Firstly, I want to thank all students and staff for your understanding during the period of adverse weather at the end of last week. I am sorry we had to close parts of the university at short notice but it was the right thing to do given the sudden severity of the weather and the risks posed to students and staff. Even so, I know some of you struggled to get home on Thursday.
This week sees further industrial action at Southampton and at other universities nationwide. I know many students are concerned about the impact this is having and I want to assure you that our sole priority now is to ensure you will not be disadvantaged in progressing and successfully completing your studies here. Once again, I urge all members of staff to take every possible step to support our students, who are the innocent victims of a national dispute.
Last week I repeated my call for meaningful negotiations to take place between Universities UK (UUK) and UCU, and I am pleased that talks mediated by ACAS started yesterday, and will continue this week. UUK has again asked UCU to suspend industrial action while good faith talks take place.
As I also mentioned last week, I advocated publicly to other Vice-Chancellors at a UUK meeting an interesting proposal drafted by three Southampton academic staff members that was published in Times Higher Education yesterday: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/uss-strike-long-term-promise-employer-contributions-may-break-pensions-impasse#survey-answer. This deserves serious consideration by all parties.
I know that some staff have raised questions about deductions of pay, and we have pledged that all such deducted pay will go towards student bursaries. But it is not our intention to penalise staff further. In light of the renewed discussions between UUK and UCU, I have taken the decision not to withhold pay for action short of strike (ASOS) to ensure our students’ learning experience continues to be a priority.
I know the vast majority of staff, and the vast majority of students, are not involved in this dispute and simply want a resolution to be found, and soon. I am sure we would all echo that sentiment.
Professor Sir Christopher Snowden
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