UCU announces eight days of strikes starting this month at 60 universities
5 November 2019
Sixty UK universities* will be hit with eight days of strike action from Monday 25 November to Wednesday 4 December, UCU announced today.
Last week UCU members backed strike action in two separate legal disputes, one on pensions and one on pay and working conditions. Overall, 79% of UCU members who voted backed strike action in the ballot over changes to pensions. In the ballot on pay, equality, casualisation and workloads, 74% of members polled backed strike action.
The union said universities had to respond positively and quickly if they wanted to avoid disruption this year. The disputes centre on changes to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) and universities' failure to make improvements on pay, equality, casualisation and workloads.
The overall turnout in the USS ballot was 53% and on pay and conditions it was 49%. The union disaggregated the ballots so branches who secured a 50% turnout can take action in this first wave. The union's higher education committee has now set out the timetable for the action.
As well as eight strike days from 25 November to Wednesday 4 December, union members will begin 'action short of a strike'. This involves things like working strictly to contract, not covering for absent colleagues and refusing to reschedule lectures lost to strike action.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: 'The first wave of strikes will hit universities later this month unless the employers start talking to us seriously about how they are going to deal with rising pension costs and declining pay and conditions.
'Any general election candidate would be over the moon with a result along the lines of what we achieved last week. Universities can be in no doubt about the strength of feeling on these issues and we will be consulting branches whose desire to strike was frustrated by anti-union laws about reballoting.'
Last year, university campuses were brought to a standstill by unprecedented levels of strike action. UCU said it was frustrated that members had to be balloted again, but that universities' refusal to deal with their concerns had left them with no choice.
Last month, shadow education secretary Angela Rayner called on both sides to get round the table for urgent talks. She said she fully supported UCU members fighting for fair pay and decent pensions and called on both sides to work together to find solutions to the disputes.
* Universities affected by strike action from Monday 25 November
1. Aston University |
2. Bangor University |
3. Cardiff University |
4. University of Durham |
5. Heriot-Watt University |
6. Loughborough University |
7. Newcastle University |
8. The Open University |
9. The University of Aberdeen |
10. The University of Bath |
11. The University of Dundee |
12. The University of Leeds |
13. The University of Manchester |
14. The University of Sheffield |
15. University of Nottingham |
16. The University of Stirling |
17. University College London |
18. The University of Birmingham |
19. The University of Bradford |
20. The University of Bristol |
21. The University of Cambridge |
22. The University of Edinburgh |
23. The University of Exeter |
24. The University of Essex |
25. The University of Glasgow |
26. The University of Lancaster |
27. The University of Leicester |
28. City University |
29. Goldsmiths College |
30. Queen Mary University of London |
31. Royal Holloway |
32. The University of Reading |
33. The University of Southampton |
34. The University of St Andrews |
35. Courtauld Institute of Art |
36. The University of Strathclyde |
37. The University of Wales |
38. The University of Warwick |
39. The University of York |
40. The University of Liverpool |
41. The University of Sussex |
42. The University of Ulster |
43. Queen's University Belfast |
1. Bishop Grosseteste University |
2. Bournemouth University |
3. Edge Hill University |
4. Glasgow Caledonian University |
5. Glasgow School of Art |
6. Liverpool Hope University |
7. Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts |
8. Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh |
9. St Mary's University College, Belfast |
10. Roehampton University |
11. Sheffield Hallam University |
12. The University of Brighton |
13. The University of Kent |
14. The University of Oxford |
1. Scottish Association for Marine Science |
2. The University of East Anglia |
3. Institute of Development Studies |
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