Staff at Scottish universities set to begin five days of strike action

Staff at universities across Scotland are set to begin five days of strike action.

University and College Union (UCU) members from 11 Scots institutions will walk out from Monday.

It is the third round of strike action in the current academic year.

The action is being taken in a dispute over pension cuts and deteriorating pay and conditions.

Staff previously took up to ten days of strike action over three weeks between February 14 and March 2.

They also went on strike for three days in December last year.

Industrial ballots opened at 149 universities across the UK last week and will run until Friday, April 8.

The union has indicated that the move paves the way for action to continue throughout the remainder of 2022.

A UCU Scotland strike rally is also being held on Tuesday at 1pm at the City Square in Dundee.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “Vice chancellors and principals across the UK have the power to end these disputes.

“The money is there to pay staff properly, tackle punishing working conditions and reverse pension cuts that will devastate retirement incomes.

“Instead, university bosses are choosing to sit on reserves worth tens of billions of pounds and make their own staff suffer. That’s why we are out on picket lines yet again.”

Grady added: “By continuing to ignore the longstanding and serious concerns of staff, principals are not only pushing their own workforce to breaking point, but also doing serious harm to the future of higher education and preventing it from being the best it can be.”