As Term 2 draws to a close, thus ending the 14-day UCU strike period that has spanned across the last 4 weeks, we wanted to update the student body to review what’s happened so far and, crucially, where we go from here.

To briefly recap, the University and College Union (UCU) has undertaken unprecedented industrial action in order to stop a set of reforms that would see their pensions upon retirement cut by around 40% - that’s roughly equivalent to a loss of £10,000 a year. Earlier this term during our SU Referenda week, students voted overwhelmingly in favour of a motion which called on the SU to support staff in their fight for fair pensions. You can read our previous SU statement here.

So, what has happened since the strikes began? Many of you may have seen on Monday it was reported that, pending approval from UCU’s Higher Education Committee (HEC), UCU and Universities UK (UUK) had reached a supposed deal in this dispute. However, this deal was deemed as entirely insufficient by tens of thousands of striking staff at institutions across the country, including here at Warwick, who argued that it failed to address the fundamental reasons for the strike taking place in the first place. As such, due to widespread pressure from both staff and students who have supported the strike, the UCU HEC voted not to support this deal. We would encourage you to read Warwick UCU’s statement here which sets out precisely why the deal could not be accepted.

As soon as the deal was rejected, UCU immediately issued a call-out to UUK to return to talks aimed at meaningfully ending the strike. UUK have since responded confirming that they would like to meet with UCU as soon as possible to better understand their members’ concerns and to seek an urgent resolution to this strike.

In addition to this, over the past few weeks we have seen a number of Vice-Chancellors come out against the proposed pensions reforms (as our own Vice-Chancellor had already done) in response to pressure from both staff and students. This includes the Vice-Chancellors at both Oxford and Cambridge universities, amongst others.

Thus with further talks already in the pipeline, and with opposition to the pensions reforms growing day by day, it is now more important than ever to ramp up our collective efforts to end this strike with a fair deal on pensions. As an SU, our absolute priority is to do everything we can to bring this strike to a meaningful conclusion before Term 3 so as to minimise the impact on students. UUK have it within their power to make this a reality.

We have requested an emergency meeting with Stuart Croft, our Vice-Chancellor, to discuss various issues relating to the strike including Warwick’s role in bringing us closer to a deal which would end the dispute. We hope to meet with him towards the end of next week. We will of course also be seeking assurances from the University in terms of mitigating adverse impacts on students’ educational experience. If you have concerns or questions about how the strike so far has affected things such as assessments and deadlines, we would encourage you to contact your Head of Department to ask for clarity.

We fully understand that students, especially finalists, are justifiably feeling concerned about what the strike will mean for their education. We also recognise that many students are trying to square these personal concerns with wanting to support their staff in their fight for fair and decent pensions.

We want to stress that students have a crucial role to play in meaningfully ending this strike as soon as possible. There has already been a lot of movement over the last few weeks owing to the incredible show of strength and pressure from students and staff united all over the country. Together, we can end this strike and help staff to secure a fair pensions deal.

So what can students do? Here are a few key actions:

• Email the Chair and Chief Executive of UUK, calling on them to put forward meaningful proposals which adequately address staff’s concerns. We’ve put together this template email you can use.
   
• Email our Vice-Chancellor, telling him that you support him in his opposition to the damaging pensions reforms and calling on him to do everything within his power to bring about a meaningful end to the strike. We’ve put together this template email you can use.
   
• Given that the local MPs representing Warwick students have come out publicly against the pension reforms, get in touch with your home MPs and ask them to do the same. In particular, ask them to support the parliamentary Early Day Motion 619 “Defending Academic Pensions”.  
   
• Sign the petition demanding that UUK be subject to the Freedom of Information Act, to ensure that they are fully transparent and cannot continue to make unsubstantiated decisions behind closed doors, which is one of the key underlying problems driving this dispute.

As a community, we all want nothing more than for staff to return to what they love doing - teaching, researching and supporting students’ education. This can and will happen if UUK listen to the concerns of tens of thousands up and down the country and offer a fair deal on pensions.

In unity,
Your Sabbatical Officer team.