Durham University staff to strike for three days in December

It was announced yesterday that Durham teaching staff will be striking, starting the first of December. While the strikes are only set to last three days, The University College Union (UCU) claim that further action will be taken if the demands of it’s members are not met.

The planned industrial action comes after a lack of co-operation from the university in adequately addressing the issues faced by teaching staff. The strike, organised by the university college union will be undertaken by staff at 58 universities across the UK.

In early November the Durham UCU ballot on industrial action saw “one of [their] largest turnout figures” with 63 per cent of members voting, 79.4 per cent of which voted in favour of strike action. Durham UCU commented via Twitter, “today we have sent a clear message – we will not stand by whilst employers cut our pensions”.

Students in their third year at university or above will remember the strikes in Durham through 2019 and 2020, after which teaching staff were offered a “rushed” solution that would see a 35 per cent decrease to their pension earnings. Furthermore, staff are supporting strike action to fight the gender pay gap in higher education (15 per cent) and harsh working conditions which see some staff on zero hour contracts or without a contract at all.

DM us and let us know how you feel about the upcoming strikes.