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AS strikes continue to sweep across sectors throughout the nation, university lecturers are the latest group of workers being balloted on industrial action.
The latest announcement of potential strike action, which would impact University of Cumbria and further education institutes throughout the region, follows months of walk-outs in other sectors as workers call for better conditions and pay rates that match rising inflation levels and help employees as they go through the cost-of-living crisis.
So far Cumbria has seen strike action from BT, Crown Bevcan, rail staff, barristers, and post office employees.
Postal workers in Carlisle walked out on August 26, after 97.6 per cent of Communications Workers Union members voted to take industrial action to get a ‘dignified, proper pay rise’.
Members of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) have been impacting court proceedings by walking out on alternate weeks and have now embarked on an indefinite, uninterrupted strike as of September 5.
The county may still yet to see strikes to come from teachers and firefighters.
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said 32,500 of its members across the UK will vote in the next few weeks on whether to launch a campaign of industrial action.
Firefighters and control staff are at the end of their tether. We’re preparing the ballot for strike action.
— Fire Brigades Union (@fbunational) September 6, 2022
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In higher education, the University and College Union (UCU) are leading the ballot, with demands including a 12 per cent pay rise to cover the cost of living increase and an end to zero-hour contracts for academic staff.
University of Cumbria’s UCU representative Scott Inglis said: “The UCU union is balloting all members in higher education, both here at University of Cumbria and those at further education in the area.
“We’re balloting for a couple different things but mainly it’s about pay, workload, pensions, and the use of temporary contracts.
“The number of colleagues on temporary contracts and have been for a long time, they don’t have job security – they can’t buy a house or make any plans.
“It’s shocking and shouldn’t be the case in this day and age,” he said.
Mr Inglis said this is the ‘largest mobilisation the UCU has ever done’ and that they have the support of the National Union of Students (NUS).
“No-one wants to go on strike, we lose a day’s pay for every day but we have to make a stand,” he said.
“The National Union of Students have come out in support of our action because our working conditions are their learning conditions.
“We could do with university management looking at what we’re asking for, which is nothing unreasonable, and negotiating in good faith and that’s nationally, not just here in Cumbria.
“If that can happen and we can avoid a strike everyone will be happy – but if we’re pushed into that corner that’s what we’ll do,” he said.
The University of Cumbria declined to comment at this time.
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