On Tuesday, over 70,000 members of the U.K. Universities and Colleges Union (UCU) began a three-day strike to demand wage improvements and an end to insecure contracts approval.
“The sector has more than enough money to pay and treat people fairly,” the UCU Secretary Jo Grady stated, stressing that their demonstration is part of the 18 days of strikes planned for February and March in 150 universities.
On Monday, the UCU and other four U.K. higher education unions (EIS, GMB, UNISON, and Unite) entered into talks with the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) thanks to the mediation of the conciliation service ACAS.
“We are pleased the employers have agreed to enter the ACAS process to try and resolve our dispute,” Grady stated but recalled that UCU rejected the UCEA offer of a wage increase of between 5 and 8 percent.
“Our union has been clear: we need an offer that addresses the key issues affecting our members, specifically workloads, and we have not had that yet,” Grady pointed out.
On Tuesday, Wales National Education Union (NEU) members were also due to a strike over pay and workload. However, they postponed this action until March 2 after the Welsh government started discussing these demands with them.
“We are tired of being denied a decent wage increase and secure employment. If our government does not meet these demands by March, we will convene our members to vote to extend the length of the strike,” Grady highlighted.
