Confirmed: These are all the days York lecturers are striking in February and March

The UCU have just confirmed all the dates lecturers will be striking in February and March this term.

This month, it was announced that staff at the University of York will be striking for 18 days this term, alongside other UCU members, as part of an ongoing campaign for better pay and pensions, among other things. Last week it was confirmed that the strike action would start next week on the 1st of February.

The 18 days of strikes are spread across seven weeks in February and March.

These are all the dates that York lecturers and staff will be striking: 

• Week 1 – Wednesday 1 February
• Week 2 – Thursday 9 and Friday 10 February
• Week 3 – Tuesday 14, Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 February
• Week 4 – Tuesday 21, Wednesday 22 and Thursday 23 February
• Week 5 – Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 February and Wednesday 1 and Thursday 2 March
• Week 6 – Thursday 16 and Friday 17 March
• Week 7 – Monday 20, Tuesday 21 and Wednesday 22 March

BREAKING: NOTICE SERVED ON UNIVERSITY EMPLOYERS

18 days of strike action in February and March

1 Feb
9, 10 Feb
14, 15, 16 Feb
21, 22, 23 Feb
27, 28 Feb. 1, 2 March
16, 17 March
20, 21, 22 March

RT if you back our members

UCU and PROUD#ucuRISING pic.twitter.com/WpitQutIYs

— UCU (@ucu) January 24, 2023

This will be the biggest series of strikes ever to hit UK university campuses if all 18 days of strike action go ahead, the UCU says, with 70,000 lecturers at 150 unis around the country going on strike.

In an email to students last week, Vice Chancellor Charlie Jeffery said: “While I know that any decision to take part in industrial action is not taken lightly, I am saddened by the possible impacts on our students when there are so many other difficulties to contend with in the current cost of living crisis”.

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York has already seen three days of strike action this academic year and A York Tab survey found that 69 per cent of York students supported the strikes.

The UCU is campaigning for a meaningful pay rise to ease the cost of living crisis, the enduring use of insecure contracts, and are also demanding unis revoke cuts to pensions and restore benefits.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “The university sector in the UK has over £40bn sitting in reserves, but instead of using that vast wealth to deliver a cost-of-living pay rise and reverse devastating pension cuts, university vice-chancellors would rather force staff to take strike action and see campuses shut down.

“There is a clear route out of these disputes, but at present vice-chancellors lack the political will to take it. They are failing staff who want to get back to work, and students who want to get on with their studies.

“Students understand that staff working conditions are their learning conditions and we are proud to have their support in these disputes. A system that relies on low pay and the rampant use of insecure contracts is a system which fails everyone.

“A resolution can be reached, but that is in the gift of university vice-chancellors who need to urgently reassess their priorities and deliver a deal that benefits staff and students. From February, our union will begin reballoting its members to allow action to continue through the rest of the academic year, should they continue to drag their feet.”

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• The first day of York UCU strikes is only two weeks away
• University of York staff set to strike for 18 days this term
• ‘Lecturers are exhausted and overworked’: What York students think about the strikes