UCL faces three days of strikes this December following pandemic disruption
The University and College Union (UCU) announces industrial action from Wednesday 1 December to Friday 3 December over pensions, pay and working conditions.
Photo by Sean Wallis on flickr
A total of 58 UK Universities voted in support of strikes in ballot results announced on Friday 5 November. UCL is among them, as staff voted in favour of strikes over the ‘Four Fights’: pay, casualisation, equality, and workload. The UCU has said that further strikes will take place if employers fail to engage in negotiations.
UCU General Secretary Jo Grady states that ‘[the UCU] truly hope[s] that disruption can be avoided...but this is entirely in the gift of employers who simply need to end their attacks on pensions, pay and working conditions and finally demonstrate they value their staff’.
The strikes over pay and working conditions are calling for £2,500 salary increase for university staff, the end of zero-hours contracts, and an eradication of pay discrimination, along with moves to reduce currently substantial workloads.
Industrial action over pay and working conditions was voted for by 21 universities, with another four voting to strike solely over pensions, and 33 over both issues. As well as this, 64 universities have a mandate for action short of a strike, meaning staff will be working strictly to contract and could partake in a marking boycott. This action has the potential to last for five months, beginning from 1 December.
The strikes mean that lectures and classes may be cancelled, and student services may not be fully staffed. Though there will be a picket line outside major university buildings, staff are not permitted to prevent students from entering. Not all teaching will be cancelled, as some staff members are not UCU members or may choose not to strike.
In previous years, students have been permitted to miss classes due to their choice to not cross the picket line in support of the strike. Tier 4 visa students were also not penalised for not attending their classes due to the industrial action.
In response to the impact on missed teaching, in 2019 and 2020 a learning opportunities fund was set up, allowing students to apply for £250.
The strike action this year has garnered considerably less support than previous years, as UCU ballots had just a 50% turnout, and the number of institutions striking has dropped by 16 from the 74 universities which took part in industrial action in 2020. As Universities UK (UUK) points out, ‘fewer branches have reached the threshold than in previous ballots’.
This loss of support mirrors the lowered student morale resulting from three rounds of strikes since 2019, and the significant disruption to students’ learning and overall university experience as a result of the pandemic.
The UCL Students’ Union announced its refusal to support the 2021 strikes this October, stating that ‘students are at breaking point’ and that they have ‘suffered loneliness, isolation, stress [and] financial hardship’.