Salford University strike goes ahead, despite 'bizarre' hi-vis jacket stunt from university

The union said that, despite 'bizarre and intimidating' behaviour from the university's senior managers, the strike had been well supported with union members on picket lines from as early as 7am this morning.
 
The university deployed senior staff, including the pro-vice-chancellor, in high-visibility jackets to act as 'picket marshals'. The union said, although the tactics were clearly designed to intimidate staff, it showed how seriously the institution was taking UCU's action.
 
This is not the first time that Salford University has been caught up in a row on the picket lines.
 
Today's dispute centres on moves by the university to place staff in 'redundancy pools' with dozens of jobs at risk. In the past year the institution has announced seven lots of redundancies. Talks last week aimed at resolving the dispute broke down on Thursday and the union said members were left with no choice but to continue with the strike action.
 
Salford students have backed the lecturers' campaign to save jobs, with the students' union saying redundancies negatively impact upon the student experience. The students' union added that the university's lack of communication and consultation with students had lead to a 'culture of misinformation'.

UCU regional official, Martyn Moss, said: 'The last thing anyone wanted today was disruption, but the university has to understand the anger felt by members who have faced round after round of job cuts.

'The campus is very quiet with very little activity. We had well-attended pickets, despite the university resorting to the quite bizarre, and clearly intimidating, tactic of deploying senior staff, including the pro-vice-chancellor, in high-visibility jackets as so-called picket marshals. Although this was a deliberately intimidating tactic, I guess it highlights just how seriously the institution is taking our action.

'Although the talks broke down so disappointingly last week, the door remains open for the university to sit down with us to resolve the dispute. We hope they will accept this offer and that there is no need for further action.'
 
In the recent industrial action ballot, over 70% (71.3%) of UCU members who voted said they were prepared to take strike action. More than four-fifths of members who voted (82.6%) said they were prepared to take action short of strike, including measures such as working to rule.