Escalation in universities

University and College Union (UCU) members will strike on 18 days during February and March in disputes over pay, pensions and working conditions. After 1 February, action will escalate to two days a week (9-10 February), then three (14-16, 21-23) and four (27 February to 2 March) and five (16-23 March).

Management’s latest pay offer varies from 8% for the lowest paid (a rise that would be necessary in any case to meet living wage expectations), to 5% for those at the top of the scale. The latest round of pay talks saw a cynical increase in the offer for this top grade — mainly UCU members — in an attempt to split the unions. UCU has rightly said this figure, well below inflation, isn’t good enough. There is also no progress on rethinking the massive cuts to retirement benefits for USS scheme members, nor on the other elements of the pay claim around equalities and casualisation.

To pre-empt management propaganda, the GS and President have put the offer to members in an informal online ballot with a recommendation to reject. However, this tactic was not agreed in advance with negotiators or the Higher Education Committee which is meant to lead on strategy. Disputes are not won by officers going it alone. Branches and activists need to be engaged before members are polled by email.

This escalating pattern of strike action offers a real opportunity to put pressure on management, but it is vital that branches — and the union leadership — address members’ concerns about access to the strike fund. Mid-way through there will be a new Branch Delegate Meeting, with scope from there to escalate further or pause the action dependent on progress. Meanwhile, from mid-February, there will be a reballot to ensure action can continue to hit summer term marking and assessment. We need to build the strikes and campaign for the biggest possible Yes vote to stop the further erosion of pay and conditions.