Staffordshire University, the first institution in the UK to offer an esports degree, has said it’s “disappointed” strike action is taking place over its decision to hire new staff via a subsidiary company.
Staffordshire’s University and College Union (UCU) has been striking over the university’s decision that new academic staff will not be employed directly by the university, but by a subsidiary company.
“It allows the university to deny future academics access to the standard, nationally agreed Teachers’ Pension Scheme,” a member of the UCU told Esports News UK.
The UCU says those striking include staff from the university’s games and esports teams, with union members present in ‘most teams in the university’. Update: A separate source has disputed this claim and we’re working to verify it. The UCU has since told Esports News UK that union members aren’t declaring who was on strike before Friday, but it did say at Stoke there were six members of games on the picket line, along with many others on strike.
The UCU recently announced further strike action, including unless management drops plans to employ new staff via the wholly owned subsidiary company. Staff went on strike on March 28th and 30th 2022, and plan to strike again this Thursday (April 7th 2022).
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “We are seeing attacks on pensions across the sector and now employers are starting to come for the Teachers’ Pension Scheme. No other university has denied access to this scheme for academic staff and Staffordshire’s plans are an attack on our hard won terms and conditions.
“Unless they are withdrawn, staff will be out on strike for three days during March and April and then take part in action short of a strike. This will include working strictly to contract and refusing to undertake voluntary activities. Management plans will lead to a devastating impact on student learning, threatening the university’s future.”
“Employers are starting to come for the Teachers’ Pension Scheme. No other uni has denied access to this scheme for academic staff and Staffordshire’s plans are an attack on our hard won terms and conditions. Unless they are withdrawn, staff will be out on strike.”
Jo Grady, UCU
Staffordshire University responded with the following statement it sent to Esports News UK: “All new members of academic and professional support staff have been employed through a subsidiary since August 1st 2021 following a consultation process with the recognised trade unions. This builds upon the creation of the subsidiary in 2018 when all staff in grades one to six were employed through this route.
“This arrangement was created to allow the move away from a defined benefit pension scheme to a defined contribution scheme, for new staff. The ballot held by UCU was not about the change of pension provision and therefore it is unclear why they have chosen to criticise this. Our defined contribution scheme is a good quality defined contribution pension scheme, which includes a non-contributory rate for staff, multiple tiers of escalating contributions from the employee and the employer, together with excellent ill health provisions and death in service provisions.
“Any concerns regarding a fragmented workforce, on which they balloted specifically, are unfounded. This has never been an issue since we started this approach in 2018, and UCU have provided no tangible example of where this is the case.
“We value our partnership working with both our unions, Unison and UCU. We are disappointed that strike action is taking place and we are doing all we can to minimise the disruption for our students.”
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
