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Universities across the UK are facing widespread disruption after tens of thousands of university lecturers and other staff walked out on strike on Monday in protest over pay cuts, increased pension costs and deteriorating conditions.
Union leaders reported a strong show of support for the industrial action, which will last eight days and could extend into the new year with a second wave of strikes if staff demands are not met.
Pickets were being manned at 60 universities that are currently taking part in the action but the University and College Union (UCU) revealed that talks were under way with other institutions about being balloted again to join further action in the new year.
More than 40,000 lecturers, technicians, librarians and other academic and support staff are currently taking part in the action, but the UCU says it has been processing requests from 3,500 more university workers seeking to join up since strikes were announced three weeks ago.
As well as pickets, many lecturers are offering alternative teach-outs for their students and action short of a strike will continue until further notice, meaning further disruption with staff working to contract. Mass rallies are also being held in Newcastle, Bristol and Manchester, where the shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, was due to speak later on Monday.
Outside the University of Manchester, one of the largest academic institutions in the UK, many of the 2,200 members of the UCU union manned pickets as students waved banners criticising the £260,399 salary of the vice-chancellor, Nancy Rothwell. Seth Schindler, a senior lecturer in urban development, was dressed as the former chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne, appointed by Rothwell in 2017 to be an honorary professor of economics.
“The university is raiding our pension pot while investing millions of pounds in real estate deals. They are renting space to fast food restaurants while claiming they don’t have enough money to properly fund pensions or equal pay for women and black and minority ethnic staff,” said Schindler, gesturing across the road to a row of new bars and restaurants on university land, including the burger chain Five Guys and the pub Brew Dog.
Wendy Bottero, who has taught sociology in Manchester since 2005, said: “We don’t mind them investing in buildings if they invest in staff too. Investment in staff has dropped to its lowest level and they have broken the pension promises they made last time [during the February 2018 strike]. My pension will halve under the current plans.”
Outside the Williamson building, Julia Horn, a teaching assistant in criminology, said she was on an insecure contract which only paid her for six hours a week, 20 weeks a year. “I was refused for a credit card recently because of it. If I had to pay a mortgage I would have been evicted by now. I know of a colleague who is living in a caravan in her mother’s garden because she can’t afford to live anywhere else,” she said.
Rhodri Jerrett, a lecturer in geology, said poor working conditions shut out women and minority groups. “Often when people start academia they are on very short-term contracts and that makes it very difficult to have a family. You have to sacrifice a lot. You have to work many more hours than you are contacted to do, and that quite obviously marginalises certain groups. Certainly it’s much easier as a man, because at the time of the life when you transfer from your PhD studies to wanting to be an academic is around the time when women are starting to think of children,” he said.
Sarah Darley, a research associate at the school of health sciences, said she was on her fourth fixed-term contract since finishing her doctorate in 2016. “Every 12 months you have to find a new job. You can’t plan for the future. The university says it is very concerned about staff welfare but the one thing they could do to improve wellbeing is to give us more secure employment so that we can plan. You can’t buy a house or get married and have kids when you don’t know if you will have a job in a year’s time.”
Outside the Arthur Lewis humanities building, students stood in solidarity. Thomas Roibas, a law first year, said he despaired of students who had asked for refunds to be compensated for eight days’ loss of teaching. “I think the refund thing is ridiculous. You don’t pay £9,000 for a specific number of classes. We are paying for a degree and an overall education and we are still getting that. We are striking because the conditions our professors have are not good enough. I would rather miss eight days of class and have professors with better conditions who can do better for me,” he said.
Helen Stott, 18, studying English, said asking for a refund was “selfish. It’s completely misdirected anger. Don’t direct your anger at staff for missing lessons. Direct that anger at the university management. We should have solidarity with our lecturers because they are human beings who deserve a fair wage.”
University employers said they were doing everything they could to minimise the disruption to the million-plus students affected by strike action and urged the union to focus efforts on continuing talks in order to find a resolution and bring an end to strike action.
It is the second time in less than two years that universities have seen widespread industrial action. In February last year, 64 universities were affected by 14 days of strike action over changes to the universities superannuation scheme (USS).
Last year the union succeeded in forcing employers to drop plans to change it from a defined benefit scheme to the far less favourable defined contribution scheme. It is now challenging the size of staff contributions, calling for it to be capped at 8% of a lecturer’s salary, rather than the 9.6% approved by employers.
Responding to the strike action, USS employers said: “It’s important to remember that members voting ‘yes’ to strike action over pensions account for less than 10% of the scheme’s eligible membership.
“Universities are doing everything they can to ensure that students do not lose out. Online learning materials, libraries and student support services will remain available throughout this period to support students’ independent study.”
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