Staff at Brighton University and Sussex University are to strike again on Wednesday 1 February in a dispute over pay and working conditions.
The University and College Union (UCU) said that they would be among 70,000 university staff to walk out in two weeks’ time.
And the strike would coincide with the “protect the right to strike” day being organised on the same date by the Trades Union Congress (TUC).
The UCU said: “Five unions – UCU, NEU, ASLEF, PCS and RMT – have already confirmed they will join the day of action against the Conservative government’s plans to introduce strict anti-strike measures through Parliament.”
The UCU also said that members would strike on a further 17 dates yet to be announced.
Brighton University staff are in dispute over their pay and conditions. Staff at Sussex University are in dispute over pensions as well as their pay and conditions.
The union represents academics, lecturers, computer staff, technicians, librarians and other professional and support staff.
It said that the dispute involved 150 universities and that members had already taken three days of strike action in the current academic year.
It followed the imposition of a pay rise worth just 3 per cent this year, the union said, after more than a decade of below-inflation pay awards.
A meeting with the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) took place on Monday (16 January), the UCU said.
But the employers refused to move from an updated 4 per cent to 5 per cent offer that was made last week and which the UCU said was “not enough”.
The union said that it was “demanding a meaningful pay rise to deal with the ‘cost of living crisis’ as well as action to end the use of insecure contracts”.
In the pension dispute, the UCU is calling on employers to revoke a package of cuts that was made last year and to restore benefits.
According to the union, the cuts “will see the average member lose 35 per cent from their guaranteed future retirement income”.
The union added: “For those at the beginning of their careers, the losses are in the hundreds of thousands of pounds.”
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “While the ‘cost of living crisis’ rages, university vice-chancellors are dragging their feet and refusing to use the vast wealth in the sector to address over a decade of falling pay, rampant casualisation and massive pension cuts.
“On Wednesday 1 February, 70,000 university staff will walk out alongside fellow trade unions and hundreds of thousands of other workers to demand their fair share.
“UCU remains committed to reaching a negotiated settlement but if university employers don’t get serious and fast, more strike action will follow in February and March.”
