In a first, a hashtag has made the Power List. But #NoCapitulation was more than a hashtag. During the culmination of what was the first stages of a now protracted dispute over the USS pension scheme, the hashtag came to represent – on the face of it – the strength and depth of feeling and hurt among members of the scheme and what was being done to it. But it was more than that. As something to organise around, it made clear that the digital picket line was even bigger and louder than the actions on campuses.
And as more than that again, as the dispute became less about pensions and more about wider anger at the overall direction of the sector, it came to represent a groundswell of feeling that had been bubbling below the surface and was now coming to the boil, targeted not just at sector leaders, but at unions that were seen to have failed in their task in protecting their members’ interests.
Far beyond just USS member universities and not only amongst academic staff, over the course of the dispute it became painfully clear just how unhappy the UK HE workforce really is. And with morale at rock bottom, who could blame anyone for being angry at how their pensions scheme was being changed.
The dire state of sector industrial relations and the widespread anger over USS should greatly alarm anyone concerned with the health and future of UK universities. With TPS and LGPS, the other major pension schemes, about to get their own revaluations, and UCU gearing up for a bigger battle than usual over the annual pay dispute, the sector needs to brace for another turbulent few months for its fractured relations. And then its most urgent priority must be to heal the wounds and ensure that UK higher education becomes the fair, equal, supportive and happy place to work that it deserves to be, and a sector of which students, staff, managers and wonks can all be proud to be a part of. Nothing else will do.