Over 70,000 university staff at 150 universities will strike for three days, starting on 24 November, over the attacks being made on their pay, working conditions and pensions.
This will be the biggest ever strike to hit UK universities, and the workforce is fighting back against the Tories’ attack on the living standards and working conditions – a government-led offensive taking place across the entire public sector.
These actions by the UCU should be fully supported and activists encouraged to show solidarity with UCU picket lines.
UCU members will begin industrial action short of strike action from Wednesday 23 November, which includes working to rule, refusing to make up work lost as a result of strike action and refusing to cover for absent colleagues.
The full strike dates in November are:
Thursday 24 November
Friday 25 November
Wednesday 30 November.
Information from the UCU
The strikes come after UCU members overwhelmingly voted ‘yes’ to industrial action last month in two historic national ballots over attacks on pay and working conditions as well as pension cuts. Despite the result, vice-chancellors have not made any improved offers.
In the pay and working conditions dispute, the union’s demands include a meaningful pay rise to deal with the cost-of-living crisis and action to end the use of insecure contracts. Employers imposed a pay rise worth just 3% this year following over a decade of below inflation pay awards. A third of academic staff are on some form of temporary contract.
In the pension dispute, UCU is demanding employers revoke the cuts and restore benefits. The package of cuts made earlier this year will see the average member lose 35% from their guaranteed future retirement income. For those at the beginning of their careers the losses are in the hundreds of thousands of pounds.
For further information visit the UCU website here.