Staffordshire University: NO to a two-tier system

Staffordshire University UCU is campaigning to stop the University’s plans to bring in a two-tier workforce.

The University has decided that all new staff will be employed by a wholly owned subsidiary on different contractual terms. This will inevitably lead to a two-tier workforce and over time, increase pressure by the University to ‘harmonise downwards’ to less favourable working conditions for everyone. It will also destroy cohesion, meaning that colleagues working side by side may be subject to different management and direction leading to resentment and possible disputes between employees, and a poor working environment. It is a blatant attack on our hard-won terms and conditions.

In fact this process of fragmentation has already begun, because new academic staff employed by the subsidiary will no longer retain access to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) and will have to accept instead the much-inferior Staffordshire University Pension Scheme (SUPS).

The union believes that unless Staffordshire University offers staff the same terms and conditions as its competitors it will struggle to attract and retain talented staff, which will ultimately affect students’ learning and the future of the institution.

We the under-signed call on the vice-chancellor to abandon plans to employ future staff through a subsidiary company and reinstate access to TPS for all future academic staff.

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