Edinburgh University (UCU) Strike Calendar
Strike Type: Education
Latest Updates (3)
Members of the University and College Union (UCU) Scotland at the University of Edinburgh commenced three days of strike action over proposed £140 million cuts and job losses, which may include compulsory redundancies.
Further action, such as a marking and assessment boycott, is possible if the dispute continues.
Picketing activity is scheduled daily, with a rally planned outside the Scottish Parliament to urge politicians to call on the university to abandon compulsory redundancies.
The decision to strike followed a re-ballot where 86% of voting members backed industrial action, signaling strong opposition to management's plans to reduce staff numbers.
The union estimates that approximately 1,800 jobs could be lost, noting that hundreds of job losses have already occurred through non-renewal of fixed-term contracts and reduced hours for hourly paid staff.
The union is demanding that senior management commit to ruling out compulsory redundancies, nine months after the initial announcement of cuts.
The ongoing uncertainty affects staff whose long-term futures at the university remain unknown.
The union is calling for meaningful talks to end the dispute, warning of continued disruption, including the potential marking and assessment boycott, until demands are met.
Staff at the University of Edinburgh have today (Tuesday) backed industrial action for a second time in a longstanding dispute over £140million cuts, job losses and compulsory redundancies. In the re-ballot of members of the University and College Union (UCU) at the university, 86% of those voting backed strike action on a turnout of 60%. 94% of members who took part in the vote also backed action short of strike which could include actions like working to contract; refusing to cover for absent colleagues or undertaking voluntary duties; and a marking and assessment boycott.
The union estimates that the scale of cuts the university has announced amounts to up to 1,800 full-time-equivalent jobs, although numbers could be significantly higher as many staff work part-time or are hourly-paid. Hundreds of jobs have already been lost, and many staff on precarious, fixed-term contracts are being forced out with their contracts not being renewed as would have happened in the past while hourly-paid staff have had their hours significantly reduced, severely impacting their livelihoods. As well as having a disastrous impact on those staff leaving, the remaining staff are being left with ever increasing workloads. The union has called on university senior managers to rule out the use of compulsory redundancies and argued that if cuts of the scale proposed go ahead it will be the biggest ever number of jobs lost in the history of Scottish universities and would amount to "academic vandalism".
The dispute is over university senior management's plans to cut £140million from the university's budget and the refusal to rule out the use of compulsory redundancies to cut staff numbers.
Staff will also take part in action short of strike, including working to contract, not covering for absent colleagues, not undertaking voluntary activities and a boycott of administrative work related to implementing the cuts. The union said it was also considering a marking and assessment boycott of students' work as well as members refusing to use personal devices for work purposes, but that, for now, this is being held back in the hope that the university senior management will agree to rule out compulsory redundancies and end the dispute.
9 Strike Dates 0 Planned