University Unions to Strike over Pay

Cambridge University unions; UCU, Unison, and Unite have submitted strike notices to Uni officials for 31^st October.

In a row over pay, the unions say they will bring universities to a ‘standstill’ on Halloween, co-ordinating action between Cambridge Uni and Anglia Ruskin.

Unions are furious that their 1% pay rise this year amounts to an effective 13% pay cut in real terms since 2008, and over two-thirds of their members voted to protest.

Speaking to The Tab, Unite regional officer Ian Maidlow said ‘this is one year too many and we’re not prepared to put up with this any more’.

UCU and Unison will begin a work to rule protest – members of the two unions will be doing the bare minimum required in order to slow thing down – on the 1^st of November.

Unite opted for a straight-up strike, which Maidlow says ‘sends a stronger message’.

The protests will be part of nationwide higher education strikes at the end of the month.

‘Staff have suffered year-on-year cuts in the value of their pay,’ said Michael MacNeil, head of higher education at the UCU.

‘Quite simply, enough is enough,’ he added, telling The Tab that unis and colleges should ‘come to the negotiating table to resolve this dispute’.

But the Uni top brass aren’t worried. Tim Holt, Cambridge’s Head of Communications, says the numbers of staff involved are ‘relatively small’.

Staff in Cambridge will be joined by student groups. Cambridge Defend Education – the organisers of a protest in 2012 in which English student, Owen Holland, was sent down for 30 months by the University – told The Tab that ‘we will probably plan some kind of solidarity action’.

In a statement released to The Tab, CUSU expressed their solidarity with the protest: ‘CUSU believes that properly remunerated lecturers and staff at Cambridge are key in providing an excellent education for students. The increasing pressure of market forces on higher education is worrying, and will undermine efforts to make Higher Education accessible to all. We hope that the planned industrial action will be an effective way to raise such concerns and will attract the support of students.’

The Unions will meet early next week to discuss what kind of action they’ll be taking, and you can be sure to read about it in The Tab.