UCU have announced another 14 days of strikes at 74 Universities, including the University of Southampton, to take place in February and March.
The strikes will take place on these specific days over four weeks, with the fourth week being a week-long walkout:
Week one: Thursday 20th and Friday 21st February
Week two: Monday 24th, Tuesday 25th and Wednesday 26th February
Week three: Monday 2nd March, Tuesday 3rd, Wednesday 4th and Thursday 5th March
Week four: Monday 9th, Tuesday 10th, Wednesday 11th, Thursday 12th and Friday 13th March
The University and College Union (UCU) announced the strikes following disputes over the sustainability of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), rising costs for members, and the universities’ failure to make significant improvements on pay, equality, casualisation and workloads.
This round of strikes comes only months after UCU members at 60 universities went on strike for eight days in November and December.
A further 14 universities will be affected by the strikes this time, which equates to another 200,000 students being affected, on top of the 1 million who were affected in November and December.
UCU members are also undertaking ‘action short of a strike’, which means only working to contract, not covering for absent colleagues, and not rescheduling lectures that are affected by the strikes.
Jo Grady, UCU general secretary commented:
We have seen more members back strikes since the winter walkouts and this next wave of action will affect even more universities and students. If universities want to avoid further disruption they need to deal with rising pension costs, and address the problems over pay and conditions.
We have been clear from the outset that we would take serious and sustained industrial action if that was what was needed. As well as the strikes next month, we are going to ballot members to ensure that we have a fresh mandate for further action to cover the rest of the academic year if these disputes are not resolved.
A University of Southampton spokesperson said:
The UCU have advised that further industrial action over the national issues of pay and pension reform will take place at 74 universities, including the University of Southampton.
Meeting our commitments to our students and providing every opportunity for them to achieve their potential is always our highest priority. We will work with colleagues throughout the University to put in place the arrangements necessary to minimise any disadvantage to students as a result of any industrial action.
Matters relating to pay awards and USS pensions are discussed nationally and as such can only be resolved at a national level.
For a full list of the universities see below:
Both disputes (47):
1. Aston University
2. Bangor University
3. Cardiff University
4. University of Durham
5. Heriot-Watt University
6. Loughborough University
7. Newcastle University
8. The Open University
9. The University of Bath
10. The University of Dundee
11. The University of Leeds
12. The University of Manchester
13. The University of Sheffield
14. University of Nottingham
15. The University of Stirling
16. University College London
17. The University of Birmingham
18. The University of Bradford
19. The University of Bristol
20. The University of Cambridge
21. The University of Edinburgh
22. The University of Exeter
23. The University of Essex
24. The University of Glasgow
25. The University of Lancaster
26. The University of Leicester
27. City University
28. Goldsmiths College
29. Queen Mary University of London
30. Royal Holloway
31. The University of Reading
32. The University of Southampton
33. The University of St Andrews
34. Courtauld Institute of Art
35. The University of Strathclyde
36. The University of Wales
37. The University of Warwick
38. The University of York
39. The University of Liverpool
40. The University of Sussex
41. The University of Aberdeen
42. The University of Ulster
43. Queen’s University Belfast
44. Birkbeck College, University of London
45. SOAS, University of London
46. The University of Oxford
47. The University of East Anglia
Pay and conditions dispute only (22):
1. Bishop Grosseteste University
2. Bournemouth University
3. Edge Hill University
4. Glasgow Caledonian University
5. Glasgow School of Art
6. Liverpool Hope University
7. Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts
8. Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh
9. St Mary’s University College, Belfast
10. Roehampton University
11. Sheffield Hallam University
12. The University of Brighton
13. The University of Kent
14. Bath Spa University
15. Royal College of Art
16. University of Huddersfield
17. University of Winchester
18. University of East London
19. Leeds Trinity University
20. UAL London College of Arts
21. De Montfort University
22. University of Greenwich
USS pensions dispute only (5):
1. Scottish Association of Marine Science
2. Institute for Development Studies
3. Keele University
4. King’s College London
5. Imperial College London
Wessex Scene have contacted the UCU Southampton President for comment.
