Region’s uni staff on strike over pay
HUNDREDS of academics gathered for a rally as part of an eight-day strike over pay and conditions.
Members of the University and College Union (UCU) at both Durham and Newcastle universities joined a national strike over pay, pensions and conditions. Picket lines were formed at the King’s Gate entrance to Newcastle University and near the Palatine Centre in Durham. Picketers then made their way to Old Eldon Square for a rally and listened to speakers.
Dr Andrew Fletcher, chairman of the UCU in Newcastle, said: “I’m so pleased to see such a good turnout to our rally on the first day of strike action.
“We would all much rather be at work and teaching our fantastic students rather than spending our time standing out in the cold and the damp.
“But we feel we have to take this action as last resort to make sure the people who run our universities start to listen to us and start to take some action nationally to deal with some serious problems that exist in our universities in the UK.”
Dr Fletcher, a lecturer in applied mathematics at Newcastle University, added that people had been supportive of the campaign.
He said: “We have been giving out information to people so that students, members of the public and other members of staff know what the issues and concerns are.
“We feel we have a lot of support from students at Newcastle University and Durham University.”
It is thought around 43,000 members of the UCU at 60 UK institutions are taking part in the strike. Those striking include lecturers, student support services staff, admissions tutors, librarians, technicians and administrators.
Newcastle University student Charlotte Boulton was at the rally to show her support.
She said: “It’s really important to support the lecturers because they support us throughout our degrees. They should have secure contracts so that they don’t have to worry about the future.”
Lewis Mackenzie, who is a post-doctoral researcher at Durham University, said: “The jobs are usually short-term and we have to move around different cities quite a lot, we’re constantly worried about where we’re going to be living next. The resources are limited and equality is non-existent.”
Beth Farhat, TUC regional secretary, said: “I was incredibly proud to support education workers today exercising their democratic right to take industrial action.
“It is not an easy thing to do,
nobody wants to take strike action, it impacts on them, their families and also the students, who they absolutely love to teach. But some of the key issues today are really serious and really important.”
Helen Fairfoul, chief executive of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association, said: “We all regret any disruption, especially to students, that is caused by UCU’s strike action that started today.
“The action UCU has called over its pay dispute is running at around a third of the UK universities that are party to the national pay negotiations, so 90 of these universities are seeing no action at all. We anticipate the impact will be mixed across the 57 universities where action has been called. Early reports are of some low and some medium levels of disruption to teaching.”
The strikes is expected to go on until December 4.
We feel we have to take this action as last resort to make sure the people who run our universities start to listen to us
Dr Andrew Fletcher