University staff and civil servants will strike on Tuesday as the wave of industrial action continues to sweep the UK.
Members of the University and College Union (UCU) and the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union will mount picket lines outside universities and the British Museum in disputes over pay, pensions and working conditions.
More than 70,000 members of the UCU will begin the first of three successive days of strike action across 150 universities in the UK this week, which threaten disruption to students’ lectures and seminars.
Around 100 members of the PCS union at the British Museum working in visitor services and security teams are striking all week as part of a dispute over pay, pensions, redundancy terms and job security.
The UCU confirmed on Monday evening that it will reballot its members to allow university staff to take further industrial action through the rest of the academic year if their demands are not met by employers.
The announcement came as the UCU entered talks with the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), which represents 144 employers, via the conciliation service Acas.
The UCEA has made a pay offer of between 5% and 8%, which had been rejected by the union.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “Staff are striking because they are sick of being denied a decent pay rise, secure employment, and proper pensions.
“And students are standing with us because they know that staff working conditions are their learning conditions.
“Our union is determined to reach a negotiated settlement which allows staff to get back to work and students to continue their studies uninterrupted.
“But that can only happen if vice chancellors come out of hiding and use a fraction of the sector’s vast wealth to make serious, well-rounded offers to staff.”
Raj Jethwa, UCEA’s chief executive, said: “It is disappointing that UCU has confirmed it will re-ballot on the day that these Acas talks have started.
“It is saddening if even a single student is impacted by the 18 days of strike action that UCU has already asked its member to take, and we hope that these Acas talks will help to resolve this dispute.”
Staff are striking because they are sick of being denied a decent pay rise, secure employment, and proper pensions
PCS members are also on strike this week at the Department for Work and Pensions, DVLA and the Animal and Plant Health Agency.
They will be joined by Border Force staff in Dover, Calais, Coquelles and Dunkirk on Friday.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Our hard-working members are sorry they’re taking this action during half term because their working life is dedicated to sharing information with people, especially young people learning about the exhibits and artefacts in the British Museum.
“That they are taking this action shows how strongly they feel taken for granted by the Government. The Prime Minister has the power to end this strike tomorrow, but he’s nowhere to be seen.”
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak, who will join a picket line at the British Museum on Tuesday, said: “Nobody takes the decision to strike lightly. But the Conservative government is pushing workers like these museum staff into a corner by refusing to engage in serious pay negotiations.
“We all want these pay disputes to be quickly resolved. And that can happen if the Chancellor and Prime Minister do the right thing and come to the negotiating table with credible pay offers.
“Until then, unions will hold firm, because we know that decent pay rises are possible – it comes down to political choices.”
The National Education Union (NEU) had planned to take strike action in schools in Wales on Tuesday, but the walkout was suspended last week after a new pay offer was made by the Welsh government.
Teaching union leaders will meet with Education Secretary Gillian Keegan on Wednesday in a bid to resolve a pay dispute which threatens further walkouts in schools across England in February and March.
