Uni Strikes Could Overshadow Exams
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As dozens of universities across the country enter the forth week of strike action, the University and College Union (UCU) seems no closer to resolving the pensions dispute with Universities UK (UUK).
University staff stand to lose £10,000 per year if proposed pension plans go ahead which is why they are taking such intense (though understandable) industrial action. If a solution isn’t reached, more strikes will be scheduled.
UCU has warned that it is planning another 14 days of strikes to take place between April and June; in other words, during exam season. The union is in the process of looking at each university and deciding when the strike days would be most effective. This threat of disruption to exams will hopefully pressure UUK into reassessing the pension proposals. Before the first 14 days, UUK had made it clear that it refused to negotiate but now some talks have taken place with little success.
Strike action over exam season will be immensely disruptive to students (which is of course the point of strike action) and so UUK will want to prevent this at all costs. However given the employers’ insistence on the current pension scheme being too costly, it is unlikely that this will be resolved without a long and hard fight.