UK university workers threaten fresh strike over pay dispute

At least 150 universities across the United Kingdom will be shut for 18 days following a plan by university staff to embark on a strike.

The University and College Union (UCU), the body representing varsity staff across the UK, announced this on Thursday via its website.

According to the union, the strike — which borders around “disputes over pay, conditions and attacks on pensions” — will start in February and run into March.

The UCU said the strike was a joint decision of the union’s higher education committee (HEC), following a meeting on Thursday.

It added that the strike will involve over 70,000 staff across 150 universities in the country.

The union said dates for the fresh strike will be announced next week.

Speaking on the development, Jo Grady, UCU’s general secretary, said the union is ready to cause “widespread distruption” to the academic calendar if its demands are not met.

“Today our union came together to back an unprecedented programme of escalating strike action. The clock is now ticking for the sector to produce a deal or be hit with widespread disruption,” Grady said.

“University staff dedicate their lives to education and they want to get back to work, but that will only happen if university vice-chancellors use the vast wealth of the sector to address over a decade of falling pay, rampant insecure employment practices and devastating pension cuts. The choice is theirs.”

The university workers have been in a lingering face-off with university management over non-implementation of their demands.

In November, they embarked on a strike which lasted for days to press home their demands.

On Wednesday, the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), which represents university employers in the UK, was said to have offered the UCU a “pay offer” worth between four percent and five percent.

The union, however, rejected the offer, saying it was not enough.