Monthly Archives: June 2023

A message for students, past and present, at Imperial College London, from the UCU

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Dear all,

this is a message from the Imperial College branch of the UCU to say THANK YOU to the student body of Imperial College for your support over the last few years in the battle to save our pensions. The problems started over 10 years ago, and came to head in 2018 when the union went on the first of a series of strikes over proposed cuts which would have destroyed the pension scheme. 

We are pleased to say, that after many years of strikes and negotiations, it looks like our pension benefits are set to be restored. This is conditional on events that will happen over the next few months, but the forecast is very positive. 

Two things are for sure though:  

(i) if we had settled for the management line, and not taken strike action over the last 6 years, our pensions would now be worth a lot less, and, 

(ii) the strikes would not have been anywhere near as effective without the support of the student body.

There are further fights to be won in Higher Education – our local dispute over pay continues for example – but this is significant, so our thanks for your continued support.

Regards,

Imperial College UCU

Recommendation on declaring days of MAB action

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Imperial UCU MAB declaration recommendation
You don’t declare MAB until asked, and then you must declare.
Different parts of College are handling this in different ways but one eventual outcome following a declaration is that your department informs HR, who then write you a standard message informing you of the 25% pay deduction on a certain day. Note the time lag on receiving this message following declaration is variable, and seems to take at least two weeks. 
 
It seems HR are sending a standard letter from their industrial action account with a line in italics in the middle that either says (a) they have noted you want pensions contributions made up, or, (b) that have not​ been informed about this yet, so please reply if want this done. With MAB, wait till this letter arrives and then reply if needed to have the pension contributions made up.

Recommendation on declaring days of strike action

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We recommend the following following days of full strike action 
The employer won’t formally know unless you declare it after the action.
You must​ inform HR after​ you have been on strike. You can email HR at industrialaction@imperial.ac.uk copying in anyone else relevant (e.g. your line manager and/or HoD) with something like:
To whom it may concern,
This is to notify you that I participated in [N] days of UCU industrial action striking on the
 
[list of dates]
I would like to make my employee’s pension contributions for the [N] days that I took strike action and I request that the College make the employer’s contributions for those [N] days. I ask for confirmation about whether this action will be taken.
Regards,  
                [your name & CID]