UNIVERSITY workers have announced 18 days of strike action in a dispute over pay and conditions.

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) will take industrial action for 18 days in total, over a period of seven weeks, if no agreement is found with university bosses.

The union says that 70,000 UCU members will walk out on strike days and, if it goes ahead, will be the biggest series of strikes ever to hit UK university campuses.

Tomorrow (Wednesday), UCU meets with university employer representative the Universities and Colleges Employers Association.

The union says it needs employers to substantially improve on the pay offer of 4-5% to avoid disruption. UCU is 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, UCU is demanding employers revoke the cuts and restore benefits. The package of cuts made last year will see the average member lose 35% from their guaranteed future retirement income. For those at the beginning of their career the losses are in the hundreds of thousands of pounds.

UCU will also be reballoting its 70,000 members at the 150 universities in dispute, which includes Aberystwyth, Lampeter and Bangor, to extend the union's mandate and allow staff to take further action through the rest of the academic year.

The reballot campaign will be launched this week.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: "The university sector in the UK has over £40bn sitting in reserves, but instead of using that vast wealth to deliver a cost-of-living pay rise and reverse devastating pension cuts, university vice-chancellors would rather force staff to take strike action and see campuses shut down.

"There is a clear route out of these disputes, but at present vice-chancellors lack the political will to take it. "They are failing staff who want to get back to work, and students who want to get on with their studies.

"Students understand that staff working conditions are their learning conditions and we are proud to have their support in these disputes. A system that relies on low pay and the rampant use of insecure contracts is a system which fails everyone.

"A resolution can be reached, but that is in the gift of university vice-chancellors who need to urgently reassess their priorities and deliver a deal that benefits staff and students. From February, our union will begin reballoting its members to allow action to continue through the rest of the academic year, should they continue to drag their feet."

Following strikes in November last year in Aberystwyth, a spokesperson for Aberystwyth University said: “The University is fully aware of the financial pressures on staff and students in the current cost of living crisis.

“Pay negotiations and strike ballots have been taking place at a UK level rather than with individual institutions.

“Aberystwyth University awarded most staff a 3% annual pay increase in August 2022, in line with the offer made by the universities employers’ association, UCEA, with some staff on lower incomes qualifying for additional increases.

“The pay increase was made in the context of a very tight budgetary situation and significant cost pressures.

“It recognised the need for the University to maintain affordable, sustainable spending plans to protect jobs as well as our teaching and research operations.”