Newcastle University academics announce 14 days of strike action in March amid threats to jobs
Staff at Newcastle University will strike for 14 days in March the University and College Union (UCU) said today (Friday 14 February).
The dispute is over a threat to cut more than £30m which could lead to around 300 job losses.
Staff are expected to picket outside university buildings each day of the following strike days:
Week 1: Tuesday 4 and Thursday 6 March
Week 2: Monday 10, Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12 March
Week 3: Monday 17, Tuesday 18, Wednesday 19 and Thursday 20 March
Week 4: Monday 24, Tuesday 25, Wednesday 26, Thursday 27 and Friday 28 March
Newcastle University has said it's "disappointed by the announcement of industrial action and will be putting in place measures to maintain academic standards and the integrity of our teaching."
It added that it would "work constructively with our unions to build a more sustainable future for universities while supporting our colleagues throughout this challenging time."
The announcement today comes as amid claims the university is looking open a campus in India, with the UCU saying Newcastle University Vice-Chancellor Professor Chris Day speaking at an event in Delhi last month.
Matt Perry, branch chair of the UCU Newcastle branch, said: "Our members are angry that Newcastle University’s vice-chancellor, the chair of the Russell Group of ‘research-intensive’ universities, is increasing the university’s carbon footprint during a staff travel ban with talk of a new campus halfway across the world.
"He should be sat with us at the negotiating table. He now has two weeks to protect jobs and resolve this dispute to avoid sustained strike action across campus."
Newcastle University is not the only institution to face strikes, with staff at the University of Dundee, University of East Anglia, Sheffield Hallam amongst others also expecting to have industrial action take place this spring.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: "Across the country, our members are clear that students and staff should not have to pay the price, in course closures and ruined livelihoods, for vice-chancellors’ inability to manage finances.
"We want to work with university leaders to protect the sector and are calling on the government to intervene where needed, but these strike ballots show we will fight tooth and nail to stop our members from losing their livelihoods."
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