By Klara Woxström
This year, universities are expected to face continued strike action concerning pay and pension from staff.
On 9 May 2022, a 3% pay offer was made by the University and Colleges Employers Association. However, the offer was rejected and university staff, including cleaners, administrators, librarians, caterers, and security workers, are expected to protest in the coming months.
This comes after a strike ballot opening on 6 September for University College Union (UCU) members at 151 campuses across the United Kingdom, The ballot will run until the 21 October.
The ballot concerns the UCU’s demands for a 12% pay increase in accordance with the Retail Price Index (RPI), with an additional 2%. The ballot also includes demands on eliminating practices, such as zero-hour work contracts, and addresses the ‘dangerously high workloads’ imposed on staff.
The ballots are nationally aggregated, meaning that if over half of the universities are in favour of strike action when the ballots close in early October, every institution is expected to strike later in the autumn. The UCU has stated that the disruption this will cause will be unprecedented.
The UCU also highlights that even though the higher education sector generated a record income in the 2020/2021 academic year (£4.6 billion), the 3% pay offer only amounts to £600 million.
However, rising inflation has left many institutions feeling financially strained. Mike Short, the head of education for the trade and public service union, UNISON, stated: “The shock of the cost-of-living crisis has pushed many to breaking point.”
In the 2021/2022 academic year, LSE strike action took place in December, February, and March. On how the expected strikes will affect students, the LSESU General Secretary Tilly Mason sympathised: “I think especially for postgraduate and international students, who pay such high fees, it was a bit frustrating to have classes cancelled [last year].”
Yet she encourages students to support the strikes: “Tuition fees are set by the government/universities, and it is in the best interest of both students and academic staff to fight against marketisation, and make sure any fees will always go to good quality teaching and better working environments for everyone!”
“In my personal capacity, I support the strikes and was very involved in mobilising students last year.” On how the SU will respond to potential strikes by staff, Mason said: “If UCU members vote to strike this year… we intend to ballot the student body to gauge general student support and base the SU’s response off of that.”
