The employers’ proposals are complex, but come down to this. Your pay and grading will be based on where you work, not on what you do.

Of course, industrial action should never be undertaken lightly – especially by dedicated professionals who care passionately about their students and about the service they provide.

That is why AUT has sought to change the employers’ minds through negotiation for more than two years.

The employers have had endless opportunities, but this is now the end of the road. We either take action to bring them to their senses or we give up.

That is why AUT’s Executive is calling on you to participate in a programme of industrial action which will begin with a UK wide week of action – starting on Monday 23 February.

There will be one day of strike action in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland during that week with a further centrepiece day when members in all the home nations will be on strike – Wednesday 25 February. This means that during the week beginning Monday 23 February, you will be asked to take two days strike action – one UK day, and one day limited to the country in which your employer is based. You can find our more details about the week of action at http://www.aut.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=707

On Monday 1 March AUT members are called upon to begin a programme of continuous action short of a strike. The action short of a strike includes a boycott of assessment activity, job evaluation and staff appraisals as well as refusal to either provide cover for absent staff or to honour established call-out arrangements. Your local association will provide you with more guidelines on what this means, and guidance is also available on the website at http://www.aut.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=707

I am also pleased to say that AUT has linked up with the National Union of Students (NUS) to campaign jointly against the marketisation of higher education. Our dispute is about pay. Their campaign is about variable fees and the need to increase funding in the sector but both sides are working together because we recognise that staff and students have a major stake in the future of our sector.

This means that in the same week as we begin our strike action, the NUS will be calling upon its members to take part in a university shutdown. Aside from the UK wide student shutdown which will take place on Wednesday 25 February,the NUS informed us that students will be taking part in ‘disruptive action’ all week. High on their agenda will be solidarity with AUT members.

A recent opinion poll, commissioned by AUT, showed that 65% of ordinary students support AUT’s industrial action against the employers. This is because they recognise that variable pay and variable fees are both part of the same agenda which seeks to bring the market into higher education. Who will suffer if not staff and students?

Many members have said to me that they fully support the union’s position, but that they are worried that we will not succeed. I understand this anxiety, and I will make no promises. What I do know is that without united action by all AUT members – we definitely will not win.

I also know that our union is united as never before in this fight to defend your pay and conditions. If we don’t succeed, career earnings will fall, a process of localised job evaluation will begin in which we have no confidence, meaningful national bargaining will be destroyed and large parts of AUT’s membership will have their pay and grading be split off from their academic colleagues.

We must win this fight if we are to defend our profession, and my promise is that you will have the full backing and resources of the entire union:

If every member gets behind our democratic decision,

If every member called to do so takes action; and

If every member supports their colleagues

then we can win

So, between us let’s make the week of action the biggest shutdown of higher education ever seen. Then, let’s make the assessment boycott and other further actions really stick. Your future may depend on it.

Yours sincerely,

Sally Hunt, General Secretary

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Members (excluding clinical academics and heads of institutions), employed by the institutions below, were included in this ballot and are now being called to take strike action indicated in this schedule. All these members are called to take action short of a strike beginning on and continuing from 1 March 2004.

Employers in Wales: strike action called for 23 February 2004 and 25 February 2004

University of Wales Aberystwyth	University of Wales College of Medicine	University of Wales Swansea
University of Wales Bangor	University of Wales	University of Glamorgan
Cardiff University	University of Wales Lampeter

Employers in England including the Open University: strike action called for 24 February 2004 and 25 February 2004

Aston University	School of Oriental and African Studies	Harper Adams University College
University of Bath	School of Pharmacy	University of Hertfordshire
University of Birmingham	University of London (Senate House)	University of Huddersfield
University of Bradford	University College London	Kingston University
University of Bristol	Loughborough University	Leeds Metropolitan University
Brunel University	University of Manchester	Liverpool John Moores University
University of Cambridge	University of Newcastle Upon Tyne	Manchester Metropolitan University
City University	University of Nottingham	Middlesex University
University of Durham	Open University	University College Northampton
University of East Anglia	University of Oxford	University of Northumbria at Newcastle
University of Essex	University of Reading	Nottingham Trent University
University of Exeter	Royal College of Art	Oxford Brookes University
University of Hull	University of Salford	University of Plymouth
Keele University	University of Sheffield	University of Portsmouth
University of Kent	University of Southampton	St Martin’s College
University of Lancaster	University of Surrey	Sheffield Hallam University
University of Leeds	University of Sussex	Southampton Institute
University of Leicester	UMIST	South Bank University
University of Liverpool	University of Warwick	Staffordshire University
Birkbeck College	University of York	University of Sunderland
Goldsmiths College	Royal Agricultural College	University of Teesside
Institute of Education	Bolton Institute	Thames Valley University
King’s College London	University of Brighton	University of the West of England
London School of Economics	University of Central Lancashire	University of Westminster
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine	Coventry University	University of Wolverhampton
Queen Mary (University of London)	De Montfort University	University College Worcester
Royal Holloway (University of London)	University of East London	Writtle College
Royal Veterinary College	Edge Hill College of Higher Education	London Metropolitan University
St George’s Hospital Medical School	University of Greenwich

Employers in Scotland: strike action called for 25 February 2004 and 26 February 2004

University of Aberdeen	University of St Andrews	Napier University
University of Dundee	University of Stirling	University of Paisley
University of Edinburgh	University of Strathclyde	Queen Margaret University College
University of Glasgow	University of Abertay Dundee	Robert Gordon University
Heriot-Watt University	Glasgow Caledonian University

Employers in Northern Ireland: strike action called for 25 February 2004 and 27 February 2004

Queen’s University of Belfast

University of Ulster

Any members employed by subsidiary university companies, the Medical Research Council, or otherwise not employed by the higher education institution at which they are an AUT member, were not included in the industrial action ballot and are not included in this call to take action.