Strike action is returning to universities nationwide on Thursday 24th, Friday 25th, and Wednesday 30th November, as a result of ongoing disputes over acceptable pay and pensions for staff. The University and College Union (UCU) is demanding crucial changes over pay, changes which they contend are becoming increasingly necessary in the face of the cost of living crisis. Wages for academic staff have fallen by 25.5% in real terms since 2009, despite increasing levels of inflation and higher living costs. 

On Friday 18th November, the Oxford Student Union (SU) hosted a Town Hall meeting with the Oxford UCU about the upcoming strikes. Real-terms cuts in pay have affected the majority of staff at universities, including support staff, who work far more than the standard 35 hour week. Hours of work reportedly often rise to around 60-80 hours per week, according to UCU representatives speaking at the Town Hall. 

The real-terms loss in earnings is particularly a concern at the University of Oxford for postgraduate students, who undertake a substantial amount of teaching work on behalf of senior staff. At the Town Hall meeting, it emerged that many postgraduates feel obliged to undertake this work, in addition to the unpaid work they commit to as part of their studies, due to their stipends being below the living wage. The UCU says that these issues stem from the status of postgraduates in the UK as students, in contrast to in the Netherlands, where they are considered professionals and are paid a sustainable living wage during their studies.

The casualisation of academic staff (whereby academics are employed on a short-term or casual basis) is also a particularly prevalent issue at the University of Oxford due to the collegiate system. Out of approximately 14,500 members of staff, around a third of this total are on insecure fixed-term contracts. Among teaching-only staff, this rises to around 44% and among research-only staff, the level more than doubles to 68%. The UCU representatives at the meeting stated that this has resulted in the creation of a gig economy within the university, and a prevalent lack of stable employment. The UCU says that “the use of casual contracts erodes the rights, protections, and security that should be afforded to all employees.” Research has revealed that 42% of staff on casual contracts struggle to pay household bills, 71% say their mental health had been damaged by working on insecure contracts, and 43% say it had impacted their physical well-being.

Dr David Chivall, President of the Oxford UCU Committee, gave a personal account of the precarity created by these issues. Because of the lack of financial stability that results from his insufficient wages, he has been forced to move house eight times in just seven years, the last three times being with his family and three-year-old child. In addition, this summer, after his landlord sold the house they were living in, he and his family had no choice but to reside in temporary accommodation.

Dr Chivall stated that this instability inevitably affects the professional lives of academics, emphasising the ways it can affect students too because of the impact it can have on the quality of teaching and marking. The detrimental effects of the stress and time that is devoted to financial concerns not only impacts academics’ mental health, but also results in academics having significantly less time available to prepare for tutorials or lectures. 

Another reason the UCU cites for the strikes is changes to staff pensions. The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has faced cuts three times in the last decade, and in April 2022, 35% of the future–guaranteed pension income was cut. The justification for this continuation of the cuts is based on an evaluation on March 31st 2020, during lockdown, when economic projections were inevitably low and pension schemes appeared unaffordable. At the moment, however, the pension scheme is in surplus (by £1.8 billion as of June 2022). The UCU want to see the cuts withdrawn.

The UCU says that if negotiations on pay, pensions, workload and casualisation do not restart as a result of the strikes, then in six months’ time (when their existing strike mandate ends), they will re-ballot for further strikes, and for a potential marking and assessment boycott.

All three members of the UCU who spoke at the meeting, Dr George Mather, Dr David Chivall, and Dr Tim LaRock, expressed their sentiments that the strike is a ‘last resort’, especially since it disrupts their lives to a similar, if not greater extent than it does for students. The days they are on strike will be unpaid, and they intend to dedicate their deducted wages to student hardship funds. 

There will be picket lines in front of many faculty buildings and disruption to lectures and classes in these buildings, but there will be little disruption to college teaching. If students want to voice their support for the strikes, the UCU encourages them to write to the Vice Principal to put pressure on national bodies, or to stand on the picket lines in solidarity. 


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