University of Nottingham staff set to strike for 18 days before Easter

Over 70,000 staff at 150 universities will be striking

2 years ago

Staff at the University of Nottingham will be striking for 18 days between February and March.

The University and College Union (UCU) has recently announced that around 70,000 staff across 150 UK universities will be striking for 18 days during the months of February and March, as staff continue to battle for better pay and pensions among other things.

🚨BREAKING🚨

EVERY SINGLE UK UNIVERSITY WILL BE SHUT DOWN WITH 18 DAYS OF STRIKE ACTION ACROSS FEBRUARY AND MARCH

RT if you support our members. #ucuRISING pic.twitter.com/eLygR0LAeO

— UCU (@ucu) January 12, 2023

The UCU has not announced exact dates for the upcoming strikes, which are set to be confirmed next week.

The committee also agreed to re-ballot staff at all 150 universities in order to renew UCU’s mandate and allow the union to call action into 2023, including a marking and assessement boycott from April unless the disputes are settled.

After three days of strike action in November 2022, it will mean that there will have been a total of 21 days of industrial action so far this academic year, more than any previous academic year.

Staff at Nottingham Trent University did not partake in strikes during the last cycle of action. It is currently unclear as to whether they will partake in the upcoming industrial action.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “Today our union came together to back an unprecedented programme of escalating strike action. The clock is now ticking for the sector to produce a deal or be hit with widespread disruption.

“University staff dedicate their lives to education and they want to get back to work, but that will only happen if university vice-chancellors use the vast wealth of the sector to address over a decade of falling pay, rampant insecure employment practises and devastating pension cuts. The choice is theirs.”