UCU Scotland official, Mary Senior, mentioned no member of employees desires to harm college students by taking industrial motion however that members are being compelled into it.
She informed BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “We’re calling on the employers to come back and put a better offer on the table in terms of pay.
“Our claim is for RPI (Retail Price Index) plus 2% or £4,000 whichever is higher.
“We haven’t seen any movement from the employer since the start of the year on pay so they really do need to do better on pay and show that they’re going to make some meaningful changes to the working conditions, the workload, the casual contracts and so on.
“I think employers need to know that we are not going away, we have action this week in five universities in Scotland, we’ve got more universities in Scotland next week and across the UK that will be taking five days of strike action before the month is out and we also have a new ballot which opens tomorrow so ballot papers will be landing through our members’ letter boxes on Wednesday, so they risk real disruption ongoing in this sector into the end of this year and into 2024.”
UCEA mentioned the pay award recognised the disproportionate influence of inflation on decrease incomes, awarding as a lot as 8% to some.
UCU branches at Stirling and Aberdeen are additionally taking motion because the union claims these universities are deducting “punitive” ranges of pay from employees who took half in a marking and evaluation boycott.
Staff at Stirling college are presently in the midst of three weeks of strike motion.
As nicely as the continuing strike motion, the union has additionally introduced plans to re-ballot members which is able to permit motion to be taken all through the remainder of 2023 and into the brand new yr.
Ms Senior mentioned: “We wish we weren’t being forced to take more strike action and to open a new ballot but despite all the disruption we’ve seen in universities over the past year employers are still refusing to settle the dispute.
“It’s a dispute around pay and working conditions and we feel we’re being forced to take action against employers who present themselves as world leading but they oversee a sector that’s riddled with casual fixed term hourly paid contracts, it has sky high workloads and it has pay equality gaps, gender, race and disability pay gaps so our members have no choice but to stand up for themselves today.”
Raj Jethwa, UCEA’s chief govt mentioned: “It is disappointing that strike action is going ahead in five universities this week, especially since UCU members have voted to end the marking and assessment boycott.
“UCEA’s pay award recognised the disproportionate impact of inflation on lower incomes, awarding as much as 8%, despite falling real incomes for most HE institutions.
“Crucially, to support all staff, nearly half this was uplift awarded six months early.
“UCEA’s priority now is to work with the UCU and the other unions on important matters raised, including the review of the pay spine, pay gaps, workload and contract types.
“A crucial element of resetting industrial relations in the sector is developing a shared understanding of affordability.
“For the sake of students and staff alike, we need to bring to an end the sector’s recent cycle of industrial disputes.
“UCEA seeks to work with the unions to reach a new consensus which recognises the efforts of staff as well as the financial challenges facing the sector.”
