The University and College Union (UCU) is holding what it has called its “most disruptive strikes ever” over the coming months as it seeks to ramp up pressure on university employers to move on its demands over pay, pensions and precarity.
Strikes have affected UK campuses for the past five years, but the latest are set to be the biggest yet, with tens of thousands of lecturers and other academic staff taking part.
The UCU and the other higher education trade unions – Unison, Unite, GMB and the University Lecturers’ Association (EIS-ULA) – are locked in a pay dispute with the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (Ucea), with seemingly little prospect of resolution. Long-running rows over pensions, precarity and working conditions have also fuelled the levels of discontent among university staff.
