University staff take strike action

University staff at Newcastle, Durham, and Edinburgh are taking strike action against mounting financial pressures and threats of job cuts.

In June, at Newcastle University, members of the UCU university and college union took their 37th day of action, staging a demonstration joined by UCU branches from Edinburgh, Dundee, Leeds, and University College London.

Their demand is for no compulsory redundancies in the face of the university’s plans to cut 300 jobs, a move the employer says is needed to close a £30 million deficit. Staff and the union argue that the institution still holds millions in reserves and is due to invest £274 million in new student accommodation.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said that Newcastle University staff are set to walk out for over 60 days altogether. And she said that UCU members, students and trade unionists from across the UK “refuse to stand by while senior managers try to make their own staff the shock absorbers for their financial mismanagement”.

In Durham, more than 1,000 staff have been balloted for further industrial action after the university refused to rule out compulsory redundancies, despite already meeting £14 million of its £15 million savings target through voluntary severance and vacancy savings.

At Edinburgh, staff are walking out over proposed cuts totalling approximately £140 million. Around 200 voluntary redundancies have already been accepted but management has yet to rule out further job losses.