UCU Strike Action - All-Student Vote (Nov 2021)

The Students’ Union should support recently announced strike action by the University and College Union (UCU) staff trade union

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Impact of Students’ Union Support for Strike Action

If students vote in favour of Students’ Union support for strike action: 

The Students’ Union will give full and public support to UCU

Student Officers will support the cancelling of classes, lectures and teaching where staff members have chosen to strike

Student Officers will attend and encourage other students to join the picket line when possible 

Student Officers will have very limited attendance at University meetings. (e.g., student disciplinary meetings, meetings about the strike action etc.)

If students vote against the Students’ Union supporting the strikes, this means:

Student Officers will not attend the picket line 

Student Officers will continue to attend university meetings as normal

Background to the Strike

At the time of this referendum, the University and Colleges Union (UCU), which represents over 130,000 academics, lecturers, and university staff, have voted in favour of strike action. This is over the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) pensions and pay, staff workload, casualization, and equality issues. This is a UK-wide strike, meaning the decision was made across UCU’s full membership, rather than just one singular branch. This is due to a dispute on a number of topics summarised below:  

USS Pension Scheme: University staff are currently in a defined benefit pension scheme, meaning a staff member receives a set amount of benefits every year after they retire. This is not dependent on individual investments, and is based on factors like length of time worked for an employer and salary amount. The proposal is for these benefits to be cut by 35%. 

Pay: This ask relates to the negotiation of pay and conditions of employment.  

Workload: This ask questions the manageability of workload and its impact on staff wellbeing.  

Casualisation: This ask covers the continuity of employment and a move away from zero hour and temporary contracts to deliver teaching and services. 

Equality Issues: This ask covers a range of provisions to ensure equity in the workplace. Find out more here.

More information on why the UCU are striking can be found here (UCU - HE national disputes).

The Students’ Union’s Position

The Students’ Union has policy which generally supports the aims of these asks and collaborative work with Trade Unions. We will continue to lobby the university on our own policy and prioritise finding possible mitigation to minimize the impact of industrial action on students.