Staff at a handful of top Scottish universities have walked out this week, with further strikes scheduled for later in the month which will affect thousands of students

What’s it all about?

There are a range of issues, many of them long-standing bones of contention, but essentially this is a dispute over pensions, pay and working conditions, specifically what the University and College Union (UCU) refers to as casualisation, unsafe workloads and equality failings. In December, staff at 58 universities across the UK walked out in a three-day strike and this new industrial action is a continuation of the same general grievance. This week’s strike involves 44 UK universities and centres on issues to do with the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), a universities pension scheme with 400,000 members. Among the demands from the UCU is a re-assessment of the pension fund valuation, which they say will see a drop in pension pay-outs, and a £2500 pay rise.

Is there more to come?

A further two-day action is scheduled for Monday and Tuesday next week and centres on a broader complaint which includes pay and working conditions. A third, three-day action will take place between February 28 and March 2 and focus solely on pay and working conditions. The second two actions will affect 68 and 63 institutions respectively. Meanwhile those staff members taking what’s known as ‘action short of a strike’ (ASOS) have been threatened with 100% pay deductions, which has in turn caused the threat of further strikes.

How will it affect students?

According to the Times Higher Education (THE) newspaper, around a million students will have their studies interrupted in one form or another. The UCU claims broad support for the strikes among the student body and the National Union of Students is joining the final day of the strike. However a survey by Unifresher, a privately-owned online information resource for students, suggests that 62% of respondents don’t agree with the strikes.

How does Scotland feature?

There are eight Scottish institutions affected in which week’s action. They are Glasgow, Strathclyde, Stirling, Edinburgh, St Andrew, Heriot-Watt, Dundee and the Open University in Scotland. The next two periods of industrial action will also affect Scottish institutions such as Edinburgh Napier University and Glasgow School of Art. Collectively these institutions educate tens of thousands of students.

Who’s saying what?

A spokesperson for USS Employers, which represents the institutions involved in the pension scheme, said it was “well prepared to protect students and ensure they do no miss out on the opportunity to learn” but added that the UCU’s demands on pensions and pay were “completely unaffordable”. The UCU’s general secretary, Jo Grady, has said: “It is outrageous that when they should be trying to resolve this dispute, employer representatives have instead been finding new ways to deduct pay from university workers.”