Meeting House

Dear Colleague,

Last Wednesday, Keith Jones, Interim Provost and Chair of the Joint Negotiating Committee, wrote to all staff about 18 days of strike action by members of the University and College Union (UCU), beginning tomorrow, Wednesday 1 February. 

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. 

As tomorrow, 1 February, is also a national day of action, staff may be impacted further by other non-campus trade unions, which include school teachers and train drivers. We recognise this may affect your ability to travel to campus and encourage you to speak to your line manager about working from home and any arrangements you need to discuss. For teaching staff this may mean delivering your teaching online. 

In addition to the 18 days which are:

• 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; 

UCU members are also being asked to take Action Short of a Strike (ASOS), until 20 April. 

I wanted to make you aware of what staff are required to do if they do take strike action. 
 
Staff must declare any strike action taken 
We ask colleagues to complete an industrial action declaration form to confirm any days of industrial action taken. This can be completed at intervals throughout the period of action or altogether at the end. However, in order that colleagues do not receive all their deductions in one go, we recommend that you self-declare on a monthly basis. The University will make deductions from pay over a four month period from February to May based on the declarations received at that point. Any days declared by 5pm on the payroll cut-off date (for past or future dates) will be deducted in that pay month. Colleagues will therefore have discretion over the deductions that are made from their pay each month, but all deductions must have been made by the May payroll. The payroll cut-off dates are as follows: 

• February - Friday 10 February 
• March - Friday 10 March 
• April - Wednesday 12 April 
• May - Friday 12 May

The final deadline by which all days must be declared is 5pm on Friday 12 May 2023. 
 
As Keith stated last week in his email, we very much hope that national agreements can be reached that are acceptable to our staff, but we also recognise that financial circumstances for universities are very challenging.

In respect of the USS dispute, in Keith’s email last week there was reference to a UCU proposal being awaited. This is not the current position, and all parties await the next valuation of the scheme in March. This is reflected on USS’s website. 

Further information 
We are providing a wide range of information to students, including what they can expect during the industrial action. It would be very helpful, if asked for any information, that you direct them to the Student Hub. 
 
We will also be updating information and guidance for you on our Industrial Action webpages, which include FAQs and a full glossary of terms. 

Peter Mitchell
Interim Director of HR