UCU staff threaten ‘last resort’ indefinite strike action

Dispute between college teaching union and its staff over workplace racism and conditions escalates with threat of continuous strikes from next month

Dispute between college teaching union and its staff over workplace racism and conditions escalates with threat of continuous strikes from next month

Workers at the trade union representing college and university teachers will walk out indefinitely next month unless their dispute over workplace racism and alleged breaches of collective agreements is resolved.

Unite the union said its 200 members working for UCU will take “last resort” continuing strike action from September 9 in what is a significant escalation in a dispute now it its fifth month.

This would be latest in a series of industrial actions taken by UCU staff against its employer in recent months.

The union originally planned to walk out from September 2, but have since pushed back the date to accommodate a further ACAS meeting with UCU.

“It clearly wouldn’t be fair to ask our members to walk out just before an opportunity to reach a resolution,” the Unite branch said.

A walkout disrupted UCU’s annual congress earlier this year, and staff are currently running an overtime ban and are ‘working to rule’ which means sticking to their job descriptions and contractual working hours.

Unite regional officer, Rose Keeping, accused UCU of refusing to “meaningfully negotiate” during the dispute.

“Industrial action one this scale is a last resort but our members have been pushed to breaking point by our employer’s failure to meaningfully negotiate on the serious issues in dispute,” she said.

“We are faced with a trade union employer who refuses to negotiate with its staff union.”

In response, a UCU spokesperson said accusations from Unite are “unfair and untrue” and criticised them for announcing action before a planned ACAS talks between the two unions next week.

“UCU are stunned to find out via social media that Unite UCU plan to call what amounts to an all out strike from September 2nd,” they added.

“We have a further meeting scheduled with ACAS on August 12 so to put out a call and announce this action prior to even attending those negotiations demonstrates a lack of integrity and sincerity.”

The dispute officially began following complaints of “institutional failings” at UCU over how Black staff are treated, with Unite alleging Black staff were more likely to face “punitive action” in internal procedures.

Before that, UCU workers were already engaged in disputes over pay, hybrid working and workplace health and safety.

Unite also accused UCU of repeatedly breaching its agreements with the staff union, such as recognising a separate staff union by senior leaders – which Unite says breaches their recognition as the sole union for UCU workers.

And Unite now claim that UCU staff are being subjected to a pay freeze, alleging that UCU is refusing to respond to a staff pay claim from April despite the new pay year starting on August 1.

UCU said it will “continue to table fair proposals covering an independent assessment and review of UCU’s organisational culture, starting negotiations for a draft gender identity policy, and for a hybrid working policy.

“We are increasingly concerned about an unwillingness from Unite UCU to reach an entirely reasonable phased agreement for staff to return to hybrid working – something most unions and most workers have been doing for years now following the pandemic.

“Despite this, we cannot and will not give up on trying to achieve a positive outcome because we know our staff need and deserve a speedy resolution.”

This article was updated on August 22 to reflect the revised strike action date.

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