University staff to go on strike

Unions poised for 14 days of action

Staff at the University of Stirling are set to take part in 14-days of strike action starting next month.

The University and College Union (UCU) has confirmed that there will be an escalating wave of action over a fourweek period due to a dispute over pensions.

They say that strike action on this scale “has not been seen before on UK campuses”.

At the University of Stirling members will strike on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for the week beginning February 26; the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for the week beginning March 5; and for all five weekdays in the week beginning March 12.

They will also walk out for two days on Monday, March 19 and Tuesday, March 20.

The dispute centres around the Universities UK (UUK) plans to end the defined benefit element of the USS pensions scheme.

The union claims that this would leave a typical lecturer almost £10,000 a year worse off in retirement than under the current set-up. They say that in a strike ballot 88 per cent of members who voted backed strike action.

Talks last week between the union and the UUK broke down, and as a result the UCU wrote to 61 universities throughout the UK to notify them of the action.

UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said: “Staff who have delivered the international excellence universities boast of are understandably angry at efforts to slash their pensions. They feel let down by vicechancellors who seem to care more about defending their own pay and perks than the rights of their staff.

“Strike action on this scale has not been seen before on UK campuses, but universities need to know the full scale of the disruption they will be hit with if they refuse to sort this mess out.”

A spokesperson from the University of Stirling said: “The university has been informed of the results of a ballot by the University and College’s Union (UCU). In the event of strike action, the university’s priority would be to minimise disruption to students.”

Strike action on this scale has not been seen before on UK campuses