UCU comment on 10 July strikes

Analysis from the TUC shows that the average public sector worker is £2,245 worse off in real terms since the government took office and the lowest paid are being hit with real terms cuts of almost 20%.

In local government, where almost two thirds of the workforce are paid below £21,000 a year and around half a million workers are paid less than the Living Wage, workers will have experienced a real terms pay cut of 18% by the end of 2014.

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'Public sector workers have seen their pay held down compared to inflation since 2010, alongside massive job cuts and attacks on staff pensions. The decision to take strike action is never easy for any public servant but when staff across the public sector are treated so poorly they have little choice.

'We are encouraging our members to join lunchtime rallies across the country to show solidarity with our sisters and brothers in GMB, Unison, PCS, FBU, UNITE and NUT.'

UCU's 65,000 members in universities took strike action six times this academic year in their fight for a fair pay rise and an above inflation increase of 2% was finally negotiated for 2014/15. The union's 30,000 members in English colleges remain in dispute over pay.