Sheffield Hallam union announces strike action to take place next week

Sheffield Hallam University’s branch of the University and College Union (UCU) has announced it will take part in strike action next week.

The strikes – on Monday 24th and Tuesday 25th March – follow a decision made by the university last August to delay the national 2.7% staff pay award for 2024/25 by seven months, with ongoing financial challenges cited as the reason for this.

As of this March 2025, that pay increase has now been implemented. However, Hallam UCU estimates that university’s decision to not backdate payments has cost its average member approximately £800.

In a statement today, Hallam UCU said: “Staff at Hallam are struggling with a cost-of-living crisis and working harder than ever – our demand is that the employer prioritises our financial welfare.

“Strike action is only every taken as the last resort and we hope that employers will change their position. The union is only as strong as its members, and now is the time to stand together.”

It added that this “comes on the back of a decade and a half of below inflation pay rises and mushrooming workload”.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “Our members are striking because Sheffield Hallam is acting like a rogue employer. By refusing to fully implement the nationally agreed pay award, Hallam bosses are effectively stealing tens of thousands of pounds from their workforce.

“We refuse to accept that Hallam can invest hundreds of millions of pounds in shiny new buildings yet can’t afford to meet the nationally agreed pay award, as every other university in Yorkshire was able to. Management needs to think again, or it is laying the groundwork for further disruption.”

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Sheffield Hallam is developing a new satellite campus in London and has spent in the region of £220m over the past few years on campus developments in Sheffield. Three new buildings on Howard Street are set to open later this year.

On Monday and Tuesday, a picket line will be situated outside the Owen Building between 8:30am and 11:30am.

Hallam UCU had encouraged its staff to vote ‘yes’ amid a ballot on strike action which opened in January.

A spokesperson for Sheffield Hallam University told The Sheffield Tab this evening: “We are disappointed that UCU has voted to take strike action, although our priority during any industrial action will be to do everything possible to minimise the impact on our students and wider university community.

They also clarified that the University’s Executive Board will not receive a pay award in the 2024/25 academic year.

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