"We want a national solution." UEA faces 18 days of strike action over six weeks

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Once again, UCU (Universities and College Union) members at UEA and around the country are striking to demand a better deal from UCEA (Universities & Colleges Employees Association) regarding pay, working conditions and the decrease of pensions in real terms. At the time of writing, industrial action took place on the 1st, 9th and 10th of February.

Other scheduled strike dates in February are the 14th, 15th, 16th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 27th and 28th. In March, industrial action is planned for the 1st, 2nd, 16th, 17th, 20th, 21st and 22nd, totalling 18 strike days before the Easter break.

Some members may notify students of their strike action beforehand, but they are not obligated to. Thus, classes and lectures may not be announced as cancelled in advance. Disruption to study can be expected should all of the strike days go ahead; however, some staff may not be striking this semester.

The Chair of the UEA branch of UCU, Michael Kyriacou, gave more insight into the reasons for the strikes: “There is currently too much work for academics and administrative staff. I’ve had members tell me they’re doing one and a half people’s jobs. That means universities get half a staff member for free. We want a national solution to this.”

He then goes into detail concerning the casualisation of staff members.

“Chances are, across your degree, you will have been taught by someone who is casualised. Often, associate tutors and PhD students are working, so they get enough money to eatsome staff members are on 1-2 year contracts. This is a national issue. We don’t think it’s appropriate as a sector to rely on casual labour.”. Finally, when asked about the matter of pay,

On the 3rd of February, 80.4% of the UCU voted to reject the last pay offer from UCEA, indicating that (at the time of writing) the furthered scheduled dates of striking will continue unless a “much-improved pay offer is made alongside commitments on workload and casualisation.”

In response to UCU’s statement, UCEA has stated, “UCEA’s final offer is an uplift of 8 per cent, with a minimum of 5 per cent for anyone earning between £31,000 and £65,000.” UCU states this offer would be “equating to another significant real-terms pay cut” as “Over a decade of low pay awards from employers have caused staff pay to fall 25% behind inflation.” to strike, and if he does, I could miss about three weeks worth of lectures and seminars. I wouldn’t be able to do that assignment to the best of my ability, and I don’t think that’s fair.”

Conversely, an anonymous LDC Postgraduate student told Concrete, “For those saying they support the strikes in theory but don’t think they are effective, consider all the worker's rights that have been fought for and won, from a 5-day work week to minimum wage to mandatory breaks.”

In response to concerns about disruption to learning, David Nowell-Smith, the Teaching Director for LDC, has stated that “the last time there was a strike that really impacted students, we didn’t have a lot of the asynchronous material that we now have. I can’t speak for all schools, but I’d like to think that it does give students something to be getting on with and hopefully minimise the disruption to you.”

These strikes are unlikely to be the last teaching and learning disruption we have this academic year, and Michael urges students to start a conversation with their lecturers should they have any more questions. Alternatively, he is happy to respond to any questions students may have and can be reached by email at michael.kyriacou@uea.ac.uk.

In addition, some staff may opt to partake in ‘action short of strike’ (ASOS), which for students most likely means the refusal to cover any cancelled lectures or classes that have been affected by the strikes.

Michael replied, “Locally and nationally, we’ve seen about 3% in terms of pay increase. The private sector has seen a 7% increase. This is not professors on hundreds of thousands of pounds; this is for junior colleagues and those less than that. If you’re getting paid below inflation, that’s a problem.”

Molly Warner, a PPL Academic Representative, commented that she is generally in favour of the right to strike, but “I don’t think 18 days is right. Some of the girls I live with commute to uni. I think for those people; it’s impacting them because they’re spending more money they might not have. Personally, I have a summative due on the 26th of March. I don’t know if my lecturer is going

When asked if there was anything he’d like to say to students, Michael replied, “No one wants to strike, but that doesn’t mean we won’t take action. What we want is the employer to recognise the situation that the sector is in and seriously sit down and negotiate.”

Unsure of how the strikes will affect you? Please see the all-student email ' Update regarding upcoming UCU strike action' of 25/01/23 or speak to lecturers directly