Birmingham UCU calls off planned strike action for the first week of term

All scheduled teaching events and activities are expected to go ahead as planned

1 year ago

The UCU has cancelled plans for strike action in the first week of teaching at University of Birmingham, week commencing 25th September.

Two weeks ago the UCU announced an end to the marking and assessment boycott which had been ongoing since the 20th April. Following this, the UCU announced five days of strike action set to take place at 140 UK universities.

An update from the University of Birmingham shared on 21st September said: “The university has been advised that the Birmingham Branch of UCU have cancelled their planned strike action for week commencing 25th September 2023. This means we expect all scheduled teaching events and activities to go ahead as planned.”

Despite the official strike being called off, other strikes will still remain in place by the Birmingham branch of Unison, one of the UK’s largest unions. Unison calls on all support staff to strike over pay reform proposals at University of Birmingham.

The statement shared by The University of Birmingham said: “Separately, the Birmingham Branch of Unison will continue strike action by some of their members on Thursday 21st and Friday 22nd September, and Wednesday 27th, Thursday 28th and Friday 29th September. We do not expect there to be any disruption to services for students on these days.”

“On each strike day students can expect that there will be “picket lines” at entrances to campus and you may pass members of staff at the entrances who are carrying signs, handing out leaflets and talking to people about the reasons for the strike.

“We respect the rights of union members to take legitimate strike action, alongside those staff members who do not want to take strike action, and we would expect all staff and students to treat everyone with respect.”