University staff say they will strike during freshers’ week unless employers agree to discuss their demands over pay and working conditions.
Lecturers, librarians and technicians are among staff from 136 universities, members of the University and College Union (UCU), who plan to strike for five days at the start of the academic year, from 25 to 29 September.
It comes as the union withdraws the marking and assessment boycott that has left thousands of university students without their degree results since it began on 20 April.
UCU members have declined to mark final exams, dissertations and coursework since the boycott began, which meant that some students graduated this summer without knowing their degree results or course marks, and some whether they had even graduated. Most universities instead issued provisional results or certificates so that students could graduate on time.
Thousands of the UK’s 500,000 final-year undergraduates are thought to have been affected by the boycott at 145 universities across the country.
Members of the union also voted to reject a pay offer for 2023-24, which was worth between 5% and 8%.
“Universities are richer than ever, generating tens of billions of pounds in income and hoarding billions more in cash deposits,” the UCU’s general secretary, Jo Grady, said. “But they won’t give staff their fair share. A pay award of 5% is a huge real-terms pay cut and is substantially lower than schoolteachers received.”
Grady added: “We are left with no option but to strike during the start of term because our members refuse to stand by while pay is eroded and staff are shunted on to gig-economy contracts.
“It is shameful that vice-chancellors still refuse to settle the dispute despite a year of unprecedented disruption, and have instead imposed a pay award that staff overwhelmingly rejected.
“We have sought to settle this dispute at every opportunity, including agreeing to a joint review of sector finances, but we are faced with employers that want to see staff and students suffer.
“We desperately hope vice-chancellors realise we are going nowhere without a fair settlement and make us a realistic offer. If they do not, campuses will be marred by picket lines during freshers’ week, and we will launch a new strike ballot allowing us to take action well into 2024.”
Raj Jethwa, the Universities and Colleges Employers Association’s chief executive, said it welcomed the vote by UCU members to end the marking and assessment boycott, but described the strike at the start of term as “disappointing”.
Jethwa added: “UCU is intentionally seeking to target the important welcome weeks which many institutions provide during this vital time for new students. It is disappointing that UCU seeks to disrupt welcome weeks instead of providing support for new students.
“UCU must now seriously reconsider this response from their members as their HEC tries to launch another ballot for IA for the new academic year.”