Dear Colleague,

University and College Union (UCU) have now announced the dates of the 18 days of strike action taking place in February and March 2023.

Sussex is one of 150 universities where members have voted in favour of industrial action over pay and working conditions, and one of 67 where members are striking in relation to the University Superannuation Scheme (USS) pension scheme.

The first day of strike action will take place next week on Wednesday 1 February. Further industrial action has now also been confirmed for the following dates:

• Thursday 9 February and Friday 10 February
• Tuesday 14 February, Wednesday 15 February and Thursday 16 February
• Tuesday 21 February, Wednesday 22 February and Thursday 23 February
• Monday 27 February and Tuesday 28 February
• Wednesday 1 March and Thursday 2 March
• Thursday 16 March and Friday 17 March, and
• Monday 20 March, Tuesday 21 March and Wednesday 22 March.

In addition to strike action, UCU is also asking its members to take action short of a strike (known as ASOS) from 23 November 2022 onwards until 20 April this year.

ASOS consists of:

• working to contract
• not covering for absent colleagues
• removing uploaded materials related to, and/or not sharing materials related to, lectures or classes that will be or have been cancelled as a result of strike action
• not rescheduling lectures or classes cancelled due to strike action, and
• not undertaking any voluntary activities.

In a further update, the marking and assessment boycott, which was planned to start on 23 January, has now been postponed by UCU.

We recognise that no-one decides to take industrial action lightly and we respect people’s right to strike to improve pay, working conditions, and pensions. We are aware that in these financially challenging times, pay is at the forefront of everyone’s minds.

Last term, in response to the cost of living crisis, the University provided a £6.6m support package for staff and students. We have provided this despite the financial uncertainty, driven by the unprecedented rising costs impacting employers, Higher Education (HE) funding uncertainties, and sizeable increases in employers’ pension contributions.

We remain committed to working collaboratively with you all to become an employer of choice and to improve our employment practices and working conditions for all staff. We are keen to continue to work with our three recognised campus trade unions, Unite, Unison and UCU to achieve this, as we did over 16 weeks to reach a joint agreement on a number of issues relating to pay and working conditions.

Background to the industrial action
This latest strike action in relation to USS is part of a national, long-running and complex dispute, and as with previous action, agreement about both USS and pay can only be reached at a national level.

The 2023-24 New JNCHES - Joint Negotiating Committee for HE Staff - pay round involves Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) and participating HE institutions and trade unions. At Sussex, like other universities, we are bound by a collective bargaining agreement.

This pay round comes at a time when the sector continues to battle unprecedented challenges and insecurities, financial and otherwise, but we are also aware of the very significant cost of living pressures on staff.

Hence, at Sussex we also fully support targeting higher increases in pay at colleagues on lower pay and it was for this reason that we sought accreditation as a ‘real living wage’ (RLW) employer. We also implemented the most recent RLW pay uplift as soon as possible.

What options are available?
We very much hope that national agreements can be reached that are acceptable to our staff, but we also recognise that financial circumstances for all universities are very challenging. Universities UK (UUK) and UCEA have both expressed their commitment to continued dialogue with UCU and, in particular, have asked UCU to come forward with viable proposals. On USS, proposals would also have to satisfy the Pensions Regulator.

What next?
We will provide regular updates to staff via the Staff Hub and to students via the Student Hub.

We are committed to seeking to minimise the disruption to students and the impact on their learning outcomes, as we recognise that industrial action impacts the educational experience at Sussex. As with previous industrial action, we will do everything we can to ensure our students can continue to learn and receive support.

Keith Jones
Interim Provost and Chair of the Joint Negotiating Council