More than 70,000 staff at 150 universities across the UK will strike for 18 days between February and March in disputes over pay, working conditions and pensions, the University and College Union (UCU) said on Thursday.
“The clock is now ticking for the sector to produce a deal or be hit with widespread disruption throughout spring,” UCU general secretary Jo Grady said.
The union, which represents academics, trainers, librarians and professional staff in colleges and universities, said it was demanding better pay after employers set a pay rise worth 3% following more than a decade of below-inflation pay awards.
As the country grapples with double-digit inflation, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is under pressure to resolve a wave of industrial actions in Britain that began last year.
The strikes have involved hundreds of thousands of workers and repeatedly disrupted key services like healthcare and rail transport.
The union is demanding a meaningful pay rise to deal with the cost of living crisis as well as action to end the use of “insecure” contracts.
The union said the Universities and Colleges Employers Association, which represents university employers, made the UCU a pay offer worth between 4% and 5% on Wednesday, which the union said was not enough.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “Today our union came together to back an unprecedented programme of escalating strike action. The clock is now ticking for the sector to produce a deal or be hit with widespread disruption throughout spring.
“University staff dedicate their lives to education and they want to get back to work, but that will only happen if university vice-chancellors use the vast wealth of the sector to address over a decade of falling pay, rampant insecure employment practices and devastating pension cuts. The choice is theirs.”