University staff are returning to the picket lines this week – this represents the fifth consecutive year of industrial action.
Concerns about pay, working conditions, and USS pensions form the University and College Unions’ principle complaint – this time with action on all fronts combined into a national strike (and national action short of a strike) covering staff in 150 higher education providers. This is the first time UCU has achieved a national mandate – by fulfilling the terms set out in the 2016 Trade Unions Act on turnout.
However you perceive the dispute or feel about the decision to strike, it is difficult not to see the years since 2018 as evidence of a serious issue in sector industrial relations. As such, this article attempts to set out the fundamentals of the issues at stake.
