Pensions action – what’s happening at St Andrews?

Every Wednesday from 1.00-2.00pm while the action is going on there will be a public, collective “lunch break” somewhere in the University.  The first of these will be on South Street outside Parliament Hall this coming Wednesday (12th October).  The aim is to give a visible focal point to the action.  We have chosen a lunch break in the spirit of working to contract – breaks for lunch are contractually permitted, but very few of us take a full hour.  You bring your sandwiches; we’ll bring the banners!

A set of open meetings in various Schools and Units is currently being organised.  Please see the list of meetings as it evolves, and do come along to one that’s convenient for you.  The purpose of these is to answer members’ and non-members’ questions about the action and the reasons for it, and to discuss the USS situation in general.

Please also download the USS poster which you can print to display on your door to indicate that you’re taking part in the action.  Visibility is very important; so please get it on show as early as possible.

One thing we very often do out of contracted hours is to deal with e-mail correspondence.  Here is a message you can automatically send to anyone who writes to you outwith the hours of 9.00am-6.00pm, or at the weekend:

“I am currently taking part in University and College Union national industrial action over detrimental changes to the USS pension scheme. As part of this action, I am working to contract, and thus will be unable to answer your e-mail until working hours resume.  Working hours are taken, for this purpose, to be 9.00am-6.00pm Monday to Friday.  For more information on the dispute and its causes, please see the St Andrews UCU web site: http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~ucu“

For more advice from Head Office on what you can do as part of the “work to contract” stage of this industrial action, please see the special “Defend USS” website.