Strikes university and colleges Scotland: Disruption at universities and colleges as strikes hit Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee could continue into 2024, union warns
Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow, Strathclyde and Stirling universities are all being impacted by strikes this week
Disruption at universities could continue into next year unless employers come up with a better pay offer, a union has warned as members walk out on strike.
Staff at five universities in Scotland are taking strike action this week in ongoing disputes over pay and working conditions.
It comes after the University and College Union (UCU) rejected a pay award for 2023/24 from the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), which the union said was worth just 5 per cent for most UCU members.
The universities affected this week are Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow, Strathclyde and Stirling, with lecturers, researchers, librarians, administrators and IT staff among those on strike.
More than 1,000 support staff in universities across Scotland are also striking from Monday in a dispute over pay. Unison members in four universities – Glasgow Caledonian, Glasgow, Dundee and Glasgow School of Art – are taking rolling action over a two-week period after rejecting a “real-terms pay cut”.
UCU Scotland official Mary Senior said no member of staff wants to hurt students by taking industrial action, but that members are being forced into it.
She told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “We’re calling on the employers to come back and put a better offer on the table in terms of pay. Our claim is for RPI [Retail Price Index] plus 2 per cent or £4,000 whichever is higher.
“We haven’t seen any movement from the employer since the start of the year on pay so they really do need to do better on pay and show that they’re going to make some meaningful changes to the working conditions, the workload, the casual contracts and so on.
“I think employers need to know that we are not going away. We have action this week in five universities in Scotland, we’ve got more universities in Scotland next week and across the UK that will be taking five days of strike action before the month is out and we also have a new ballot which opens tomorrow so ballot papers will be landing through our members’ letter boxes on Wednesday. So they risk real disruption ongoing in this sector into the end of this year and into 2024.”
UCEA said the pay award recognised the disproportionate impact of inflation on lower incomes, awarding as much as 8 per cent to some.
UCU branches at Stirling and Aberdeen are also taking action as the union claims those universities are deducting “punitive” levels of pay from staff who took part in a marking and assessment boycott.
Staff at Stirling university are in the middle of three weeks of strike action. As well as the ongoing strike action, the union has also announced plans to re-ballot members, which will allow action to be taken throughout the rest of 2023
Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow, Strathclyde and Stirling universities are all being impacted by strikes this week
Disruption at universities could continue into next year unless employers come up with a better pay offer, a union has warned as members walk out on strike.
Staff at five universities in Scotland are taking strike action this week in ongoing disputes over pay and working conditions.
It comes after the University and College Union (UCU) rejected a pay award for 2023/24 from the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), which the union said was worth just 5 per cent for most UCU members.
The universities affected this week are Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow, Strathclyde and Stirling, with lecturers, researchers, librarians, administrators and IT staff among those on strike.
More than 1,000 support staff in universities across Scotland are also striking from Monday in a dispute over pay. Unison members in four universities – Glasgow Caledonian, Glasgow, Dundee and Glasgow School of Art – are taking rolling action over a two-week period after rejecting a “real-terms pay cut”.
UCU Scotland official Mary Senior said no member of staff wants to hurt students by taking industrial action, but that members are being forced into it.
She told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “We’re calling on the employers to come back and put a better offer on the table in terms of pay. Our claim is for RPI [Retail Price Index] plus 2 per cent or £4,000 whichever is higher.
“We haven’t seen any movement from the employer since the start of the year on pay so they really do need to do better on pay and show that they’re going to make some meaningful changes to the working conditions, the workload, the casual contracts and so on.
“I think employers need to know that we are not going away. We have action this week in five universities in Scotland, we’ve got more universities in Scotland next week and across the UK that will be taking five days of strike action before the month is out and we also have a new ballot which opens tomorrow so ballot papers will be landing through our members’ letter boxes on Wednesday. So they risk real disruption ongoing in this sector into the end of this year and into 2024.”
UCEA said the pay award recognised the disproportionate impact of inflation on lower incomes, awarding as much as 8 per cent to some.
UCU branches at Stirling and Aberdeen are also taking action as the union claims those universities are deducting “punitive” levels of pay from staff who took part in a marking and assessment boycott.
Staff at Stirling university are in the middle of three weeks of strike action. As well as the ongoing strike action, the union has also announced plans to re-ballot members, which will allow action to be taken throughout the rest of 2023
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NewsTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:04 What do we want?
00:05 Fair pay!
00:06 When do we want it?
00:07 Now!
00:08 [Beeping]
00:11 [Cheering]
00:15 I'm Kirsteen Fraser, I am the Co-Secretary of University of Glasgow Unison
00:20 and we're here today because we're taking part in joint strike action
00:23 with three unions, UCU, Unison and Unite here at the main gate of the university.
00:28 Well we're on the picket, there's multiple action taking place by three unions here today
00:33 so Unite have been out over the past week, so have UCU
00:37 and Unison's taking part in the action today and tomorrow and over the course of next week as well.
00:42 The reason we're on strike today is because we've had years of below inflation pay increases in the sector
00:48 which essentially amount to a pay cut.
00:51 We're in a cost of living crisis, it's still biting collectively all our members,
00:56 people are struggling to pay their bills, they're struggling to survive
00:59 and the higher education sector has experienced a lot of success over the past few years,
01:05 mostly down to the hard work of the members of the three unions present here today
01:09 and we think they're entitled to a share of that success
01:12 and having an actual pay rise that is a pay rise rather than essentially a pay cut.
01:16 So we're looking for a pay rise that is beyond the rate of inflation
01:21 so people are actually getting money in their pockets.
01:23 We collectively represent a whole range of staff here at the University
01:28 across multiple job families and grades, so you have cleaners today,
01:32 lecturers, you have support staff, librarians,
01:35 we have pretty much anyone who works here at the University
01:39 so it's a strong presence from pretty much every job family here at the University of Glasgow.
01:43 I think people are tired of hearing that there's no money,
01:47 that it's not possible, I think they're being told to just wait a few years.
01:51 People have been patient, people have waited, people have been supportive, but they need money.
01:56 We're here today to support you all and I am so glad to see workers here
02:01 from right across our further and higher education sectors.
02:05 We've got Unison members, we've got Unite members, we've got EIS members and UCU members
02:11 and thank you to all of you for coming out and defending your sector.
02:16 Thank you all.
02:18 Education gave me everything I have.
02:28 Education makes this city what it is.
02:31 They say that people make Glasgow, people make education and education makes people.
02:37 That's why everything we're doing today is not just a fight for fair work,
02:41 it's a fight for education too.
02:43 And every day that you stand up for that is a day that you stand up for the people of this city
02:48 and the people of this country.
02:50 And I thank every single one of you for doing that.
02:53 This is a powerful statement.
02:57 The people standing here and represented here are the HE sector,
03:04 they are the universities, that's what they are.
03:08 The people who keep it clean and secure, the people who set up the labs,
03:12 the people who operate the libraries, the people who administer all the classes,
03:16 there would be no university without those people.
03:20 It's all worth it.
03:22 [Applause]
03:27 [Music plays]
03:33 [BLANK_AUDIO]