14th November 2013 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Lecturers and staff at universities across the UK staged a country-wide strike on Halloween over their pay freeze. The action was organised jointly by the University and College Union, Unison and Unite, and involved lecturers and staff at 149 institutions throughout the UK. Unions said that staff pay has not kept up with rising living costs, and rejected the offer of a 1% pay rise. They released a statement to say that the 1% offer would represent a 13% pay-cut in real terms since 2009. Many university building and departments closed, in addition to many libraries at institutions where library staff joined the strike.
The strike constituted the most widespread action taken by university staff in years, and has received widespread support from students’ unions. Some universities kept their doors open operating with a reduced staff, while others including Liverpool John Moores and Liverpool Hope cancelled teaching for the day. UCU secretary Sally Hunt said that universities were giving high salaries to senior staff, whilst not paying the majority of staff members enough to reflect rising living costs. UCU argued that universities had a surplus of more than £1.1bn, but were not prepared to offer more than a 1% pay rise which would not even cover a third of the increased cost of living.
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said that they were disappointed by the strike, and that student’s learning should not be disrupted. Although supported by many students and students’ unions, the strike has been controversial, with many university lecturers and staff at odds as to whether strike action was appropriate. The Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) said that the majority of the total higher education workforce were not in favour of strike action, and added that the pay in other sectors had also not risen in line with inflation. The association maintains that staff pay would probably rise about 3% when awards and bonuses for merit were taken into account. However, the University and College Union, Unison and Unite have pointed out that bonus money is being reserved for senior academics, whilst other lecturers and support staff could not expect to see more than a 1% pay rise under the deal being offered.