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The independent voice of Newcastle students
Eight days of strikes announced Grace Dean Editor
The University and College Union (UCU) has announced impending strike action at 60 university campuses later this month. Following the announcement on Thursday 31 October that 79% of UCU (University and Colleges Union) members backed strike action in response to a ballot over pension changes, and 74% regarding pay, equality, casualisation and workloads, on Tuesday 5 November it was declared that 60 university campuses will see strike action from Monday 25 November to Wednesday 4 December. Alongside these eight days of strike action, which is estimated to impact over one million students, UCU members will also undertake ‘action short of a strike’, such as working strictly to contract, not covering for absent colleagues and refusing to reschedule lectures lost to strike action. Discussing the announcement, UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “The first wave of strikes will hit universities later this month unless the employers start talking to us seriously about how they are going to deal with rising pension costs and declining pay and conditions. “Any general election candidate would be over the moon with a result along the lines of what we achieved last week. Universities can be in no doubt about the strength of feeling on these issues and we will be consulting branches whose desire to strike was frustrated by anti-union laws about reballoting.” A spokesperson for Universities UK (UUK), which represents university employers, said: “We hope that UCU will now join us to consider governance reforms and alternative options for future valuations, which deliver a shared set of principles, increased transparency and a sustainable scheme,” and described the pensions changes as “both fair and reasonable”, with the scheme allegedly being one of the best in the country. The Students’ Union has released the following statement on its website: “You, the students of Newcastle University, are always our first priority. We believe that taking a neutral stance on any potential future strike action is the best way for us to fully support you. We encourage students to form their own opinions, as we are aware that there are students who support lecturers in their action and those who do not. As a result, NUSU believes that taking a side would not stay true to our duty of representing the diverse student body as best we can.”
1m
Number of students across the country expected to be affected
Of those who voted in the UCU ballot nationally, 79% backed strike action in the ballot over changes to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS). Among Newcastle University UCU members, 77.78% voted in
65 campuses, including Newcastle, saw unprecedented levels of strikes in 2018 Image: Newcastle University UCU on Twitter
favour of industrial action including a strike, while 86.38% voted in favour of industrial action short of strike action, including a marking and assessment boycott. Newcastle saw a considerably higher voter turnout for this pension changes ballot than the national average, with 56.75% of Newcastle UCU members having voted, compared to 49% nationally. Meanwhile, 74% of UCU members nationally backed strike actions in the ballot on pay, casualisation, equality and workloads; at Newcastle, 84.54% voted “yes” to the question: “are you prepared to take industrial action consisting of strike action?” The UCU said that this support for strikes is symptomatic of serious issues in the higher education sector, and that, if universities do not adequately respond to these problems
then strike action, which is estimated to affect around a million students, would be unavoidable. UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “The ballots reflect just how unhappy and angry staff are at the state of higher education in the UK. Universities only have themselves to blame after failing to address falling realterms pay and for refusing to deal with casualisation, workloads and the rising cost of USS pensions.” In spring 2018, over 65 university campuses across the country, including Newcastle University, faced unprecedented levels of strike action which lasted for 65 days and involved approximately 190,000 academic members of staff due to pensions changes. The higher education ombudsman for England and Wales instructed some British
universities to pay compensation for the loss of teaching hours after students complained of missed seminars and lectures and the associated stress. It is estimated that in total 575,000 teaching hours were lost, leading to over 80 complaints being received by The Office of the Independent Adjudicator, and an estimated 100,000 students signing a petition calling for compensation of their fees. Universities found different ways to compensate for this, including making lecture recordings, podcasts, and additional online materials available, and allowing students to sit in on other classes. At Newcastle, a petition to obtain “a refund for every lecture missed” at Newcastle University obtained over 11,000 signatures. To reassure concerned students, Newcastle University Registrar John Hogan declared
that “topics that have not been delivered because of industrial action will be excluded from any assessments and any money saved on the April salary roll will be invested directly for the benefit of students.” In 2018, Newcastle University Student Council chose to take a neutral stance on the strikes after rejecting two rival motions both supporting and opposing the lecturers’ strike. In response to the 2018 strikes, the Students’ Union worked in liaison with the University to provide 50% off food and drinks for students at key campus outlets during the exam revision period, free gown hire for all students graduating in July and December 2018 congregations, extra funding for mental health and counselling service, and academic and PEC support through the Student Advice Centre.