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Cardiff Uni staff vow to ‘win’ strike battle during opening rally

Members of UCU stood together in solidarity


Beginning at 8am this morning, Cardiff University staff gathered in Alexandra Gardens to kick-start 8 days of UCU strikes between Monday 25th November and Wednesday 4th December.

The strike-action is protesting against a number of issues including pension cuts, unstable and unsustainable job contracts, pay cuts and inadequate pay, a significant gender pay-gap and unethical workloads in which staff are routinely working unpaid overtime.

At 11am, a variety of UCU members and strike-supporters gave talks as part of the strike-rally with Labour MP Jo Stevens as the first speaker.

Staff members included lecturing academic staff working across a variety of faculties, ranging from Journalism to Ocean and Earth Science, alongside postgraduate students, professional services staff, technicians, librarians, and other categories of academic-related staff who are members of UCU.

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Staff gathered in Alexandra Gardens

The strike action has received support from the Trades Union Congress, Cardiff Trades Council and the Communication Workers Union.

Cardiff University students also joined the rally, stating "we are standing here today, not as customers but as supporters" and ex-students shared their support on Twitter:

This week of strikes will be followed by ‘action short of a strike’ which involves strictly working to contract, not covering for absent colleagues, and refusing to reschedule lectures lost during the strike action.

The full strike-timetable can be found at on the UCU's website here.