2018–2023 United Kingdom higher education strikes
Series of education strikes in UK universities / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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From 2018 to 2023, the UK university sector faced an industrial dispute between staff represented by the University and College Union (UCU)[3] and their employers represented by Universities UK (UUK).[4] The dispute was initially over proposed changes to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), a pension scheme. The changes would have seen a significant drop in worker compensation, and in response the sector experienced industrial action on a scale not before seen. Pay equality, workload, casualisation, and pay levels (dubbed the "Four Fights") were added to the dispute in 2019.[5] Action was curtailed by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, but resumed in 2021. By March 2023 a resolution had been reached on the USS, which returned to 2017 terms in a victory for the UCU.[6] The UCU was however not successful on The Four Fights, as a November 2023 ballot for extending action failed on turnout.[7] Many universities faced mass redundancies in 2024 amid declining funding.[8]
United Kingdom higher education strikes | |
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"The Four Fights" Part of 2021–present UK cost-of-living crisis | |
Date | 29 January 2018 (2018-01-29) – 6 November 2023 (2023-11-06) |
Location | United Kingdom |
Goals |
The Four Fights:
|
Methods | Industrial action |
Resulted in |
The dispute was the longest in UK higher-education history,[9] involving 42,000 staff[10] and affecting over one million students.[11] It has been characterised as a "milestone" for "impending service sector strikes of the 21st century."[12] It pre-dated but ran concurrently with a wave of industrial action nationwide in response to the cost of living crisis.