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This testimony was collected as part of the research project entitled “In the eye of the storm: Higher education in an age of crises” conducted by Howard Stevenson, Maria Antonietta Vega Castillo, Melanie Bhend, and Vasiliki-Eleni Selechopoulou for Education International. The research report and executive summary are available here.

Worlds of Education: From 2018 to 2024, your union led a sustained battle for the pensions of higher education workers in the UK. How did the dispute start?

In 2018, workers in the UK’s older universities (those that pre-dated the creation of a range of new universities in 1992) were shocked when the employers sought to impose massive cuts to the sector’s pension scheme, transforming it from a system based on guaranteed benefits into a system where benefits would depend on the value (and volatility) of market investments.

Worlds of Education: How did your union mobilise to protect pensions?

UCU members voted for industrial action and immediately started a sustained strike, taking 14 days of national action over four weeks. The action was well supported by members as well as students, and employers were unprepared for the reaction. Employers were forced to backtrack on their plans and the union reached a deal that avoided any serious system changes until a full review of the scheme was undertaken by independent experts.

The 2018 industrial action was undoubtedly a victory, but it only secured a reprieve and did not remove the threat of any future changes.

In 2022, the employers continued to press for changes to the pension scheme that would worsen terms for our members. These changes were not as dramatic as those presented in 2018, but the 2022 changes still threatened a 35% cut in benefits.

Worlds of Education: How did your union respond to this second attempt to cut pensions and benefits?

We continued our campaign of industrial action, now running the campaign alongside a second dispute focused on pay, workload, pay inequalities and precarious working. We called this the ‘four fights’ dispute.

The campaign was sustained despite the tremendous obstacles imposed by new laws requiring regular re-ballots of members and the need to meet high ballot thresholds. Time and time again, our members supported the campaign and the union.

We campaigned relentlessly, with 69 days of strike action between 2018 and 2023. We also used marking and assessment boycotts to increase the pressure on employers.

We were determined not to back down and as always, our solidarity was our strength.

Worlds of Education: What was the result of this persistent mobilisation?

The result was a historic union win. In December 2023, it was confirmed that the cuts to pensions would be reversed and restored in full from April 2024. Funds were committed to avoid any losses incurred between 2022 and 2024.

This was a momentous day, not just for our members, but for workers everywhere. After taking 69 days of strike action in a five-year battle to defend our pensions, we won and within months university staff saw the UK's largest private pension scheme fully restore our pensions.