By Elena Dimitrova
University staff across the UK have now been striking for a week due to poor pay and unfair working conditions. Staff say they have been overloaded with work and are forced to work harder for the low wages they are being paid.
More than 70,000 staff members at 150 universities were due to strike at the beginning of the week, with the University of Portsmouth being one of them.
The majority of participants in the UCU’s pay and working conditions ballot have voted for strike action. The anger of university staff with regards to their pensions is particularly evident, with 84.9% believing strike action is needed for improvement.
Via the University and College Union
What does this mean for students, and who will be involved? Well, the Union as of now “remains neutral” and their services will be unaffected during the strikes. They have been contacting academic staff to ask whether they intend to strike so that contingency plans can be put in place. Cancelled timetabled sessions aren't being treated as unauthorised absences, but we need to register attendance at all other timetabled sessions as normal. Extenuating circumstance forms are available if strike action means we can’t attend, complete, or submit an assessment.
Strike action will continue on Wednesday the 30th of November, while Action Short of Strike is ongoing.
About the Author: Elena Dimitrova
My name is Elena- a Bulgarian with a passion for fashion and writing. Growing up in a journalistic family I always knew that writing and the media were what I was going to pursue as a career. I began to experiment with content creation at age 14, which later led me to hosting my own podcast about loneliness called “For loners only” and having two blogs. I find peace in books (especially novels) and I aspire to write my own one soon.
(This piece was edited by Amber Turner-Brightman)
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