The University has been notified by the University and College Union (UCU), following a national ballot of its members, that it is calling two days of strike action later this month in support of its national dispute over this year’s pay negotiations, writes HR Director Christine Barr.

We are disappointed that UCU has decided to call this action and will naturally do all we can to minimise the impact on our students.

The strike action has been called for Wednesday 25 and Thursday 26 May 2016.  Whilst we note that the turn out in the ballot was relatively low, we naturally respect union members’ right to take action and understand that staff members affected will not take lightly the decision to participate in such action.  We would therefore kindly ask each of you to consider carefully before deciding whether or not to participate.  We remain hopeful that this may yet be averted through further discussions that may take place prior to 25 May in line with the agreed Dispute Resolution procedures between participating University employers and the recognised trades unions.

We have a number of weeks to prepare for any action and we will develop advice and information for our line managers and employees accordingly. We will share this with you in due course and further guidance will be issued as we work to minimise the impact of any action on the life of the University.  Should strike action come to pass, the University will operate as normal across both of these days, and although it is very difficult to estimate staff numbers that will be taking part, we will do all that we can to ensure that any disruption is kept to an absolute minimum.

Christine Barr

Director of Human Resources

First published: 9 May 2016

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