Strike warning if ‘unsafe’ teaching resumes

UNIVERSITIES could face strike action if staff are asked to resume “unsafe” in-person teaching this academic year, a union has warned.

The University and College Union (UCU) said online learning should remain in place to protect staff, students and communities.

It said moves to restart faceto-face teaching this academic year were “impractical” amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The union warned it was willing to ballot members on industrial action if they felt their wellbeing was being put at risk.

General secretary Jo Grady, inset, said: “We are willing to ballot universities that are putting our members’ wellbeing at risk and some UCU branches have already taken this step.

“University staff are also burnt out from the chaotic and unsustainable demands which the sector has placed on them this year.” The union said its branches at Northumbria University and Birmingham City University had already held ballots for industrial action, with another at Manchester Metropolitan University due to close this week. Under the current lockdown in England, university students, who were allowed to travel home before Christmas, are not permitted to return to campus and are expected to study from their current residence. In-person teaching can take place only for a small number of critical courses, including medicine, dentistry and teacher training.

According to Department for Education guidance published this month, all other courses should be delivered online “until at least mid-February”.