| Dear Unison Member,
Staffordshire University employers have announced that they will move lower-paid staff into a “subco” or wholly-owned subsidiary company, with the aim of cutting the pensions of mainly lower-paid women.
Our branch is currently in dispute over these changes. Our employer wants to transfer grade 1-6 staff over to the new subco. This would strip them of the local government pension scheme (LGPS) and replace it with an inferior defined contribution scheme. This would result in much lower pensions for the majority of these staff – who are already the lowest paid and are mainly women.
In addition, it creates a two-tier pension scheme in the workplace, where the better paid staff remain in the LGPS but the lower paid staff lose out.
Our members at Staffordshire University were recently balloted for sustained strike action. On a 56% turnout over 80% voted yes for strike action; and have embarked on a series of strike days.
We are asking UNISON branches to support us because this issue has national implications and if the employers are successful, it will be attractive to other universities looking to cut costs at the expense of lower-paid workers and other areas of the public sector.
Send us a messages of support to enquiries.unison@staffs.ac.uk
Send a donation cheque
Make it payable to UNISON Staffordshire University and post it to:
Staffordshire University UNISON Branch
E237, Cadman
Staffordshire University
College Road
Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 2DE
Together we can stop this and protect fair pensions for our members.
Yours in solidarity,
Amelia Rout
Branch Secretary
Staffordshire University Branch |
