Solent University staff to strike for 5 days in fight to save pension

The full strike dates are:

• Week one: Thursday 30 April
• Week two: Tuesday 5, Wednesday 6, Thursday 7 and Friday 8 May

Staff will be on picket lines from 8am to 12pm every strike day at the Spark Building and Michael Andrews Building (both at East Park Terrace, Southampton, SO14 0YN).

The strike comes after management emailed 357 academic staff who are on the Teacher's Pension Scheme (TPS) during the Easter break (Tuesday 31 March) to tell them it wants to employ them through a subsidiary company from Wednesday 1 July. This means they would be forced out of the scheme, leaving them poorer in retirement.

The university says it needs to slash pension benefits to achieve financial savings, but its own analysis shows that the proposed cuts are less than a quarter of the outstanding deficit for the current financial year. However, the challenges faced by Southampton Solent University are not caused by the industry standard pension benefits, but by management failure to grow the university, despite it receivingTEF Gold in 2023, the highest rating in the UK's Teaching Excellence Framework, and toppingthe Hampshire rankings of the National Student Survey last year.

Last December, management forced all 286 professional support staff onto the inferior pension scheme by threatening to cease their employment "immediately" and without compensation if they refused to transfer over.

UCU estimates the pension cut would reduce pension benefits by a third, leaving Southampton Solent University's academic staff up to £10,000 worse off per year in retirement.

Solent UCU Branch President Stephen Desmond said: 'Solent management has left us no choice but to take sustained strike action as we fight to save our dignity in retirement. It is short-sighted for management to gut staff pensions, rather than focus on creative ways to grow the university. The vice-chancellor must think again. Staff have constantly delivered for Solent, ensuring it is one of the best places in the UK to study. It is time for management to start respecting and valuing staff.'

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: 'Tearing up pension provision is devastating for our members and could destroy the university's future. People will think twice before choosing to work or study at a university that treats its workforce the way Solent is attempting to. Management needs to stop attacking staff and start working with us to protect pensions.'