Autumn of university strikes on the cards amidst cuts and job losses

University and College Union (UCU) Scotland members at universities across Scotland are preparing for an autumn of strikes and industrial action as the funding and jobs cuts crisis in Scottish universities deepens.

UCU members at the University of the West of Scotland last week voted in a ballot by 78% to back strike action.  This week members at the University of the Highlands and Islands and Islands backed strike action by 71% in response to managers cutting jobs by using compulsory redundancies, and members of the union at Dundee university voted to extend their action for another six months in the longstanding dispute over the university's financial and governance crisis.

These, most recent, ballot results are on top of cuts and job losses at other universities across Scotland.  A re-ballot opened last month at the University of Edinburgh where managers are looking to cut £140million and up to 1,800 jobs.  In response, UCU members at Edinburgh were on strike in June and during the start of the new academic term in September.  There have also been job losses and voluntary severance schemes at Heriot-Watt University, Aberdeen University, Stirling University, QMU, Robert Gordon University and Edinburgh Napier meaning that over half of Scotland's higher education institutions are pursuing financial savings and cutting staff.

The union said that jobs cuts do not happen in isolation and that the severity of Scottish Government cuts to the sector, in conjunction with external factors including changes to immigration rules, external events in countries where universities have historically recruited students, means that what is happening now is incomparable to previous rounds of cuts.  The union said that there has never been a time in the recent history of Scottish higher education where so many jobs are being lost in so many institutions. 

Mary Senior, Scotland official for UCU, said: "The current crisis hitting Scottish universities sees an unprecedented number of universities making budget cuts, jobs being lost and a record number of universities facing industrial action ballots and strikes.  The hints* from Scottish Government Ministers about reviewing the funding gap are welcome, but these jobs are being lost now.  UCU is contesting these job cuts and will continue to do so, but a significant part of the answer to the current crisis must involve the Scottish Government and Ministers living up to their responsibilities right now and fully funding the sector and their promise of free tuition."

Jo Grady, UCU general secretary, said: "UCU members in universities across Scotland are voting decisively for industrial action.  These recent results, on top of strikes earlier this year at Dundee and Edinburgh universities, demonstrate the strength of feeling and resolve of UCU members to fight cuts and protect jobs.   We need university managements across the country to work with UCU to find alternative savings that protect jobs and for the Scottish Government to fully fund Scottish universities in the Scottish budget."