One of our Deputy Editors for Exeposé sat down with the USS (Universities Superannuation Scheme) Pension Officer for Union and University College Union (UCU).
É: So if you could just give a brief overview about what you do here at the University of Exeter?
BC: I am Dr Barrie Cooper, I am an associate Professor in Mathematics, a Postgraduate Taught Director and an Educational Scholarship member of staff. I’m also Director of Digitally Enhanced Learning in the College of Engineering, Maths and Sciences which means I had a great deal of responsibility with what happened last year during the Coronavirus pandemic and the response to it. From the Union’s point of view I am USS Pensions Officer and a past branch President.
É: How did you come to be a part of the UCU?
BC: As long as I’ve been a member of staff I’ve been a member of UCU, I feel very strongly that in order to protect the staff and student experience we need to come together as a collective and that’s what the union does perfectly. We know that if we leave it to the employer wages fall, worker’s conditions get worse, pensions get slashed and you need to come together as a team to challenge these things and fight for fairness.
É: What led you to the role of USS Pension Officer, why did you want to become so involved in the UCU?
BC: I saw it as an opportunity to give staff voice, where sometimes they feel they are ignored. Opportunity to influence policy and practice, so when I saw things that weren’t right on behalf of members and all staff I could try and make a difference.
É: If you could give a brief overview about what the UCU are balloting for?
BC: So there are two national disputes, there is a dispute around pensions, for the last ten years or so we have seen repeated cuts to our pensions because the model they are using is completely broken. Every three years there is an evaluation and every three years they say there is no money, and try to increase our contributions or reduce our benefits. Unfortanelty we are in that position again, not only are they using a broken model but decided to conduct the evaluation while the economy was collapsing during the Coronavirus pandemic. They made a poor decision to judge the value of the scheme at that specific point. The other dispute is called Four Fights. It’s on pay; we have seen pay cut in real terms in the last decade, now a new member of staff is earning 20 per cent less than ten years ago. We are also seeing workloads increase, so for less pay we are given heavier workloads. We worked tirelessly over the last year, during the lockdown, to ensure as good an experience as possible was given to students. The third element is on casualisation; there are far too many staff who are employed on casualisation contracts rather than fixed contracts, it means that they didn’t get all the safeguards you would expect when employed. We have had some PhD students here at the University of Exeter for the first half of this term teaching without a contract, because the University has not got around to issuing one. We want to stamp that out. The fourth element is on equality, there are still massive gaps for different genders, disabled staff compared to non-disabled staff, and all staff across different ethnicities. The University have to report the gender pay gap, but we want to go beyond that and take accountability. These low percentages are not badges of honour, we need to expose them and take action.
É: Did negotiations take place before the decision to launch a ballot was made? Are these on a local or national level?
BC: So, most of the negotiations are held nationally, pension negotiations and pay negotiations. Balloting for industrial action is always a last resort when we can’t make any more progress with negotiations. In the case of pension changes to our benefits and to the scheme, changes are being forced through without the agreement of the UCU trustees on the USS board. We have gone past the period for negotiations, the aim of industrial action is always to bring negotiators back to the table and find a settlement, but we are not being taken seriously. They are pushing through things without our agreement. With pay, the offer yet again is far below inflation which means a real terms cut, I am really concerned about the future of the profession, with new academics starting on wages 20 per cent lower than those ten years ago. There are things that happen at local level, we have been working with the university over casualisation. Local level discussion and agreements are great but we also need to see national level action so it’s not just at the behest of some better employers to implement some of this stuff.
É: How does the UCU make the decision to create a ballot for members across the UK to vote? Is it up to individual institutions to opt in on whether to have the opportunity to vote?
BC: Every institution branch that is eligible will have the opportunity to vote. Not every member of UCU will be in the USS pension scheme, many newer universities are in the teachers pension scheme. So they might only be balloted on the fourth fights rather than the pensions dispute.
É: Were you involved in the last strikes that took place at Exeter in 2019? Were you on the committee?
BC: Yes, I was on the committee as representative of the College of Engineering, Maths and Sciences. I took part in the strike action. I think it is vitally important to show how seriously we take those issues. But also to disrupt the business of the University, it’s only this way we can put enough pressure for a return to negotiations. It’s important for students to be aware of these issues as well, I would love for it not to get to industrial action. Students can stand with the staff, it’s not staff vs student. We need to close these issues in terms of equality. I think this is something students are really passionate about, especially intergenerational equality. Action together can prevent industrial action that might come along.
É: What was promised after the strikes last year? Anything that hasn’t been delivered?
BC: In 2019 we managed to fight off a closure to the ‘defined benefit’ USS scheme. They were going to change to an entirely ‘defined contribution’ scheme which means you don’t know what you get paid. ‘Defined benefit’ is where you pay in and the university pay in, 10 percent is paid by staff and 20 percent by the university, then what you get paid at the end is dependent on the average salary of your career and number of years you’ve been employed. You know exactly how much you are getting. With a ‘defined contribution’ scheme you pay in but you have no idea what you get out at the end. It is subject to the fluctuation of the market, you are worried at every stage, can I afford to retire, will this money last me? So we fended that off in 2019. One of the employers committed to look at the models being used, there were some working groups doing that but no significant changes have been implemented. They are using the same models, which means it looks like there is not enough money when in fact there is plenty to cover the cost of the scheme.
É : How do you feel that the current balloting is about the same issues as the last one? Do you feel that the University and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) have let you down with an offer of a 1.5 per cent or, for lower-paid staff, 3.6 per cent pay increase?
BC: I think it takes staff for granted if I’m honest. That is on top of a zero per cent increase last year. 1.5 per cent is way below inflation which is nearly at three per cent and we have seen this year after year. I think there has been one year in the past decade where we have had an inflationary pay rise. And this affects the lowest paid members of staff most of all.
I think it takes staff for granted if I’m honest.
Dr Barrie Cooper
É: Chief Executive of UCEA Raj Jethwa said, “We are disappointed that UCU is encouraging its members to ballot for action which is specifically designed to disrupt teaching and learning for students who have endured so much recent upheaval”. What is your opinion on that? Do you think students would be unfairly affected if a strike was to go ahead?
BC: I don’t think anyone wants industrial action to go ahead. We can turn that around and say how unfair it is for the UCEA to make such a paltry offer on top of the zero per cent pay rise last year, on top of all the hard work staff did, not the senior management, in order to make sure the learning experience was there. And now to come and pick this fight instead of rewarding their staff. Last year staff agreed, because we knew finances were in a difficult situation, to freeze promotion, to freeze any pay rises we would be entitled to through progression. We did that in an act of solidarity with the University. Finances ended up being alright and the University was able to pay back the increments. Yet it seems the UCEA are taking that for granted and have picked this fight as a time where it will be disruptive for students.
É: Speaking of students, what advice would you give to them in regards to how best to support their staff? What is the best way students can get involved and show they agree with the demands of UCU?
BC: It’s always best to be well informed about the situation, I have given my arguments but there will be other points of view you need to find out. Tell your staff that you support them, it makes such a difference to know, every staff is agonising over the impact the strikes would have on their students. They are in this profession because they love teaching, they love working with students, they love that environment. I think the way we can avoid industrial action or bring it to a close quickly is if students become organised and are vocal about their support. So demonstrations, writing to the VC and senior members of staff, be very vocal about this, it is a joint issue. Students I’m sure want staff who are not stressed in terms of too much workload and are not having to live in tents. You might have seen the article in The Guardian, one of our members of staff before she worked here was living in a tent, she was at one point our Anti-Casualisation Officer. She was teaching whilst living in a tent at a different university. This is not in students’ interest. We just need to get employers negotiating again.
É: What would you like to see the Guild do in support? Do you feel supported?
BC: I think at the moment they are just waiting to see what is going to happen. Four/five years ago there was really strong student support which made a massive difference. A few years ago it was a bit more equivocal. If students feel strongly about this then talk to your Guild Officers and put through motions that can become policy. Think about how to do that at an individual and collective level.
É: When do you find out the results of the vote?
BC: Midday today (Thursday 4 November 2021) the ballot closes. It comes fairly quickly, we might be notified by the end of the week but I don’t know for certain. We have called a branch meeting for Wednesday next week, when hopefully we should discuss the results of the vote.
É: Has a course of action already been decided or is it decided once the decision to act has been made by members?
BC: Once we get the results of the ballot, nationally there will be a discussion involving all the branches and the executive committees to decide what to do now. It may well be different action in different branches. It is possible there will be strikes before Christmas, if we were to vote in favour of strike action. Also there will be discussions nationally and with the branches as to what the action will look like. At any time the employers can come to us and discuss negotiations again, the industrial action can be called off at any time. Employers can pick up the phone and say they are prepared to meet our demands. The big question is not whether staff will vote in favour or not but whether enough members will vote. It needs to be 50 per cent plus one.
É: Do you know the percentage of University staff who are members of the UCU?
BC: From the top of my head there’s around 1,200 members in this branch [note: in the recent ballots there were 1,005 members who were eligible to vote in the USS pension scheme ballot according to the vote report issued] and not every member of staff is eligible. Some might be dual students and staff such as PhD students. We have other unions, we have Unite and Unison who look after different areas of staff such as administration and maintenance.
É: Finally, is there anything you’d like to say before we finish?
BC: I find it really interesting that the people who say we can’t afford a good pension, we can’t afford to have free university tuition, we can’t afford to buy houses because prices are too high and salaries are too low. They were the ones benefitting when things were the other way round. The ones now making the decision had better pensions, salaries much higher than they are now, free university education. This is an intergenerational thing, I’m worried that if we lose these pensions what is going to happen to the next generation? There are all sorts of things we can fight together on, it seems totally unfair that we are being told we can’t afford that, also we have messed up the climate and you have to deal with that.
