Academic activities at universities across the United Kingdom were hit on Thursday as lecturers from 57 universities joined in a strike action against reforms to their pensions. The universities impacted include some of Britain’s best known names, including Oxford, Cambridge and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).
Members of the University and College Union (UCU) are protesting against changes that would end the defined benefit element of their pension scheme, which UCU estimates would leave lecturers around £10,000 a year worse off. The union says effort to reach out to universities have so far proved unsuccessful, with representatives refusing to engage and negotiate.
Unaffordable, says Universities U.K.
Universities U.K. argues pensions arrangements as they currently exist are unaffordable, and that with the Universities Superannuation Scheme having a deficit of £6.1 billion, an extra £1 billion would be needed to maintain current benefits, which would have to come from cuts to teaching, jobs and research.
Many academics took to social media to highlight the impact that the proposed changes would have on their post-retirement income and to express solidarity with others across the country.
“I don’t want to #USSstrike today. I love my job, have stuff to do and don’t want to let people down, but I have no choice. A cut to my pension of 50-60% will mean serious hardship my family. The cuts are unnecessary and unjust and built on falsehoods,” wrote Jacqui Rogers, a lecturer at Newcastle University .
‘Education not a business’
“In all my years of teaching I have never taken industrial action. Now I must. Because of our pensions, because of student fees, because of Vice-Chancellor’s pay. Because education is not a business,” wrote another academic. “Our #ucustrike today is about pensions, but it is not only about pensions. It is also about the structural changes that have seen increasing numbers of colleagues employed on temporary / precarious contracts,” wrote Gurminder K. Bhambra, a professor at the University of Sussex.
There was divided opinion on the strike. While some sought to criticise the impact it would have on students, a poll of university students conducted ahead of the strike by UCU found 61% of students supported the strikes, with just 2% believing the university staff were at fault.
The government urged Universities U.K. and UCU to get back to the negotiating table without preconditions. “Where any strike action takes place, we expect universities to keep a close eye on the impact on students, and to put in place measures to maintain the quality of education that they should receive,” said Sam Gymiah, the Minister for Universities.
Labour raps government
However, the Labour Party criticised the government for allowing the situation to get as severe as it had. “It cannot be right that universities are joining a race to the bottom in closing their defined benefit pension, ringing the death knell for decent pensions,” said Labour’s spokesperson on work and pensions Debbie Abrahams. “It beggars belief that the government has done nothing to bring the employers back to the negotiating table.”
The strike comes as the wider state of universities has become an increasingly divisive political issue. Alongside the ongoing debate on whether foreign students should be kept within net migration figures, the cost of education is facing mounting scrutiny. A plan by the government to review the system of tuition fees — charging students who study the humanities less than those on science, engineering and other courses has faced much criticism, with warnings that it could exacerbate Britain’s skills crisis. There has also been a nationwide debate on the pay received by university vice-chancellors.
