ENGLISH NEWS – ONE MILLION STUDENTS AFFECTED BY LECTURERS STRIKE

AROUND 40,000 lecturers from 60 universities in the UK have begun an eight-day strike over pay, pensions and conditions.

The strikes by members of the Universities and College Union from today November 25 until December 4 follows a breakdown in talks between Universities UK and the University and College Union (UCU).

The strike means disruption for students in the last few weeks of term, with lectures and tutorials cancelled and no plans to reschedule lost teaching time.

A further strike is a planned in the new year if union demands are not met.

UCU wants contributions from universities towards recent rises in staff pension contributions, as well as higher staff salary raises, and stronger action to close the pay gap for women, ethnic minorities and the disabled. It also wants less jobs with short-term or zero-hours contracts.

For their part, the University and Colleges Employers Association and Universities UK say employers have increased their pension contributions from 18% to 21.1% of salary, paying in an extra £250m each year.

They said that even increasing their contributions to 22.7% of salary would cost them £373m a year.

Universities on strike:

• Aston University
• Bangor University
• Cardiff University
• University of Durham
• Heriot-Watt University
• Loughborough University
• Newcastle University
• Open University
• University of Aberdeen
• University of Bath
• University of Dundee
• University of Leeds
• University of Manchester
• University of Sheffield
• University of Nottingham
• University of Stirling
• University College London
• University of Birmingham
• University of Bradford
• University of Bristol
• University of Cambridge
• University of Edinburgh
• University of Exeter
• University of Essex
• University of Glasgow
• University of Lancaster
• University of Leicester
• City University
• Goldsmiths College
• Queen Mary University of London
• Royal Holloway
• University of Reading
• University of Southampton
• University of St Andrews
• Courtauld Institute of Art
• University of Strathclyde
• University of Wales
• University of Warwick
• University of York
• University of Liverpool
• University of Sussex
• University of Ulster
• Queen’s University Belfast
• Bishop Grosseteste University
• Bournemouth University
• Edge Hill University
• Glasgow Caledonian University
• Glasgow School of Art
• Liverpool Hope University
• Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts
• Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh
• St Mary’s University College, Belfast
• Roehampton University
• Sheffield Hallam University
• University of Brighton
• University of Kent
• University of Oxford
• Scottish Association of Marine Science
• University of East Anglia
• Institute of Development Studies