Fury and strike action threat as University of Liverpool attempts to force through inferior conditions

UCU said the university's proposals, which affect 2,803 staff in roles such as student recruitment, clerical posts, librarians and computer staff, had infuriated its members and it could not rule out strike action.

The controversial changes, which would increase staff working at weekends, evenings and Bank Holidays without overtime or the appropriate time off in lieu, had been subject to long-running talks between the union and the university. However, the university has broken off the talks and is now seeking to simply impose its plans.

The university has announced it is serving notice of a 45-day consultation period. In a letter to staff it warned that unless staff agree to the changes they face three months' notice of dismissal and then being rehired on the new unfavourable conditions.

UCU North West regional official, Martyn Moss, said: 'It's a very strange approach to negotiation that the university has adopted. It says it wants to negotiate with us, but if we refuse to accept what it wants then it's going to try and force it through anyway by dismissing staff and putting them on new contracts with inferior terms. It is essentially putting a gun to the head of almost 3,000 of its staff.

'Staff are not keen on increasing their evening, bank holiday and weekend working, particularly without any guarantees of recompense, and are extremely angry. We'll be consulting them about what steps they wish to take and we cannot rule out industrial action.'