Dispatches from the picket lines, Monday 14 February

Today saw the first day of industrial action as staff at 44 universities walked out over employers' refusal to withdraw cuts to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) or accept UCU's compromise proposals. UCU president-elect Janet Farrar and I visited picket lines at Glasgow; we also took part in the rally at Buchanan Steps and were joined by National Union of Students (NUS) Scotland president Matt Crilly and a large number of students. The mood was determined, angry, but always good humoured.

Reports and photos from branches across the UK reveal this was the same elsewhere. This round of industrial action has demonstrated that the dedication to the picket line and commitment to this dispute is just as fierce as in previous years, even if we are all exhausted from two years of a pandemic and from having to constantly fight to protect our pensions from cuts.

I emailed yesterday with updates about the very serious campaign of misinformation Universities UK (UUK) engaged in, and whilst they have corrected some of this on the USS Employers website, I am afraid to report that it is clear our proposals are still not being conveyed accurately to employers. During the course of this week the union will be emailing you and your branch with details of things you can do locally to help the union nationally, by putting pressure on your vice-chancellor to tell UUK that they want to see an end to this dispute, and to back UCU's pension proposals. There is still time for vice-chancellors to tell UUK that they do not want to see staff pensions cut, but we need to see action from each of them, not just warm words.

I will be in Bradford tomorrow, where I will see some of you in person, and to everyone else, see you on the digital picket.

Solidarity

Jo Grady
UCU general secretary