A statement by the BU UCU Branch Executive

The UK’s University and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) has left the University and College Union (UCU) with no other choice but to call for a further five days of strike action from September 25 to 29, 2023.

As employers maintain their refusal to settle the long-running industrial dispute over pay and working conditions, the academic year 2023/24 picks up where the academic year 2022/23 ended for university academic staff and students; with insecurity over the future of UK Higher Education immediately ahead of us. This is in wilful ignorance of the stark messaging in support of fair pay and fair working conditions for academic and general university staff from students across the UK; explicitly articulated at the graduation ceremony at the University of Edinburgh, for example.

Instead, University Executive Teams (UETs) led by Vice Chancellors across UK HE continue to escalate the industrial dispute with brutal and punitive deductions for staff who participated in the Marking and Assessment Boycott (MAB) over the summer period. Colleagues and comrades from universities report the most extreme and absurd pay deductions with months of pay withheld by universities like Queen Mary, University of London, over 13 or so scripts.

Money in the sector

Employers routinely insist that there was no money in the sector to fund wage increases. This is despite the fact that academic staff have suffered real-terms wages decline by 25 per cent since 2009. The current unilaterally imposed pay increases of 5 per cent constitute another “huge real-terms pay cut” and is substantially lower than the wage adjustments to inflation in other sectors.

Some universities have acknowledged the real-world financial situation in the sector and settled disputes over the MAB with local agreements on substantial pay increases and improvement to working conditions. Other universities went beyond the UCEA-imposed below-inflation-salary-increases to settle disputes with higher increases.

In the same vein as other UCU branches across the UK, the Bournemouth University and College Union Branch Executive approached BU’s UET with an offer to settle the dispute. This has been rejected. Our branch thus decided both in an executive meeting on September 19^th and in a full branch meeting on September 20^th, 2023, that we are joining the industrial action across UK universities. According to a live updated document from UCU national (last checked Sept 22^nd, 2023, 12:55pm), trade unionists at 42 universities will take part in strike action next week (with longer walkouts at universities with the most extreme attacks from management).

Friday, 22 Sept, 2023; update 5:36pm

In light of an increasing number of UCU branches and University Executive Teams coming to local agreements this week with branches ceasing industrial action for next week, BU UCU approached the employer this afternoon to ascertain whether they would agree to concessions regarding salary deductions for the Marking and Assessment Boycott (MAB). Unfortunately, the employer has responded and offered no concessions for the second time this week. Our members are understandably angry with this response. They have no wish to interrupt teaching next week and would much rather welcome students at the beginning of the term. As a consequence of BU UET unwillingness to settle the disupte, the strike continues.

See you on the picket lines.

Solidarity, BU UCU Branch Executive Team

BU UCU are meeting for pickets at the following locations next week. We call on all members to join us.