Imperial UCU members to strike on 24th, 25th & 30th November
Imperial’s branch of the University and College Union (Imperial UCU) has been called on to strike on 24th, 25th, and 30th November. This is a part of the national series of strikes being called by the University and College Union (UCU), and affects 150 universities. The UCU achieved a national mandate to strike on both of their disputes: 1. fair pay and working conditions, and 2. the University Superannuation Scheme (USS) pension scheme with 81.1% and 84.9% of ballot respondents saying “Yes” to taking industrial action respectively. These strikes are expected to involve 70,000 UCU members across the UK.
Imperial UCU members were only balloted on the USS pensions scheme, as Imperial College takes part in ‘local bargaining’ instead of ‘national bargaining’. This means staff representatives negotiate pay on their own with the College. Staff representatives come from the three staff unions: Imperial UCU, Imperial Unite, and Imperial UNISON, and these make up Imperial’s Joint trade Unions ( JTU).
The UCU has also disclosed that strike action will “escalate in the New Year alongside a marking and assessment boycott” if employers “don’t act fast and make improved offers”.
Imperial UCU has since called for an online meeting of all members of the JTU. This meeting will take place on 17th November at 1pm. During this meeting, it is expected that the JTU will be discussing their negotiation and striking strategy surrounding “a fair pay settlement”, and might also include discussions about the USS pension policy.
The onus for minimising disruption for students lies with university bosses
The National Union of Students (NUS) is a union of student unions across the UK, and has backed the strikes. NUS UK President commented: “Students have a rich history of standing shoulder to shoulder with university staff, who have seen their pensions, pay and conditions slashed in recent years, so I’m not surprised that they overwhelmingly support their campaign to secure a fairer settlement … Staff teaching conditions are student learning conditions, and moreover many postgraduate students on casualised teaching contracts will be striking. The onus for minimising disruption for students lies with university bosses.”
Imperial College Union (the student union of Imperial College London) is not part of NUS.
As the strike dates were announced after Imperial College Union Council’s call for papers closed, there was no motion on the Council’s position. However, it was brought up by the Deputy President of Education in the “Any Other Business” portion of the meeting, and it was decided that a position will be discussed over email. In 2021, 73.4% of Imperial students who voted in a referendum were in favour of strike action. In 2018, Union Council voted to support the strikes by passing a paper calling on “elected representatives of ICU to support the UCU position”.
