Solidarity message to striking UCU members from Shavanah Taj, Wales Secretary of PCS (the Public and Commercial Services Union)

Friends let me start by saying Da iawn for being one of the few UK unions to have smashed the 50% ballot turnout barrier imposed by recent Tory anti-union legislation. With 88% national vote in favour of strike action on a turnout of 58%;89% in favour of strike action in Cardiff, the figures alone demonstrate the true strength of feeling amongst UCU members.

As you know PCS members have been at the forefront of many attack’s by government on their jobs, pay, terms and conditions. We know that being forced to take strike action is no easy decision to take. I admire your members courage and unity which is truly our core strength within our movement. I would like to pass on the full support and solidarity of the PCS union to all our colleagues in UCU.

In view of your announcement of taking ongoing strike action, I hope that your employer will now sit up, listen and return to the negotiating table to offer a deal that is acceptable to your members. This dispute isn’t simply about protecting existing staff pensions but also about looking out for those that come next, including existing students who choose to purse a career in this field.

Let me also take this opportunity to urge your Vice Chancellor of Cardiff University, Professor Riordan, to add his voice to the growing numbers of Vice Chancellors around the UK and use his influence on the employers’ group (UUK) to get them to negotiate with the UCU, with a view to finding a jointly acceptable solution which will preserve the defined benefit pension.

I will continue to highlight your dispute to our members and encourage messages of solidarity and ensure they do all they can to amplify your voices wherever possible. If there is any hardship fund then can you forward me on the details please and I will organise a donation and circulate details to branches. I intend to visit your picket line this week and will pass on the full support from the PCS.

Stay strong and stand firm. You’ve got this!
Shavanah Taj
PCS Union, Welsh Secretary & National Officer

Solidarity message to striking UCU members from Philip Jennings, General Secretary of Uni Global (an international federation of unions representing 20 million workers worldwide) and a Cardiff University Honorary Fellow

Dear Friends,

I am emailing to send you warm greetings, support and solidarity. I am an Honorary Fellow of Cardiff University and as such am well aware of the high quality of research and education provided by this university. I am Cardiff born and recognize all that you do for the City and it’s people.It is time for the people to stand with staff who toil to bring the best of coming generations from all corners of the world.

All of these are the great reasons why the University must do its utmost to ensure that its staff are treated fairly and that they can go about their daily tasks with the confidence that the worries of tomorrow are taken care of.

As well as being an Honorary Fellow, I am also the general secretary of Uni Global Union, a global federation of trade unions, so I am particularly aware that if employers wish to remain successful, they need staff who are motivated and not weighed down by the cloud that unfair treatment brings.

So I urge the University and Vice Chancellor, Professor Riordan, to add his voice to those growing numbers of Vice Chancellors around the UK and use his influence on the employers group to urge UUK to negotiate with the UCU with a view to finding a jointly acceptable solution which will preserve the defined benefit pension scheme.

Best wishes for a successful conclusion to your dispute.
Philip Jennings
Honorary Fellow Cardiff University and General Secretary, Uni Global Union

Solidarity message to striking UCU members from USDAW South Wales and Western Division

“Usdaw stands in solidarity with the UCU, it’s members and affected families who have had to resort to industrial action to make their voices heard on this issue. We have also seen many of our members adversely affected by changes to pension provisions and have seen the effect that this can have on people expecting a fair provision at the end of their working lives. We wish you all the very best in relation to this issue and hope a satisfactory resolution can be found” – Mike Walker Deputy DIvisional Officer Usdaw South Wales & Western Region

Best Wishes

Mike Walker
Deputy Divisional Officer
Usdaw South Wales & Western Division

From Cardiff County Unison Branch:

Hi All, 

Good luck with today and a message of solidarity from Cardiff County branch. 

Cardiff County offer our striking comrades a message of solidarity as you defend your pension rights. We firmly believe that an attack on one is an attack on all and have no doubts that, unchallenged, this attempt to strip colleagues of their rightful access to their full pensions would soon be echoed in other organisations.  

In solidarity

Emma Garson

What’s happening tomorrow?

We will be picketing at various entrances (Main Building, Heath Park and other locations as organised by departmental reps) from 8am. Please don’t feel that if you can’t make it at 8 you can’t come along – get there whenever you can! The starting point is Main Building, so if you’re not sure where to picket, please come here for further instructions.

Picketing materials (armbands, placards, hi-vis jackets etc) can be collected from the UCU office, 49B Park Place, from 11 am today, Wednesday 21st, although there will also be supplies available on Thursday morning at the picket.

At 11am we will be having a rally for members and supporters outside Main Building. Pickets are asked to make their way to this. We have a range of supporters offering solidarity and who have agreed to speak at the rally, including Joanne DUCU, Jo Stevens MP, Lianne Wood AM, Leader of Plaid Cymru and Jenny Rathbone AM.

From 12 o’clock, there will be entertainment from Brass 12 and Tom Duggan. For full details of this and Teach Outs, please click here for the Program.

Don’t forget the strike continues on Friday as well and we will need pickets and supporters then as well – watch this space for further details.

These two documents will be useful when making the argument to people about why we are being forced to take such unprecedented action.

The Phantom Deficit of Our USS Pension – 20180220

ucl-ucu-pension-factsheet

We are receiving many messages of support and solidarity from our sisters and brothers across the trade union movement, such as this message from UNISON Cymru:

Also this message from USDAW:

We’re delighted to have received, amongst the many messages of support, this from Rutgers University:

Rutgers AAUP-AFT Stands in Solidarity with University and College Union (UCU) members

Submitted by Staff on Tue, 02/20/2018 – 14:02

The Rutgers Executive Council of AAUP-AFT Chapters voted unanimously to stand in solidarity with University and College Union (UCU) members in the United Kingdom on February 20, 2018.

Download a copy of the resolution

Here is the text of the resolution:

Whereas, Members of the largest union of university teaching staff in the UK, the University and College Union (UCU), are fighting to stop an outrageous attack on retirement benefits;

Whereas, University administrators propose to end the current guaranteed pension plan, replacing it with individual investment accounts, on the pretext of a fictional deficit “crisis;”

Whereas, Workers in the United States, including New Jersey educators, are very familiar with the use of manufactured “crises” to undermine retirement plans, which attack workers’ long-term security by stealing their own deferred wages;

Be it resolved that the AAUP-AFT chapters at Rutgers University call on Universities UK to give up their shameful attack on defined-benefit pensions and negotiate with UCU in good faith;

And be it resolved that we stand in solidarity with the members of the UCU, saluting their commitment to security, equity, and dignity in the workplace and in retirement.

Read the resolution Solidarity-with-UCU-20-February-2018

Rutgers Council of AAUP-AFT Chapters represents 7,700 faculty, including full-time faculty who are tenured, tenure-track, and non-tenure track (state and grant-funded), graduate workers (Teaching Assistants and Graduate Assistants), Part-Time Lecturer faculty, Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) Counselors, Postdocs, and Winter Session & Summer S

UCU members in LAWPL have kindly shred this bilingual out of office message for use during the strike action. Please feel free to copy and paste.

Nid wyf yn gallu agor fy e-bost heddiw gan fod aelodau UCU Caerdydd yn ymgymryd â gweithredu diwydiannol, ynghyd â 60+ o brifysgolion eraill, er mwyn gwrthwynebu’r toriadau dinistriol i’n cynllun pensiwn. Bydd aelodau UCU Caerdydd ar streic ar 22-23 Chwefror, 26-28 Chwefror, 5-8 Mawrth a 12-16 Mawrth. Peidiwch ag e-bostio yn ystod y dyddiau hyn os gwelwch yn dda gan na fydd modd i mi ymateb i’r e-byst sydd wedi eu gyrru i mi ar ddiwrnodau’r streic pan fyddaf yn dychwelyd. Os hoffech fwy o wybodaeth am yr anghydfod, ewch i www.cardiffucu.org.uk os gwelwch yn dda. Os ydych yn fyfyriwr/aig, mae croeso i chi gysylltu â v-c@cardiff.ac.uk er mwyn darganfod pa gamau sy’n cael eu cymryd gan yr Is-ganghellor er mwyn osgoi’r anghydfod. 

Myfyrwyr Personol: Os yw eich ymholiad yn un brys, cysylltwch â’r swyddfa gwasanaeth myfyrwyr (UGlaw@cardiff.ac.uk)

 I am not able to check email today as members of Cardiff UCU are taking industrial action, along with members at 60+ other universities, in opposition to the devastating cuts to our pension scheme. Members of Cardiff UCU will be on strike on 22-23 February, 26-28 February, 5-8 March and 12-16 March. Please do not email on these days as I will not be able to respond to emails sent to me on strike days on my return. If you would like more information about the dispute, please go to www.cardiffucu.org.uk. If you are a student, please do contact v-c@cardiff.ac.uk to find out what steps the Vice-Chancellor is taking to avoid a dispute.

 Personal Tutees: If your matter is urgent , please contact the student services office. (email depending on department – eg. UGlaw@cardiff.ac.uk)

The UCU national website also has  the text of an email footer for days outside the strike action: https://www.ucu.org.uk/Out-of-office

To donate to our strike hardship fund, to support particularly those many members on low-paid and casual contracts, use the account below:

Name: UCU Cardiff LA12 Fighting Fund
Account No.: 20341260
Bank Sort code: 608301
Bank: Unity Trust Bank

Thank you for your support.

All are welcome at open meetings in various locations this week to discuss the pensions issue and the planned action. These meetings are not just for UCU members but for all staff – so bring along your colleagues! In some schools, departmental reps have volunteered to organise local meetings, and there will be a meeting on Weds for all staff across the University.

• Meeting for staff across the University: Weds 14 Feb, 1pm, Wallace Lecture Theatre, Main Building
• Business: Weds 14 Feb, 2pm, T23 Aberconway Building
• Engineering: Fri 16 Feb, 1.10pm, Lecture Theatre S1.25 (T4) Queen’s Buildings
• Social Sciences: Weds 14 Feb, 12pm, Room 0.85 Glamorgan Building
• University IT: Thurs 15 Feb, 1pm, 41 Park Place Meeting Room (fully booked!)

If you are organising a meeting in your school – let us know and we will update this post!