New university strikes from 21 March

After ten days of strikes across two disputes, ending 2 March, the University and College Union (UCU) leadership has called further strikes in the weeks beginning 21 and 28 March, with half the institutions out in each week.

Action Short of a Strike continues in the 68 institutions involved in the disputes, one of which centres on massive cuts to future pensions, and the other on “Four Fights” around pay, workload, casualisation and equality.

Management are still refusing to negotiate in the Four Fights dispute, and the threatened cuts to pensions were passed on the casting vote of the supposedly independent chair of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) and take effect from 1 April. They will see six-figure sums slashed from the value of future pensions.

There is still the possibility of stopping them, but it will take a fight. It is clear that management are hoping to sit out the dispute, with one Vice-Chancellor telling the Guardian back in November: “I don’t care if it’s bloody, as long as the blood spills within the union”. We are now seeing what that attitude means in practice.

The UCU’s new action represents another five days per individual striker, but after ten days of strikes in the universities with dual mandates this past month, it also represents de-escalation.

We need more action to put pressure on management, not less. Some institutions are already heading into the Easter break, and it will be late April before further strikes are viable. Meanwhile, the current mandate for action expires on 4 May, meaning the union has to convince members to turn out in sufficient numbers in reballots. If the strategy to win is not persuasive, there is a real risk of the dispute petering out.

There is some better news: in a local dispute, the Royal College of Art UCU branch has shown that determined action can win. After autumn strikes, an extended period of action short, and further strikes in February, they have won an end to the use of zero-hour contracts and assurances on employment rights, workloads and routes to permanency.

Meanwhile, Newcastle University UCU have pressured management to back down on a threat to deduct full pay for refusal to reschedule lectures hit by the national strikes. However, at Queen Mary, University of London, deductions are going ahead and the branch is now balloting for further action. Other institutions continue to make threats.

We are calling for an urgent Special Higher Education Sector Conference of the UCU to address the dispute strategy. Branch motions calling for a SHESC under Rule 16.11 can be sent to Justine Mercer (jmercer@ucu.org.uk) and Paul Bridge (pbridge@ucu.org.uk) at headquarters.