Universities

Nineteen Higher Education HE branches of the public services union Unison are organising a second round of strikes of university admin and other staff since the start of term, most striking on the same days as the UCU (lecturers etc.) on 24/25 November, and some on 30 November. The dispute is over pay. The union called for a rise in 2022-23 of RPI+2% but the employers imposed an offer of around 3%. Some universities also made non-consolidated bonus payments. The national negotiations are conducted on behalf of universities by the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA). Against...

Staff represented by the University and College Union will be joining Unison colleagues on the picket lines in three days of action: 24, 25 and 30 November. Thanks to victory in an aggregated ballot, virtually all universities are involved in the dispute on pay and conditions. Some employers — particularly those hit hard by action last year — have been offering local bonuses, but none has yet delivered a rise to match inflation. There will be a national demonstration on 30 November, beginning 1pm at King’s Cross, London, to coincide with a key employers’ meeting. At Birkbeck University of...

The University and College Union (UCU) has announced three days of strikes in higher education: 24, 25, and 30 November. The union is also committed to escalation of industrial action if there is no progress in negotiations. The action will run up to scheduled negotiations with the employers (UCEA) at the end of the month. Indications are there may be some movement on pay. But will it be enough? Some better-off employers have already paid an extra 2% (some in the summer and some more recently); something like 5% could be formalised as an offer. To settle for that, or anything below the current...

On 24 October, the University and College Union (UCU) announced the results of ballots in Higher Education (HE) of academic-related and professional services staff on taking industrial action over pay, conditions and pensions. The ballots were successfully aggregated, achieving over 50% turnout (58% and 60%). On pay and conditions, 81% voted for strike action and 88% for action short of strike. On pensions, 85% voted for strike action and 90% for action short of strike. These are incredibly strong results. The whole of the union could now strike and join UCU members in Further Education, some...

On Friday 28 October, students at the University of Sheffield finished their week-long sit-in to protest against the university’s complicity with arms manufacturers. Students from a variety of campus activist groups took over the Diamond, which is the largest lecture block in Sheffield and houses the Engineering Department (the department most involved in the arms trade). University management responded by shutting down all teaching in the building for a week, eventually using the threat of intervention by bailiffs to drive protestors out on Friday. Significantly, arms manufacturing firms were...

Bucket, a University of Sheffield occupier, talked to Solidarity . There is an occupation of the Diamond, the largest building in the University of Sheffield (UoS), to demand that the university ends its contracts with arms companies like Rolls Royce, Boeing and BAE Systems, and that these firms not be allowed to careers fairs. These arms manufacturers supply weapons that are used in wars that kill hundreds of thousands of people around the world, and so UoS should not take their money, or funnel graduates into their research programmes. We have chosen to occupy the Diamond because it is...

Activists in Sheffield Solidarity Group organised a conference on 22 October where students from around the country gathered in Sheffield to discuss our response to the Cost of Living crisis, building on the rent strikes and fee strikes of 2020-21. It was open, democratic and allowed all viewpoints to be discussed. There have been pockets of strong organisation, particularly in Sheffield, Nottingham, Manchester, and more recently in London with London Solidarity Group. The hardship faced by students now requires us to put forward demands as students, for students. Agreed demands included...

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) in higher education have returned two aggregated ballot mandates for industrial action: on pay and conditions, 57.8% turnout with 81.1% for strikes; on USS Pensions 60.2% turnout with 84.9% for strikes. UCU’s higher education committee meets on Thursday 3 November to decide next steps.

Cleaners in GMB at University of Arts London (UAL) High Holborn campus struck 26-30 September, as part of a wider campaign against outsourcing across the university. At the High Holborn branch, the specific demand of the cleaning team was for an additional five members of staff, to make up for those who had been cut as the cleaning contract has been passed around different agencies in the last few years. The contractor offered an “independent investigator” to provide a staff number. But cleaners there know the reality, after one worker had to take a month off sick, whilst another had to have...

Cleaners and other professional services staff struck on 26-27 Sep at SOAS University in London as part of Unison’s strike action across UK universities. The dispute is responding to a measly 3% pay offer, demanding an increase of 2% above inflation. Unison picket lines across London campuses were lively during the first week of term, setting the context for a year to come on campus during this historic upturn in workers’ action. Picket lines at SOAS and Kings College London were well sustained by workers and students in support. The solidarity groups set up to support last year’s strikes have...