Durham students will only have nine days of teaching in February from UCU strikes

After announcing eighteen days worth of strikes and industrial action, the University and College Union (UCU) has finally released all of the dates that lecturers up and down the country will be striking.

There are 33 days of term time teaching over February and March combined, meaning the eighteen days of planned strike action will result in the loss of up to 54 per cent of total teaching time during the two month period. This leaves Durham students with only 9 days of teaching in February due to the strikes.

The UCU has also called for a marking boycott, due to “excessive workloads” and lecturers having to “constantly” undertake hours of “unpaid work”. Lecturers and the UCU’s main grievances are to do with with better pay and pension.

This marking and assessment will take place from April unless an agreement can be reached.

The confirmed dates of the strikes across February and March are:

• 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
• (No action week commencing Monday 6th March)
• Week 6 – Thursday 16 and Friday 17 March
• Week 7 – Monday 20, Tuesday 21 and Wednesday 22 March – will not affect Durham students

As Epiphany Term ends on Friday 17th March, strikes happening on Monday 20, Tuesday 21 and Wednesday 22 March will not affect Durham students, however all of the other strike days certainly will.

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Each week of term costs £318.97, meaning students will lose nearly a thousand pounds in academic fees this year.

If the action goes ahead, it will be the biggest series of strikes ever to hit UK university campuses with over 70,000 university staff, not just lecturers, walking out at over 150 UK universities.

Tomorrow (Wednesday 25th January), UCU will meet with university employer representative the Universities and Colleges Employers Association.

The union is demanding employers substantially improve on the pay offer made by the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) on Wednesday 12th January, which was between four and five per cent to avoid disruption. This pay rise offer was labelled “not enough” by the UCU and rejected. The UCEA claimed however that this offer was worth up to seven per cent.

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.”

Currently, Durham university does not have any updated information regarding the confirmation of the strike days. From an announcement posted on their website from the 19th January they state:

“We understand that our students may feel concerned about this announcement. We would like to reassure you that detailed mitigations are in place to support our students and ensure learning opportunities continue to be met.”

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