At the pre-92 UCU conference last Tuesday a sizeable majority of delegates - 66 to 41 - voted in favour of suspending industrial action over the USS dispute.
Michael MacNeil - the National Head of Higher Education - gave a lengthy background to the dispute, slanted towards the negotiators' recommendations, telling the conference that for 18 months our employers have refused to talk, that May 2011's Conference endorsed Action Short Of a Strike and that UCU had conducted a successful re-balloting of members on escalation including strike action to coincide with that by other public sector unions, work-to-contract and assessment boycott.
MacNeil told the conference that it would be difficult to escalate action because the employers are ready to make 100% deductions from pay in response to any strong ASOS. He also thought that temporarily suspending the industrial action was some kind of victory as the original employers’ offer was made with the requirement to call off the dispute and was adamant that the employers will withdraw all offers if we vote to maintain industrial action.
MacNeil concluded that evidence from branch reports is that members are not willing to settle but equally not willing to escalate. He favoured taking what is on "offer" with the ability to step-up action if there is no progress, although escalation looks unlikely from low attendance at branch meetings and is dangerous without proposals to deal with the threat of 100% deductions from pay for non-performance of parts of duties.
Upon discovering that there might have to be a re-ballot before the resumption of industrial action delegates became infuriated, one delegate from an institution from North London called the proposals a scandal, causing the 15 or so UCU employees present to leave until he apologised and withdrew the comment.
The conference then moved to vote on Section 1 - temporary suspension for talked with the employers - which meant sections 2, to talk whilst maintaining the industrial action, and 3, to escalate industrial action, would fail. All amendments to Section 1 were carried including noting the "very limited progress made in negotiations", resolves to prepare for early escalation if the employers are evasive or offer few concessions, urges negotiators not to accept an accrual rate for USS below that of TPS, and mandates negotiators not to compromise on the rejection of an inflation cap to revaluation.
The conference then voted 66 to 41 in favour of Section 1 as amended, causing sections 2 and 3 to fail. With little or no discussion of these sections.