Strikes at Warwick and Coventry Universities over pay row

MEMBERS of the University and College Union (UCU) at Coventry and Warwick universities will walk out tomorrow as part of a national two-day strike in a row over pay.

Staff will also begin working to contract from tomorrow, which means they will refuse to work overtime, set additional work, or undertake any voluntary duties like covering timetabled classes for absent colleagues, after talks last week failed to resolve the dispute between UCU and the universities’ representatives, the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA).

Union members will be on picket lines at both universities from 8am on both Wednesday and Thursday. Warwick staff will be outside the gates on Gibbet Hill Road while their colleagues at Coventry will be outside the Graham Sutherland Building.

The dispute has arisen following a pay offer of just 1.1 per cent from UCEA. UCU said universities could afford to pay more and the latest offer did little to address the real terms pay cut of 14.5 per cent that its members have suffered since 2009.

The union has warned that if no agreement is reached in the coming weeks, further strike action is planned that could affect open days, graduation ceremonies and the clearing process. The union is also beginning preparations for a boycott of the setting and marking of students’ work to begin in the autumn.