University workers strike to save jobs as funding crisis becomes untenable

A series of industrial disputes has broken out at Britain’s universities.

In Brighton, the University of Brighton is threatening to derecognise campus unions. Both the University and College Union and Unison have condemned plans by the University to terminate their recognition agreement and all collective agreements from June next year, effectively ripping up contracts negotiated over recent years. Staff protested at the City Campus on Grand Parade, urging the Vice Chancellor to reconsider and keep working with the unions.

UCU General Secretary Jo Grady said: “For the University of Brighton to even consider removing the rights of its staff to join a recognised union is scandalous. Rather than disenfranchising staff just as the new academic year begins, management should be working with staff and trade unions to ensure a more secure future for staff and students across Sussex.”

UNISON General Secretary Andrea Egan said: “This is a terrible way to treat staff. Ripping up longstanding agreements will harm industrial relations and ultimately means letting down students. University workers are bewildered why this is happening. They just want to create the best learning environment possible, but feel undermined and undervalued.”

UNISON South East regional manager Liam Kenny said: “The decision to end the agreement with staff unions is disappointing and alarming. Silencing the collective voice of workers who care deeply about providing students with a fantastic university experience will be hugely damaging to the University of Brighton’s reputation.”

In Colchester, professional services staff at the University of Essex are taking strike action over plans to cut around 400 posts and reduce services. Unison represents admissions advisers, IT technicians, administrative staff and other professional services workers, who say university leaders have failed to properly consult on the proposed £24 million cuts. The union warns the cuts will affect education quality and student support.

You can donate to the strike fund and send a message of solidarity here.

In Edinburgh, UCU members at the University of Edinburgh are taking strike action over £140 million of cuts and an estimated 1,800 job losses. Staff are demanding guarantees against compulsory redundancies, meaningful consultation, action on hidden job losses and increased workloads, and a review of the balance between staff and non- staff cuts. The dispute follows previous strikes and a marking and assessment boycott.

The strike days will run from Monday 28th September to Friday 30th October, 25 days in total, over five weeks.

UCU Edinburgh branch co-president Lena Wånggren said: “Our members have been clear that compulsory redundancies must not be the university’s answer to its financial challenges. Five weeks of strike action is not what anyone wants, but members are prepared to take action to protect jobs. UCU members are prepared to take action for our colleagues and our students – we want to safeguard students’ education not just for five weeks in Autumn but for the future.”

UCU General Secretary Jo Grady said: “The unprecedented cuts and job losses at Edinburgh are forcing members to take five-weeks of strike action. I previously called the cuts at Edinburgh ‘academic vandalism’ and nothing I’ve seen during this dispute gives me any reason to change that view. Even at this late stage, it’s not too late for the principal to rule out compulsory redundancies, engage meaningfully with the union and take action to end this dispute.”

In Dundee, lecturers at the University of Dundee are beginning an unprecedented five-week strike. Members of the UCU union will not take part in lectures, seminars or tutorials until after 23rd October.

The vote for industrial action is the latest move in a dispute that began almost two years ago when the university announced a £30m deficit. Since then, 675 jobs have been lost through voluntary redundancy. But the University’s principal says Dundee is facing the worst financial crisis of any British higher education institution since World War Two.

In Glasgow, UCU members at Glasgow Caledonian University are today taking the first of six days strike action in a dispute over job cuts and compulsory redundancies. The dispute is over plans announced in March by senior management to cut up to 100 posts at the university despite not having a deficit.

Karen Lorimer, GCU UCU branch president, said: “The fact that university management are investing millions in property for which the use is unclear at the same time as cutting staff simply doesn’t make sense and will be deeply offensive to those staff losing their jobs.”

Also in Edinburgh, members of UCU at Heriot-Watt University last week took two days of strike action over cuts and compulsory redundancies.

Last month, members of the union voted to back strike action by 70%. The dispute centres on job losses at the university’s Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies and Scholar programme. There had previously been an agreement reached in June, which committed the university to no compulsory redundancies at the Department but the union said that management are failing to honour that commitment.

Since the dispute began back in March, staff have been on strike for twelve days. As well as strike action, staff have also been participating in action short of strike such as working to contract and not covering for absent colleagues and future action short of strike could also involve a marking and assessment boycott.

Kate Sang, UCU branch president, said: “Since March, staff in both the Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies and Scholar have faced an uncertain future with job cuts and possible compulsory redundancies hanging over them. The ballot result last month showed that members of the branch remain determined to defend jobs, including by striking if necessary.”

In Exeter, staff at the University of Exeter overwhelmingly backed a mandate for industrial action in a battle to save jobs earlier this month. In the ballot, 91% of UCU members voted in favour of potential further industrial action on a turnout of 74%.

UCU General Secretary Jo Grady said: “Our members have sent a resounding message to University of Exeter management: stop making reckless decisions that threaten to wreck the future of this brilliant institution. This massive yes vote shows our members are prepared to continue fighting to protect jobs and student provision.”

In Nottingham, University of Nottingham staff are threatening a two day strike later this month, with further action later this term. As elsewhere, the union is calling on the university to rule out compulsory redundancies and the closure of full departments, protect teaching and research, and engage seriously with the alternative proposals put forward by staff.

And again, in Brighton, Staff at the University of Sussex last month overwhelmingly backed strike action in a battle to save jobs. In the ballot, 81% of UCU members voted in favour of strike action on a turnout of 70%.

The vote was over management’s threat to cut 200 jobs in plans to save £35m a year. Sussex UCU branch president Jo Pawlik said: “This strong support for strike action shows Sussex staff will fight to protect our jobs and our student provision.”

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “The threatened cuts would cause lasting harm to Sussex’s academic standing and reputation. They must be halted. Our members have the full backing of the national union in resisting them.”

At the root of most of these disputes lies the chronic funding crisis facing UK higher education institutions. The quest for more overseas students to close a widening funding gap has gone alongside the employment of management consultants and auditors to define and enforce performance indicators. Meanwhile, universities are spending over £500 million a year on recruitment agents. But for teaching staff, precarious employment is increasingly the norm: even Oxford, Britain’s richest university, has 77% of its academic staff on casual contracts.

According to members of the University Rank and File Workers Group, nearly half of UK universities are projected to run deficits in 2026, with up to 50 institutions potentially facing insolvency or closure in the following year. They conclude: “The long-term consequences are becoming increasingly clear. A university can cut its way out of a deficit only for so long. At some point, an institution will fail. And when that happens, it will be the result of a funding regime that has transferred risk from the state to individual universities, from universities to workers, and from workers to students.”

A complete reset is needed to the way higher education is managed and financed. Professor Guy Standing, who this year wrote an important book on the subject, is calling on the Government to set up a National Commission for Education to take stock and propose a brave, radical, transformative strategy.