By Gavin Mackintosh-
Royal Mail workers, university lecturers and sixth-form college staff will walk out on strike on Wednesday in a dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.
The fresh wave of industrial action on Wednesday marks one of the biggest walkouts. on the same day and will see picket lines mounted outside universities, colleges and Royal Mail centres, with further strikes planned in the run-up to Christmas.
Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) are planning seven more strikes in December, including Christmas Eve, and said its members will be in London on 9 December for the “biggest strike demonstration this country has ever seen”
The Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) said the impact of the strikes on students had been “low and isolated”.
Around 8,000 lecturers, librarians and researchers who are members of the University and College Union (UCU) will join the ongoing dispute over pay, pensions and conditions.
The UCU said many of its members are employed on precarious contracts which does not give them enough time for marking or supporting students.
Unison members at 19 universities are also taking strike action, following the rejection a 3% pay offer earlier this year. Mike Short, Unison’s head of education, said: “Low pay has been a massive, growing problem in the university sector for more than a decade. The cost-of-living crisis is pushing people to the brink. University support staff can’t even cover the basics. They have had enough and are quitting the sector for jobs on better pay.”
Unite members at 10 UK universities are also on strike, arguing that the 3% pay offer was a steep real-terms pay cut. Sharon Graham, Unite’s general secretary, said: “The universities and the UCEA know they can afford to put forward a better offer than the one that has been imposed and that is what they must do.”
The National Union of Students (NUS) says it is supporting the campus strikes, despite the impact it will have on its members. Chloe Field, its vice-president for higher education, said: “We have always been clear that staff working conditions are students’ learning conditions, and for more than a decade both have come under attack from a sector that puts profits above education.”
But Robert Halfon, the minister for skills, apprenticeships and higher education in England, said it was “hugely disappointing” for students who had already suffered during the pandemic to face further disruption. “I urge all sides to work together so that students do not suffer with further learning loss,” he said.
The union also claims members have lost 35% of their expected pension income after cuts were made to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS).
Employers say they are taking steps to mitigate disruption, adding the union is seeking an “unrealistic” 13.6% pay rise which would cost institutions around £1.5 billion.
Professor Steve West, from Universities UK, said: “We’re trying to do everything we can within the environments we’re operating with the funding we’ve got to make sure we are fair and transparent in the way we support our staff.
“My number one priority at the moment is to ensure we don’t disadvantage students.
“Frankly they’ve had a really difficult time over the last few years with Covid. This is the last thing they need.”
In an article for The Independent, CWU general secretary Dave Ward wrote: “The reason for today’s strike is simple: it’s about stopping the Uberisation of Royal Mail. The management agenda is about Royal Mail being transformed into a gig economy-style parcel courier, with a business model reliant on bogus self-employment and casual labour.
“For employers, the decent conditions and job protections our members enjoy seem to be a downside to running the company, which turned a £758 million profit last year.
Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU, said: “Members take strike action with great reluctance, but the effects of real-terms pay losses are simply too urgent for them to endure the situation any longer.
“These cuts are driving an exodus from the profession whilst providing little incentive to those seeking a career in teaching. The overwhelming majority of teachers in sixth-form colleges will receive a 5% pay rise this year, which simply doesn’t deal with the effects of inflation.
“The government is failing to act to protect the pay and living standards of our members, and it is in the gift of the Education Secretary to make that change. The message from members on this strike day is that she must do so urgently.”
Elsewhere, the University and College Union (UCU) is following up a 48-hour strike last week with a 24-hour stoppage among university staff and is holding a rally in London. On Wednesday, UCU members at 150 universities will go on strike.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “University staff are prepared to do whatever it takes to win decent pay, secure employment and fair pensions, and vice chancellors need to understand that they cannot simply ride this out. Students and staff are united like never before.
“At the national rally in London, the entire movement will show it is behind UCU’s campaign to save higher education. It is clear those who run our universities are becoming increasingly isolated.
“Our union is ready to deliver more industrial action next year but avoiding that is entirely the responsibility of employers who have this week to make an improved offer. The ball is in their court.”