Strikes escalate at University of Sheffield International College over pay freeze

UCU's members have already been on picket lines for five days (Monday 16 February, and Tuesday 10, Thursday 12, Monday 16 and Wednesday 18 March) and will also strike on Monday 30 March, and Wednesday 1 April. A meeting took place yesterday with management representatives from USIC's owner Study Group and UCU. The union made it clear that members are open to meaningful negotiation to resolve the dispute and end the strike action but no offer was made. An agreement was reached at the end of the meeting to bring in ACAS to try and break the stalemate.

Staff are on picket lines each day of strike action [NOTE 1]. The strikes come as management told staff their cost of living pay increase, which had already been delayed by six months, would by 0% for the second year in a row. Despite freezing staff pay CEO Ian Chrichton took home over £600k in 2024, including a bonus of over £195k.

University of Sheffield International College UCU branch chair Sam Morecroft said: "Our members are angry that the college is being slowly run into the ground by an overpaid corporate leadership that shows no interest in quality of education.

"We have proposed alternative ways of rewarding staff if a pay increase is not possible, but these have been dismissed. We have a legally binding union recognition agreement that states we can negotiate our pay, terms and conditions but our senior managers refuse to meaningfully engage with us and seem to care more about receiving their massive salaries than whether or not their student body has their education disrupted."

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: "Our members are taking such significant strike action because they cannot accept another year of frozen pay. Management needs to think again and get back round the negotiating table."