SCAN can report that the Lancaster branch of the University and College Union, which represents academic staff at Lancaster University, intend to take strike action on Thursday, 27 November and Friday, 28 November.
In response to Lancaster University’s plan to cut more than 400 jobs at the end of this academic year, branch members overwhelmingly backed industrial action in a ballot last month. With 58% of members voting, 95% of them backed action short of strike (ASOS), and 88% further supported full strike action.
The Lancaster UCU earlier announced their intention to begin ongoing ASOS from Monday, 10 November. Participating staff will work only to the letter of their contracts, meaning no overtime and a likely delay for students in receiving marking.
Full strike action, however, means that participating union members will not work on Thursday, 27 or Friday, 28 November (Week 8 of the academic calendar). Many students can expect cancelled lectures, seminars, labs, and workshops on those days, and a picket line is likely to form outside the Sports Centre.
Recent guidance from the Office for Students (OfS), the regulatory body for the higher education sector, says that universities owe students financial compensation for any disruption to education caused by strikes. It isn’t clear if that would take the form of cash payments or of a partial student loan refund. Last summer, Newcastle University offered home students £100 cash and international students £200 cash for each module disrupted by strikes.
In a press release announcing the strikes, the Lancaster UCU quoted the UCU’s General Secretary, Jo Grady, as saying,
‘Strike action is a last report for our members, but staff have been left no choice to protect Lancaster University from the devastating cuts management is attempting to inflict. Management is relying on overly pessimistic figures and must now fully open the books and work with us to protect jobs and student provision here in Lancaster, rather than spending a fortune on vanity campuses on the other side of the world. If the university does not listen, it will face disruption on campus this month and the potential of more action in the new year.’
We have approached Lancaster University and Lancaster University Students’ Union for comment and will provide updates as we get more information.
