25th October 2021
Dear Vice-Chancellor,
Within the Brunel UCU Branch, we are concerned about a recent statement that you made directly to the Professional Pensions Web site, concerning prospective industrial action over the USS pensions dispute. Here are your own words from 8 October 2021:
The spectre of higher contributions is causing a great deal of worry for university leaders. Staff have worked immensely hard through the extremely challenging conditions forced on us by the Covid-19 pandemic, and it would be an utter travesty if further pension contributions hikes led to more staff not joining the scheme because of the cost, a further exodus of current staff members from the scheme because they cannot afford to pay in more, and mass redundancies as employers have to cut back elsewhere to pay higher pension costs. With so much financial uncertainty currently engulfing universities, and the significant financial pressures last year brought due to loss of commercial income and additional spending to make campuses Covid-secure and move teaching and support online, now is the time to shore up USS by making changes that guarantee good pension benefits without significant additional costs.
These comments could be construed as attempts toward intimidation and voter suppression – both of which constitute bullying. UCU members at Brunel apparently face the prospective loss of their jobs if they cast ballots (let alone vote for industrial action), based on your comments.
I respectfully ask that you retract your potentially intimidating 8 October 2021 comments from the Professional Pensions Web site. In particular, I ask that you act accordingly within the next week (i.e., by 1 November 2021) and immediately inform me once you have acted upon this request.
Thank you
Yours Sincerely
STANLEY O. GAINES, JR. (BRUNEL UCU BRANCH CHAIR)