Details of local press coverage regarding the marking and assessment boycott
We are pleased to report a lot of coverage in the local press concerning the current industrial action taken by UCU members. Watch/listen out for interviews with Meridian TV and Wave Radio.
More details can be found here:
http://www.itv.com/news/meridian/update/2014-11-06/university-lecturers-to-go-on-strike/
http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/11580160.Uni_lecturers_boycott_marking_over_national_pensions_row/
We welcome the independent effort of staff in Geography and ECS in supporting the fight against proposed changes to the USS pension scheme.
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Dear Prof Nutbeam,
We would like to share with you how concerned your colleagues are regarding the proposed abolition of the Final Salary Scheme (FSS). Such a change would significantly affect both established and early career staff who have been encouraged to make future plans on the provisions of this scheme. We are deeply concerned that Southampton has been pulled into a proposal that could produce significant decreases in the financial security of staff.
We are particularly concerned at the lack of transparency surrounding this issue. Indeed, there are increasing reasons to dispute some of the fundamental conclusions that underpin the proposed changes.
Therefore we appeal to you that you withdraw the University of Southampton from the USS / Universities proposal that includes elimination of the Final Salary Scheme.
To elaborate, we support the letter from the group of internationally recognised statisticians concerning the errors in the Employers Pension Forum regarding “Proposed Changes to USS – Myths, Misconceptions and Misunderstandings”.
Furthermore, we agree with the questions raised by Oxford Professor Cooper regarding the assumptions behind the valuation of the Pension Fund. In particular
“It is hard to avoid the conclusion that the proposed decrease in our pension benefits is due to an unreasonable method of calculating the deficit and a mis-conceived reaction to it. Central UCU officers have been arguing with USS for a more sensible valuation method, but so far without success….Since most of the USS investments are not in gilts, it is not at all clear that this is a sensible way to estimate the liabilities, especially when the gilts market is in an unusual state. The problem is not the investment strategy, which has performed well, but the calculation method.”
We were informed that the changes introduced in 2011 would assure the future viability of USS, details here.
We also agree with the Hutton Pension report’s recommendation on Final Salary Schemes that these should be respected as well as protected, that the cost in erosion of trust is too high.
Based on the conclusions of both eminent experts and third party professional analysis provided by the UCU, and in concert with the Hutton report’s recommendations, we do not see a fair basis for the radical set of proposals put forward by the Universities/USS.
We therefore request that you act on behalf of your colleagues and assume a leadership role in these pension discussions and withdraw the University of Southampton from supporting any proposal that would disband the Final Salary Scheme.
Members of Electronics & Computer Science
Thomas Andritsch
Markus Brede
Michael Butler
John Carter
Paul Chappell
Martin Charlton
George Chen
Sheng Chen
Harold Chong
Tim Chown
Bing Chu
Enrico Costanza
Richard Crowder
Hugh Davis
Maruitis de Planque
Terry Elliot
Julian Field
Chris Freeman
Stephen B Gabriel
Enrico Gerding
Lester Gilbert
Nick Gibbins
Igor Golosnoy
Nicolas Green
Basal Halak
Lajos Hanzo
Nick Harris
Jonathon Hare
Yvonne Howard
Jack Hunter
Lie-Liang
Paul Lewin
Joyce Lewis
Sasan Mahmoodi
Koushik Maharatna
Kirk Martinez
Rob Maunder
Iain McNally
Geoff Merrett
David Millard
Hywel Morgan
Brendan Neville
Mahesan Niranjan
Michael Ng
Reena Pau
James Pilgrim
Maria Polukarov
Themis Prodromakis
Mike Poppleton
Sarvapali Ramchurn
Bill Redman White
Jeff Reeve
Alex Rogers
Eric Rogers
Vladimiro Sassone
m.c. schraefel
Sebastian Stein
Colin Upstill
Alun Vaughan
Mike Wald
Richard Watson
Alex S Weddell
Neil White
Reuben Wilcock
James Wilkinson
Peter Wilson
Ed Zaluska
Klaus-Peter Zauner
Rong Zhang
Mark Zwolinski
Members of Geography & Environment
Pete Atkinson
Sam Cockings
Nick Clarke
Steve Darby
John Dearing
James Dyke
Mary Edwards
Lyn Ertl
Jane Hart
Paul Hughes
Pete Langdon
Julian Leyland
Graham Moon
Jo Nield
Suzanne Reimer
Emma Roe
Gareth Roberts
David Sear
Luigi Sedda
Peter Sunley
Richard Teves
Emma Tompkins
Julie Vullnetari
Nicola Waldrop
Eleanor Wilkinson
Article published in the THES
Last week, the Employers Pension Forum published “Proposed Changes to USS – Myths, Misconceptions and Misunderstandings”. The document contains misinformation and a mistake. We focus on the section “M7: The assumptions used to value the fund have been chosen to artificially create a large deficit”.
Having reviewed the assumptions given in the 2013 annual report, we believe, as statisticians and financial mathematicians, that each assumption is inadequately justified and that cumulatively they are unreasonably pessimistic and incoherent. The predicted salary increases assume a buoyant economy while investment returns assume a recession.
For example, the average annual rate of return on assets achieved by the Universities Superannuation Scheme over the past 10 years was about 7 per cent and over the past five years about 11 per cent. It is therefore difficult to understand the EPF’s assertion that “since 2011…the continuing global economic challenges…have had a detrimental impact on the value of USS’ assets”.
Meanwhile, members’ wages are assumed to grow by the retail price index plus 1 per cent (taken to be 4.4 per cent) plus incremental increases. Over the past 20 years the actual rate was about 2.7 per cent, with similar growth over the past 10 years. Post-2008 rates show negative real-pay growth. The age-related assumption is wage growth (1 per cent to 4 per cent) by progress up the salary scale: anecdotally this assumption leads to higher pay growth rates than the majority of academics have experienced over the past 10 or 20 years. As the fund’s actual experience was used to give a mean retirement age of 62 years at the last valuation, it seems odd that salary assumptions do not also reflect actual experience.
The assumptions on mortality appear to be unchanged from the 2011 valuation, yet the EPF archly advances the statement that “members of the USS are living longer so the pension scheme has to pay pensions in retirement for longer than planned” as a reason for deterioration in the fund’s position since 2011.
A reasonable change in any one of these assumptions would give a lower estimated deficit. The EPF states that although changing the assumptions in this instance could affect the size of the deficit, “it cannot change a deficit into a surplus”. It takes little mathematical knowledge to recognise that this statement is wrong.
Saul Jacka, professor of statistics, University of Warwick
Peter Green FRS, professor emeritus of statistics, University of Bristol
Steven Haberman FIA, dean, Cass Business School
Jane Hutton, department of statistics, University of Warwick
John Aston, professor of statistics, University of Cambridge
Sir David Spiegelhalter FRS, Winton professor of the public understanding of risk, University of Cambridge
Charles Taylor, professor of statistics, University of Leeds
Simon Wood, professor of statistics, University of Bath
Qiwei Yao, professor of statistics, London School of Economics
Michalis Zervos, professor of mathematics, London School of Economics
Dear Colleagues
I was somewhat bemused by the VC’s e-letter concerning the proposed changes to the USS pension scheme and relatedly the UCU strike ballot so I went searching for some more information (happily Professor Mike Otsuka at the LSE had already collected most of it) so here are the links for those who wish to follow them.
1. Oxford University’s response to the USS/UUK proposals which is much more sceptical (perhaps because Oxford still has a civic structure, it seems to take it’s academics interest seriously): https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7G5ZYL-S4zDanB4Nk9CSzJ5RlU/view?pli=1
2. This response is informed by an analysis done by Susan Cooper, who is Oxford’s UCU Pensions Officer and also a Physics Professor there and a former member of their Council. It’s clear that her analysis had a significant impact on the position that Oxford’s senior management took. http://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/Users/scooper/USS/2014-09%20Analysis%20of%20USS%20changes.pdf
3. Additionally pensions expert and LSE governor Ros Altmann makes a cogent argument here: http://pensionsandsavings.com/pensions/dont-lecture-universities-on-their-pension-scheme/
4. For a counter-briefing on the UUK view, see Dennis Leech at Warwick’s powerpoint: http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/files/dennisleech/uss_bham.pptx
5. Support for the claim that DC schemes are far more inefficient is given by a large Canadian study: https://cpplc.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/db-vs-dc_plans_research-paper_online_20140924_rvsd1.pdf
6. Finally on the proven incompetence/duplicity of UUK ‘fact sheets’ see these links: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/comment/letters/pensions-puzzle/2016381.article & http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/dennisleech/entry/uss_employers_shown_1/
Professor David Owen
School of Social Sciences
University of Southampton
We had an excellent attendance at Malcolm’s talk today: all seats filled and Professors sitting at his feet.
We used Panopto to record him ; you can view the video at:
https://coursecast.soton.ac.uk/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=8f9848b5-4318-44b0-9d4c-b7f173f44f18
It’s probably best to start about 1m 45s in; we’ll edit it properly later.
Don’t forget to vote in the ballot; you need to post your paper by tomorrow.
Denis Nicole
Southampton UCU held a special General meeting on 11 September to highlight the proposed changes to the USS pension scheme. The meeting was attended by approximately 60 members and provoked a lively and interesting debate with members who showed real concern about the impact of the proposals. After all, your pension is deferred pay – it is part of your overall pay package.
The Employers’ consultation is based on a Hybrid. This will redefine the way that the salary link for past service is worked out from a link to the individual members’ final salary to CPI. All future service (for all members) will be based on a core defined benefit scheme modelled on the current career-average scheme for new starters up to a cap (the example given is £40k). Above the cap, members and employers could contribute to a defined contribution scheme.
The powerpoint presentation can be found here:
140911 Southampton UCU GM on USS
A UCU conference on USS has been called for Friday 19 September to discuss these proposals and to plan our way forward. We will update members following this meeting.
We cannot stress enough that if these proposals go ahead they will have a serious impact on YOUR pension. Please encourage your non-member colleagues to join UCU – the more members we have the stronger the voice. www.ucu.org.uk/join
USS pension scheme – more proposed changes afoot
Members of Southampton UCU are invited to attend the branch Annual General Meeting which is being held from 1.00pm – 2.30pm on Thursday 19 June in room 34/3001 (education building), Highfield.
The meeting will discuss the rumoured proposed changes to the USS pension scheme. These changes, if implemented, will have serious implications for your pensions and we would like an opportunity to hear your views. We shall be joined by Dennis Leech, Professor of Economics at Warwick University, who will discuss the potential impact of these changes and what this means to you.
The recent Times Higher article discusses the end of final salary pension and a move to the career average scheme, a cut of 6% in pension received under the CARE scheme and an increase in pension contributions. Read it here: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/is-it-the-end-for-uss-final-salary-pensions/2013456.article
Please come along and join in the discussion.
Also at the meeting, we shall be electing officers to the local Executive committee. If you would like to nominate yourself for one of the posts please contact Amanda at ucu@soton.ac.uk for a nomination form. Posts for election are: President, Honorary Secretary, Membership and campaigns secretary, Honorary Treasurer, Safety officer, Environmental officer, Equality officer, fixed term contract officer, postgraduate and SUSU liaison officer, academic-related staff officer, and four ordinary member posts.
We look forward to seeing you on 19 June.
Followers of this blog will know that we don’t usually use this space to write in positive terms about “the management”. Right now in the middle of a tough national dispute about Fair Pay in HE, facing a marking boycott from 28th April, it does feel odd to be writing this. But here goes.
Malcolm Ace, the University’s Chief Operating Officer, will be leaving the University for the NHS in May. This news has been met with surprise, shock and sadness by us here in Southampton UCU.
We will miss Malcolm. A lot.
Malcolm has been on the other side of the joint negotiating table from the campus trades unions – first as Chief Finance Officer and then as COO since 2004 . He has represented the University side in arguments about the new pay framework, job evaluations and successive pay claims and he has put the management case for restructurings and redundancies.
We did not always agree with Malcolm. But as one of the negotiators on the union side of the table I always respected him. Malcolm demonstrated thoughtfulness and integrity in his dealings with staff and their trade union representatives. He listened to our arguments. He worried about doing the right thing and the best thing. He genuinely cared about staff here.
But for Malcolm it was not just talk. He acted – often quietly – but always motivated by doing the right thing. He visited picket lines to make the University case against strike action but also, memorably last year, stood in the cold and rain to tell staff driving their cars at the picketers that this behaviour was not acceptable. Recently he stepped in to solve a problem, taking ownership of a mistake made by another member of a team, apologising in person to all those affected and making sure the problem was resolved. For me these episodes were examples of true leadership. Just small things, but reflecting deep values that many of us share.
So, don’t hold your breath for another post like this, but I felt this should be put in print. Malcolm, we will miss you.
Professor Catherine Pope, Southampton UCU Hon Treasurer
The next UCU General meeting is taking place on Wednesday 26 March from 1.00pm – 2.30pm in room 27/2003. The main topic of the meeting will be the upcoming marking boycott and we shall be joined by Terry Hoad, UCU HE committee member. We would encourage you to come along and share your views with us.
Dear colleagues
Earlier today you may have seen a statement issued by the University regarding recent negotiations on the Living Wage at the University of Southampton.
We at UCU, UNISON and Unite wish to make clear that we in no way endorse this statement, and further, we believe that this statement thoroughly misrepresents the facts. The issue of the Living Wage was first brought to the University’s attention at the Joint Negotiating Committee on 18 October 2013, following an initial FOI request sent by Southampton Living Wage Campaign on 13 August 2013. A paper was presented on this issue at the JNC which was fully endorsed by all three unions.
At this initial JNC discussion the University responded that they would re-evaluate their position on the Living Wage only after the resolution of the 2013/2014 pay claim. In the months since, all three unions have consistently and visibly campaigned on the Living Wage and fair pay for the lowest-paid University staff, and it is only after these months of campaigning that the University has put forward this Living Wage supplement.
Throughout this dispute, all three union branches at this University have continued to negotiate on local issues, and at no point have we ceased cooperation due to the current national situation. The University, in contrast, has repeatedly refused to negotiate formally on local concerns for the duration of the dispute, and has told us that they have no plans to strive to be a true Living Wage Employer.
The current statement on SUSSED does not acknowledge the contribution of unions and their members at this University in bringing this issue to the fore, nor does it accept responsibility for the University’s own refusals to engage on this and other issues for the duration of the current pay dispute.
UCU, UNISON and Unite at the University of Southampton