Call for talks as wave of strikes in offing

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) at 12 Scottish universities will walk out over pension, pay and working disputes.

Eight continuous days of strikes will begin on November 25, UCU said.

Among the 12 establishments is Aberdeen University, along with 48 others across the UK.

The union said universities were asked to respond “positively” and “quickly” if they wanted to avoid disruption this year.

UCU Scotland official Mary Senior said: ‘This first waves of strikes will hit universities later this month unless the employers sit down and start talking seriously about how they will

“Universities should be in no doubt about the level of anger”

deal with declining pay and conditions and increasing pension costs.

“Universities should be in no doubt about the level of anger across university campuses on these issues.”

The dispute centres on changes to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) and the stance of universities over improvements on pay, equality and workloads.

Recently, UCU members backed strike action in ballots over both pensions and pay and working conditions.

In Scotland 78% of UCU members who voted backed strike action in the ballot over changes to USS.

In addition to the eight strike days, union members will begin “action short of a strike” on returning to work. This involves acts such as working strictly to contract, not covering for absent colleagues and refusing to reschedule lectures lost to strike action.