An organisation that employees of a certain profession can join for representation and political bargaining (this is different to an SU. SUs are Charities, not Trade Unions).

A strike is a period of time where employees decide not to come into work in protest about a particular aspect about their employment. They do not get paid whilst on strike. Strikes are often referred to as ‘industrial action’.

A picket line is a boundary established by workers on strike – often at the entrance to their workplace – which others are asked not to cross.

The University and College Union (UCU) represents over 110,000 academics, lecturers, trainers, instructors, researchers, managers, administrators, computer staff, librarians and postgraduates in universities, colleges, prisons, adult education and training organisations across the UK.

On the 5th of November, UCU announced that “Sixty UK universities will be hit with eight days of strike action from Monday 25 November to Wednesday 4 December…

UCU general secretary Jo Grady told members 'I am serious about using the powerful mandate you have given the union to get round the negotiating table and achieving a meaningful, lasting resolution'”.

You can read Jo Grady’s full announcement of the industrial action here.

You can also read UCU and NUS’ joint statement published on the 30th of September here or below in the NUS section.

Whereas in 2017 there was 1 legal dispute over pensions that resulted in the strikes, this year there are 2 legal disputes. One over pensions again, and the other over pay and conditions.

Legal dispute #1: Pay and Working Conditions. What’s the issue?

Pay: “Findings from the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) show that the pay of staff has dropped by around 17% in real-terms since 2009”.

However “UCU said it was shocked and disappointed that UCEA has tried to spin the findings to suggest pay has not fallen so sharply. In its presentation of the data, UCEA has chosen to show findings only from 2013 and cherry picked the information used to calculate the figures.”

You can read UCU’s perspective further here.

Working Conditions: UCU’s concern about working conditions includes 3 factors:

Casualisation: the transformation of a workforce from largely employed on secure permanent contracts to short-term or casual contract
You can read the “Counting the costs of casualization in higher education” report by UCU here.

Workload: “Staff in higher and further education work on average more than two days unpaid each week. Workload is unmanageable and unsustainable for most staff.”.

You can read more from UCU on this here.

Gender pay gap: “In 2018 university leaders came under fire after the first official gender pay gap data showed that women in UK universities were paid a mean hourly wage that was, on average, 15.9 per cent lower than their male colleagues.”

You can read more from UCU on this here.

Legal dispute #2: Pensions – USS Scheme. What’s the issue?

Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) is one of the largest private pension schemes in the UK and is the principal scheme for academics and academic-related staff in UK universities and other higher education and research institutions with over 350 employers participating in it.

Staff who are on the USS pension scheme are frustrated because in 2017, there was an “attempt to transform the USS from a defined benefit scheme – which fixed pensions to salaries – to a defined contribution scheme with considerably lower pension payouts for most members”. The contribution from employees has increased from 8% to 8.8% in April, and rose again to 9.6% in October.

However, Universities are worried about how much they are paying into the USS Pension scheme for staff as a defined benefit scheme. They had to increase their contributions from 16% to 21.1% of the employees’ salary in October.

You can read more on UCU’s perspective here.

"Dear student,

As you will know by now, due to disputes about pensions, pay and a range of associated issues, the national University and College Union (UCU) is planning to take industrial action on 25-29 November and 2-4 December 2019.

This is a national issue which can only be resolved at a national level. It will affect the University of Bath, as well as 59 other universities across the UK. We are hopeful that discussions at a national level will provide an early resolution to the dispute.

As outlined by our Vice-Chancellor earlier this week, the welfare and progress of our students is a priority. We will be monitoring the effects of the strike very closely and also hope to work with the Students’ Union to try to mitigate adverse effects of the industrial action on your learning over the next few weeks. If you are particularly worried about the impact of the strike and would like advice, you can speak to Student Services, the Students’ Union Advice Team, your Personal Tutor or your Director of Studies.

Please continue with your academic work, attend scheduled classes, and prepare for any assessments as normal. You will need to attend lectures, seminars, lab sessions etc. or submit work as normal unless you are specifically notified of any changes. 

We are currently assuming that all student-facing services (libraries, student services etc.) will remain open during the strike action, but will send further information if this position changes.

You should expect to find picket lines at the main entrances to the University and also at the Virgil Building on the days of the strike. It is your decision whether you wish to cross the picket line, but we would always urge courteous and respectful behaviour from everyone in our community.

We appreciate this strike may be disruptive for you, please be aware that whether individuals have chosen to strike or not, they have not taken the decision lightly. Our teaching staff are passionate about education and care deeply about the students they teach.

With kind regards,

Professor Peter Lambert, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Learning & Teaching) and Dr Cassie Wilson, Vice-President (Student Experience)"

NUS and UCU issued a public statement of mutual support concerning the ongoing disputes in higher education on the 30th of September 2019.

“NUS and UCU are sister organisations committed to promoting the interests of our members and to defending education. We are proud of our work together in calling for a better deal for students and staff, and in challenging the marketisation of education. We want to create an education system that is funded, accessible and lifelong, a system that reflects the needs of modern society.

We believe that staff are the cornerstone of the higher education experience and should be fairly rewarded. We further believe that ignoring important recommendations from the Joint Expert Panel (JEP)* and sticking with a discredited valuation methodology for the USS pension will be hugely damaging for students and staff.

As the representative of students, many of whom are also working in the sector and are members of UCU, NUS is worried that rising pension contributions alongside falling benefits and pay, increased casualisation and work overload will lead to a demotivated and unhappy workforce AND recruitment and retention problems as staff vote with their feet and move elsewhere.

As the representative of staff, UCU is concerned that the sector's failure to commit to fair rates of pay, tackle the gender and race pay gaps, deal with rising workloads or reduce casualisation has led to an increasingly stressful environment for staff.

We believe that the failure to address ever higher salaries for vice-chancellors and principals, while attacking pensions, sends a hugely damaging message to both students and staff.

NUS stands shoulder to shoulder with UCU and asks its members to:

• call for higher education employers to recognise the seriousness of the situation, agree to reopen negotiations on casualisation, workload and pay inequality and put pressure on USS to implement all of the recommendations of the JEP
• write to their institution head to raise concerns about the impact such disputes will have on their learning
• participate in local demonstrative solidarity action, both during the disputes and the likely strikes, in support of UCU members.

In response, UCU agrees to:

• work closely with NUS to explain to students why action is taking place and to update students as matters progress
• commit to meaningful negotiations to resolve the disputes
• continue to support NUS in the wider struggle for a fair and just education system.

*The JEP was set up jointly by UCU and UUK as part of the settlement of the 2018 dispute. The JEP is a panel of independent experts ask to look at the valuation and governance of the USS scheme and make recommendations to the stakeholders. Its first report came out in September 2018.

Universities UK is the representative organisation for the UK's universities. It is the collective voice for Universities affected by this strike action.

Commenting on the University and College Union’s (UCU) announcement of eight days of strike action from 25 November 2019, a Universities UK spokesperson said:

“We are hopeful that the dispute can be resolved without industrial action; but plans are in place to ensure that any potential disruption to students and staff is minimised. The resolution to the 2018 USS valuation is both fair and reasonable, with the additional costs of maintaining the current level of benefits shared 65:35 by employers and scheme members.

“It’s important to note that the number of UCU members who voted for strike action over pensions accounts for less than 10% of the active membership of USS. Out of those who voted in the pensions ballot, 1 in 5 members were against taking industrial action, and the vast majority of branches only reached the turnout threshold of 50% because of the numbers of members voting no.

“We are committed to ensuring USS remains one of the very best pension schemes in the country, and hope that UCU will now join us to consider governance reforms and alternative options for future valuations, which deliver a shared set of principles, increased transparency and a sustainable scheme.”

If your lecturer is a member of UCU, it is likely they will be striking. However, your lecturers are not obliged to tell you whether or not they are striking before the strike occurs. This means that some lectures will be cancelled and more often than not you won’t be informed they are being cancelled until you turn up to the lecture.

Due to also voting to enact “action short of a strike” after the strike itself, lecturers will be:

• working to contract;
• not covering for absent colleagues;
• not rescheduling lectures or classes cancelled due to strike action;
• not undertaking any voluntary activities.

This means it could be difficult to catch up on missed content. In 2017, some lecturers uploaded lecture content and supporting resources onto Moodle for the content that would be missed, however this is at the discretion of the member of staff.

The University will be working to mitigate the effects of the strike on students and will be monitoring how severe the impact will be. In 2017 for example, some departments extended deadlines for some assessments to mitigate the impact.

The Tier 4 sponsor guidance states that classes cancelled due to industrial action should not be treated as an unauthorised absence (therefore it will not impact a student’s attendance record / count as a missed contact). SIS will communicate this to Tier 4 students and place an item on our webpage. SIS will make appropriate checks with staff regarding missed key events during this period before contacting students.

There are a number of things you can do to support the members of UCU in their industrial action:

Tell all your lecturers you support their fight

Complain to the University about the changes to pensions/pay and conditions and how the strike has impacted you

Don’t attend lectures on strike days – go and join UCU picket lines instead
Postgraduates can join UCU for free as student members - www.ucu.org.uk/free

There are also a couple of things you can do if you don’t support the strikes.

Complain to the University how these strikes have impacted you by complaint form.

You can read the Uni's complaints procedure here.

Complain to UCU about how these strikes have impacted you.

NUS have provided guidance about students submitting complaints here

The Universities' regulator The Office for Students has also released guidance for students affected by strikes which you can read here

If you would like support in submitting a complaint, you can acess free independent and confidential advice and support via the SU's Advice and Support Centre

"Following the announcement last week that there will be industrial action on pay and pensions, it is important that affected providers take steps to minimise the impact on students. This includes both minimising any academic disadvantage and making up for lost learning opportunities.

We have previously published information about our approach to complaints arising from industrial action, including a briefing note, case summaries and some themes that emerged. We hope this will be helpful to providers and students’ unions. The OfS has also issued a note External link (Opens in a new tab or window) setting out their approach to the impact on students of disruption caused by industrial action.

Felicity Mitchell, Independent Adjudicator said:

“Many students will be very concerned about the impact that this industrial action will have on their studies. There were many good examples of how providers tried to reduce the academic impact of the industrial action that took place last year. But it’s just as important to make sure that students don’t miss out on learning opportunities, and some providers did not always do this as well. It is especially important for students who are in the final stages of their course or on a short or intensive programme.

Not all students will be affected in the same way. For example some disabled students, some students with mental health issues, and some international students may be more severely affected. Providers need to think carefully about additional measures they might need to take to support those students.

Students need to know how to raise any concerns they may have through internal complaints processes. They need to be able to make informed choices about how to pursue their concerns if they are not resolved internally.  During the last pensions-related strike action some students were encouraged by a number of law firms to pursue legal action rather than raising issues through internal procedures. To the best of our knowledge none of the intended class actions have resulted in concrete outcomes for the students involved. Students who are unhappy with how their provider has dealt with their concerns can bring their complaint to us for independent and impartial review.”"