GLASGOW. University Of Glasgow, University Ave, Glasgow G12 8QQ.
Day 2 of strikers on the picket line outside Glasgow University.
Cost of Living Crisis – University Support Staff Strike For Justice
UNISON members at three Scottish universities will today walk out to protest another imposed, below-inflation national pay award. In striking for pay justice, they also urge their employers, the Scottish Government and sector leaders to act to protect this workforce from the ravages of the cost of living crisis.
UNISON members at the University of Glasgow, Edinburgh Napier University and Robert Gordon University will be taking strike action on the 20th and 21st of September, with further action scheduled for October. Our members at Glasgow Caledonian University have pulled this week’s action to consider a local offer from the employer, but are also scheduled to take strike action in October if the dispute remains unresolved there. Simultaneously, UNISON members at the University of Dundee are striking again this week and next in their long-running fight to protect their defined benefit pension scheme.
Lorcan Mullen, UNISON Scotland Regional Organiser and Head of Higher Education and Further Education said:
“The university staff we represent are sick to death of below-inflation pay rises, and members at these universities will be in the first wave of action on campuses this year.
In recent days, we have seen a range of offers and impositions of one-off payments from several Scottish universities to supplement the imposed, disputed national award. This demonstrates a clear ability to pay better on a permanent basis, and our members want to fight for consolidated improvements to their pay and conditions. They also demand a serious, respectful negotiation with their representatives, not charity from on high.
These workers kept universities running through the pandemic when their better-paid colleagues operated with greater safety for themselves and their families at home. They are indispensable to a functioning university, and they cannot keep being treated as second-class citizens on Scottish campuses.
They must be paid fairly, and treated with respect, and to achieve that UNISON is ready for talks with any sector employer.”
Notes & Contact Details
UNISON members at almost all other Scottish universities will be balloted or re-balloted later in the autumn, meaning more of our branches are likely to join this action in time. UCU, EIS-ULA and Unite are at varying stages of consulting or balloting their members for action in the same dispute.
The disputed, imposed UCEA offer is 3% for most university staff, with some ‘bottom loading’ bringing the award up to 7.2% for the lowest paid. This is still well off current inflation, projected inflation for later in this pay year, and comes after many years of worse, imposed offers than those paid to other education and public service
