Essex Uni lecturers strike in dispute over pensions

Essex University is one of 68 colleges and universities across Britain where staff have voted to walk out for ten days until Wednesday, March 2.

It follows a three-day strike between November and December last year, where staff warned they would strike again if talks with Universities UK – which represents university vice-chancellors – did not progress.

At the centre of the dispute is pension cuts, with lecturers arguing new proposals would see their pensions reduced by as much as 20 per cent in some cases.

Leading the charge – Dr Jak Peake (right) is the president of the Essex University branch of the UCU

The University College Union (UCU), which represents higher education staff, says it is also fighting casualisation – such as the use of short-term or fixed-term contracts – heavy workloads and inequality as part of their industrial action.

Dr Jak Peake, a lecturer who is the president of the Essex University Branch of the UCU, said his pension would be reduced by £6,000 each year if the pension re-evaluation went through.

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He said: “Many of us work six to seven days per week to meet our targets.

“We have not seen a pay increase that is sufficient to the cost of living – since 2009, we have seen a cumulative loss of income of 20 per cent.

He added there were many other members of staff on strike were not lecturers, but were lower income earners.

Long-running – there was also industrial action back in December over the same issue with pensions and workload

“There are a huge number of low- and middle-income earners at the university right from cleaners to security staff to those who do admin jobs being affected,” he said.

“It’s not as straight forward as an ivory tower lecturer elite earning huge salaries.”

An Essex University spokesman said: “We’re disappointed that additional days of strike action may impact on our students.

“Pay and pensions are important national issues for our staff and the wider higher education sector, and we recognise that no one at Essex takes strike action lightly.

“Our primary focus is now on working with our staff, our local trade union and our Students’ Union to safeguard our students’ learning outcomes and experience.”