Confirmed: The first day of strike action at King’s College London is in two weeks time

King’s College London staff will join 70,000 other university staff for the first day of industrial action in two weeks time.

Last week it was announced that staff at 150 universities across the UK would strike for 18 days over February and March. Now, the union has confirmed the strikes will begin on Wednesday, 1st February.

This date coincides with the TUC’s “protect the right to strike” day, a protest against the Conservative government’s plans to introduce strict anti-strike measures through parliament. Five unions, including UCU, NEU, ASLEF, PCS and RMT, have already confirmed they will be join this day of action.

17 more days of strike action are set to take place over the course of February and March with the exact dates to be announced by the UCU next week.

The UCU remain firm that the offer of a four to five per cent pay rise made by the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) was “not enough” and they maintain their demands fo  a meaningful pay rise to deal with the cost-of-living crisis, the end of using insecure contracts and a settlement to the pension dispute.

Within the pension dispute, the UCU is demanding employers reverse cuts and reinstate benefits, the package cuts made last year seeing a 35% loss of guaranteed future retirement income for the average member. Those beginning their careers expecting a loss of hundreds of thousands of pounds.

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