Britain's university staff back strikes over pay

More than 70,000 staff at 150 universities in the United Kingdom will go on strike for three days later this month over pay, working conditions and pensions, in what is the latest example of widespread industrial action set to take place across the country this winter.

The University and College Union, or UCU, has said strikes, which will be the biggest ever to hit universities in the UK, will take place on Nov 24, 25 and 30.

The union said the strikes will impact 2.5 million students but "can be avoided if employers act fast and make improved offers". It added: "If they don't, strike action will escalate in the New Year alongside a marking and assessment boycott."

UCU members voted last month to take strike action that will include working to rule, refusing to make up work lost as a result of strike action and refusing to cover for absent colleagues.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: "Campuses across the UK are about to experience strike action on a scale never seen before.70,000 staff will walk out and make clear they refuse to accept falling pay, cuts to pensions and insecure employment."

The UCU said its demands include "a meaningful pay rise to deal with the cost-of-living crisis and action to end the use of insecure contracts".

The union said that employers had imposed a pay rise worth just 3 percent this year following over a decade of below-inflation pay awards. Inflation in the UK currently stands at 10.1 percent while food inflation is even higher, at 14.7 percent.

Grady said: "UCU members do not want to strike but are doing so to save the sector and win dignity at work. This dispute has the mass support of students because they know their learning conditions are our members' working conditions."

The latest strike announcement adds to a list of industrial action ongoing or planned in many sectors across the country.

On Wednesday, the Royal College of Nursing confirmed its members had voted for strikes and the Public and Commercial Services Union will announce results of its strike ballot this week. Teachers and school staff are expected to go on strike in the New Year, reported The Guardian.

The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers is reballoting its members over more industrial action on the railways, despite calling off strikes planned for this week, and strikes by Royal Mail workers will go ahead this month.

The BBC quoted a minister from the Department of Education, Robert Halfon, as saying the university strikes were "disappointing". He urged all sides to work together "so that students do not suffer with further learning loss "after the pandemic.