Record Number of UK University Staff, Nurses Striking Over Pay
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A record number of university staff and nurses in the UK are set to hold days of strikes for better pay and working conditions.
An estimated 70,000 striking researchers, academics and administrators were joined by students on Thursday, as well as caterers, cleaners and other support staff from the Unison and Unite unions who are also striking for better pay and working conditions at a number of universities, according to the Guardian.
Jo Grady, UCU’s general secretary, joined about 100 union members and students picketing an entrance to the University of Manchester on Thursday morning, saying staff were “at breaking point” and had no alternative.
She said: “Pay is abysmal, falling 25% since 2009. Our pensions have been cut 35% despite the fact the scheme is in surplus and we could easily restore that cut. And we also have a system where a third of academic staff – 90,000 people – are employed on insecure contracts.
“Staff are working weekends as routine to keep the show on the road. There is nothing else we can do other than take strike action to change the sector.”
The industrial action means that as many as 2.5 million students face disruption to their education in what has been billed as the biggest strike in the history of UK higher education. The strike continues on Friday and next Wednesday, and further action is planned.
UCU’s demands include a pay rise in recognition of the cost of living crisis, after this year’s 3% interest rate increase, and an end to insecure and short-term contracts. On pensions, UCU wants employers to reverse revisions imposed this year that it claims will lead to the average member losing 35% of their future retirement income.
The UCU campaign is part of a wave of escalating strikes taking place across the UK this winter, including action by tens of thousands of teachers in Scotland, who were also striking on Thursday and have scheduled more dates for next year.
Unison members at 19 universities are also taking strike action, after they rejected a 3% pay offer earlier this year. Mike Short, Unison’s head of education, said: “Low pay has been a massive, growing problem in the university sector for more than a decade. The cost of living crisis is pushing people to the brink. University support staff can’t even cover the basics. They have had enough and are quitting the sector for jobs on better pay.”
Unite members at 10 UK universities are also on strike, arguing that the 3% pay offer was a steep real-terms pay cut. Sharon Graham, Unite’s general secretary, said: “The universities and the UCEA know they can afford to put forward a better offer than the one that has been imposed and that is what they must do.”
Meanwhile, nurses are set to hold two days of strike action in December over a row in pay across the NHS, Bournemouth Echo UK reported.
It comes as the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) announced that members will stage their first-ever national walkout on December 15 and 20.
The strikes were called after the UK Government turned down its offer of formal detailed negotiations as an alternative to industrial action.
Nurses will strike across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, with RCN sharing the exact NHS employees that will be striking next week.
In Scotland, the RCN has paused announcing strike action after the government there reopened NHS pay negotiations.
Previously, the RCN said that nursing staff at the majority of NHS employers across the UK had voted to take strike action over pay and patient safety.
Adding that despite a pay rise of around £1,400 awarded in the summer, experienced nurses are worse off by 20% in real terms due to successive below-inflation awards since 2010.
RCN General Secretary Pat Cullen said: “Ministers have had more than two weeks since we confirmed that our members felt such injustice that they would strike for the first time.
Sharing that in the last year, 25,000 nursing staff around the UK left the Nursing and Midwifery Council register, with poor pay contributing to staff shortages across the UK, which it warned was affecting patient safety.
Currently, in England alone, there are 47,000 unfilled registered nurse posts, according to the RCN.
