Although missing the first page of most news outlets outside of the England, today was the first of three weeks of strikes at 61 universities in the UK. That number includes Cambridge, Oxford, and Durham, and over a million students from all over the country. There has not been a strike of this magnitude in the history of UK higher education, and students, administrators, and faculty are preparing for major disruptions to the academic calendar. Exams may be called off or, as some fear, “dumbed down” due to the possibility of three weeks (or worst case, up to five months) of lost teaching days.
The problem is simple: Universities UK, the organization that handles higher educators’ pension fund monies, has decided to change from a flat-rate system, where pension amounts are pre-set, to a plan that is tied into the stock market. The teacher’s union, UCU, is fighting back, claiming that educators face a £10,000 reduction per year in retirement monies. That equates to £200,000 in lost pension monies for the average academic.
Or does it? While walking the picket lines today, I engaged a number of academics on the issue. Although the amount of money academics stand to lose seems high, it is after all an estimate. What if, I asked, the stock market does well? Won’t pension payouts then go up, rather than decreasing by the claimed £10k per year? Most admitted that yes, that could happen.
But there is a legitimate fear amongst academics that money paid into a retirement account over one’s entire career may not end up equalling money paid out. And with the ever-decreasing pay for lecturers in the UK, especially in the humanities (which includes biblical studies and theology), the ability to recruit the best and brightest talent from the UK or overseas is doubtful. Indeed, the future existence of these disciplines in secular, higher education is called into question.
The strike may gain more traction in international news coverage in the coming days and weeks. But for now, here are some pictures from the first day of the strike here in Durham, brought to you exclusively by theLAB:
This is a very sad story. All of Europe is a mess. Government has gone broke AND trying to get their financial house in order. Money mismanagement….perhaps. But governments around the world are in big trouble financially. Why? Because they are giving everyone free stuff…..Entitlements! Everyone should have the good life. Everyone wants free stuff from the government. Called Socialism…..eventually eats itself up. Government paying out more money then they can generate giving people free stuff so they can garner support and stay in power. The economic principle is this……you spend more money than you make you will get into trouble. Some very poor economical decisions in the past to stay in power has hurt countries and governments around the world. This is a very simple explanation and one problem that has a very ugly future…..
This sounds like a defined benefit program that requires the pension fund to pay a specific amount in retirement funds regardless of whether the person receiving the pension has paid an equivalent amount into the system. if this happens future pensioners will bear the cost of paying for earlier retirees or the taxpayers will be required to make up the shortfall which hardly seems fair either. In order to help us really understand what is at that the protest is asking for we need to understand how the current program works, not just one sides explanation.
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