University lecturers to vote on strike action in deadlock row

LECTURERS at more than 150 universities are planning “enormous disruption” by launching strike action over workload, pensions and pay.

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) are to vote on whether to launch a campaign of industrial action, which could stretch into the new year if the deadlocked row remains unresolved.

Thousands of lecturers, researchers and other academic staff are being balloted on strikes over pay, pensions and working conditions, threatening disruption at universities across the nation before the end of the year. The vote is to take place in the coming weeks.

Jo Grady, the UCU general secretary, said pay and working conditions have worsened over the past decade, with staff now at “breaking point”.

She has written to Alistair Jarvis, the Universities UK (UUK) chief executive, and Raj Jethwa, the chief executive of the Employers Association, urging them to meet staff demands and avoid strikes, which would cause “enormous disruption” this term.

She said: “University staff are the backbone of the sector, but for a decade they have been thanked with massive cuts to their pensions, collapsing pay and the rampant use of insecure contracts.

“The university sector is worth tens of billions of pounds, but the uncomfortable truth is that this success is built on exploitation, with staff denied dignity in work and in retirement by vicechancellors on eye-watering salaries.”

The UCU says it is fighting cuts to Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) pensions, declining pay, the use of insecure contracts, unsafe workloads and “serious” equality failings.

The union expects a vote in favour of action, which would lead to strikes before the end of the current term, as well as other forms of industrial action in the new year.

The UCU added that employer body Universities UK (UUK) had voted to cut thousands of pounds from the retirement benefits of university staff, based on a “flawed valuation” of the scheme conducted at the beginning of the pandemic as markets were crashing, and representing a cut of 35 per cent to a typical member’s annual guaranteed pension and guaranteed lump sum.

Pay for university staff fell by 17.6 per cent relative to inflation between 2009 and 2019, and since then employers have made below-inflation offers, with the latest worth 1.5 per cent despite the “monumental” efforts of staff during the pandemic, said the union.

The union also claimed there is a 16 per cent gender pay gap in universities, rising to 19 per cent in some. The pay gap between black and white staff stands at 17 per cent and the disability pay gap is nine per cent, said the UCU.

The UCU is calling for a £2,500 pay increase, an end to race, gender and disability pay differences, a framework to eliminate zero-hours and other precarious contracts, and meaningful action to tackle unmanageable workloads.

A UUK spokesman said that the organisation is “disappointed” that the union is pressing ahead with an industrial action ballot, especially because “after a difficult 18 months, students do not deserve any further disruption”.

“The proposed reforms secure USS’ s status as one of the most attractive pension schemes in the country … After a difficult 18 months, students do not deserve any further disruption. It is unclear why UCU thinks it’s appropriate for students to suffer due to the scheme’s increased costs and the regulatory constraints under which pensions operate in the UK.”

‘The university sector is worth tens of billions of pounds but this success is built on exploitation’