than a year after UCU members stood down from the picket lines, the prospect of another strike is again looming in the air over alleged mishandling by the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), the fund manager, and over employers acting in bad faith with regard to pensions. The main concession the striking union gained from employers back then, as avid subtext readers will no doubt recall, was the establishment of the so-called Joint Expert Panel, which would look closely at valuations past and future and make recommendations which both employers and staff representatives would stick by. Employers, however, have been rather selective in which elements of the panel’s recommendations they support. If this dispute were only between employers and staff, this position would clearly contravene the spirit and letter of the agreement gained during the last strikes. However, because USS is a separate legal entity, employers can throw up their hands and claim that they can’t do anything about USS’s refusal to implement the JEP valuation recommendations, and USS in turn claims that it is bound by the regulations around pensions.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are a number of problems with these claims of helplessness: first, the board of USS consists of both employers and staff representatives, with employers holding the casting vote. They can set policy for USS. Second, it has been alleged, according to reports in the Financial Times and the Today Programme (links below) that USS has withheld information from its trustees and misrepresented The Pensions Regulator’s position on risk.<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/96ae5d3a-98e0-11e9-9573-ee5cbb98ed36<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.ucu.org.uk\/article\/10180\/Professor-Hutton-speaks-to-Radio-4-on-USS-failings<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

UCU is demanding that employers bear the additional costs of pensions (due to USS’s decisions on valuations) until the JEP recommendations are implemented in full. Watch this space – or possibly the space outside the Sports Centre, where strikers may in due course again put on picket discos and brandish signs with duck-related puns.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than a year after UCU members stood down from the picket lines, the prospect of another strike is again looming in the air over alleged mishandling by the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), the fund manager, and over employers acting … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":568,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[527,549,149,548,70],"class_list":["post-1137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-issue-189","tag-jep","tag-pensions","tag-strikes","tag-ucu"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p99sHo-il","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1120,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/12\/13\/return-of-the-angry-ducks\/","url_meta":{"origin":1137,"position":0},"title":"RETURN OF THE ANGRY DUCKS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"December 13 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"It was pure picket line d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu. Not just the buses and cars queuing on the main drive, trying to avoid running anyone over. Not just the hand-made banners and placards, the angry ducks and the picket discos. No, what most made it seem like February 2018 all over again\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1207,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2020\/02\/19\/a-tale-of-two-union-meetings\/","url_meta":{"origin":1137,"position":1},"title":"A TALE OF TWO UNION MEETINGS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"February 19 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Impending strike action was the sole subject of discussion at what were otherwise two very different Lancaster UCU General Meetings, one on 22 January and the other on 18 February. Both were relatively well-attended - the January one looked packed because it was in the cosy Marcus Merriman Lecture Theatre,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "official meetings"","block_context":{"text":"official meetings","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/official-meetings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":814,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/11\/08\/union-silo-blues\/","url_meta":{"origin":1137,"position":2},"title":"UNION SILO BLUES","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"November 8 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Every year the five main UK Higher Education unions (including the three recognised at Lancaster University) haggle and bargain over pay rates for staff in the sector with the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA, acronym fans!). This year the unions' joint claim was for an increase of 7.5% or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":560,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/05\/10\/senate-report-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":1137,"position":3},"title":"SENATE REPORT","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"May 10 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"It was a somewhat subdued Vice-Chancellor who opened Senate with his usual verbal report, and it is fair to say that he had much to be subdued about. There was the small matter of Lancaster's rather large gender pay gap \u2013 one of the highest in the HE sector and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "official meetings"","block_context":{"text":"official meetings","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/official-meetings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":379,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/03\/01\/letters-9\/","url_meta":{"origin":1137,"position":4},"title":"LETTERS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 1 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear subtext, Mr. Fleming\u2019s letter (subtext 173) is factually inaccurate, and shows complete disregard for the strength of staff feeling on this issue at his alma mater, which had the highest turnout in the ballot in England and third highest in the UK, with over 88% endorsing strike action. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "letters"","block_context":{"text":"letters","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/letters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/hrKIJMLUIO4\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1492,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2021\/02\/19\/subtext-196-wholly-government-approved-free-speaking-subtext\/","url_meta":{"origin":1137,"position":5},"title":"subtext 196 – wholly government-approved free-speaking subtext","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"February 19 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Frequency determined by contributions received. Letters, contributions, & comments: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk Back issues & subscription details: http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/about\/ In this issue: editorial, campus update, rent strike, partnerships, freedom of speech, strategy, testing, still recruiting, a poem, letters. ***************************************************** EDITORIAL Exactly one year ago tomorrow, UCU members up and down the country began\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "editorial"","block_context":{"text":"editorial","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/editorial\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/568"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1137"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1139,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1137\/revisions\/1139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}