The Portsmouth branch of the UCU has passed a motion calling on the management of the University of Portsmouth (UoP) to address pension inequality.
The Branch contends that UoP has been using a subsidiary company to evade its obligation to grant new employees access to the TPS and LGPS pension schemes. The Branch believes that this arrangement is divisive, creating a two-tier workforce whereby some colleagues risk finding themselves without adequate pensions when they come to retire.
The Branch notes the months of industrial strife that have occurred at Southampton Solent as a result of their management introducing a similar subsidiary arrangement. The Branch further believes that the government’s recent decision to reduce the HE employer contribution to TPS opens up an opportunity to end the current divisive arrangement without significant financial loss to UoP, while securing a reliable pension for all its staff.
The Branch calls upon UoP to follow the example of Sheffield Hallam University management by winding up the subsidiary company.
Picture ‘International Women’s Day and Leeds UCU signs, 2018’ re-used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 licence.