Lecturers mark black day for pensions

September 28 October 3rd, UCU members in pre-1992 universities will be marking the imposition of changes to the USS pension system by wearing black. Lecturers stand to lose hundreds of thousands of pounds each from their livelihoods and deferred pay as employers impose changes to the USS over the votes of every person representing lecturers on the negotiating team. The 1st week of October will see the beginning of action short of a strike and the UCU will take part in the November 30th strike.

October 5th, Welsh-language teaching union UCAC will be on strike in the first round of the 2011 academic year's industrial action on the TPS pension system.

Students in schools, colleges and universities will be hurt in the long run by the attacks on teachers' and lecturers' pay and conditions. It is vitally necessary that the NUS, representing seven million students, forge links with the organised working class and supporting the Youth Fight for Jobs demonstration in London on the 5th of November is the ideal time and place to do this.

Unison members in Bridgend County Council, Bridgend, South Wales will be balloted for strike action over pay cuts of up to £10,000 a year. A sad consequence of shutting the mines, the local authority suffers from high rates of long-term unemployment. Steve Belcher of Unison told the South Wales Echo, "These are the worst proposals I have seen anywhere. We are aware of teaching assistants who have been told they will have their salary cut from around £22,000 to £12,000. People are obviously very unhappy and don’t know how they would be able to make ends meet."

Council Leader Mel Nott, defending the changes, said, "The fact is that councillors voted for this". He did not mention that the councillors who voted to slash workers' pay were Labour councillors.