Shropshire university staff hold demonstration - and say they simply can't afford to strike
Lecturers and staff at Harper Adams University set up a protest over pay and conditions - after agreeing they simply could not afford to go on strike this week.
The University and College Union has announced 11 days of strikes during February in what it calls unprecedented action affecting 150 UK universities.
Further action is planned for March unless, the union says, university employers make substantially improved offers in disputes over pay, working conditions and pension cuts.
While supporting the action, UCU members at Harper Adams, Newport, decided that for the strike days on Thursday and Friday of this week they could not afford to lose the two days of pay.
Instead they mounted a protest near the entrance to the colleague on Thursday morning before work.
Deena Webster, a senior lecturer at Harper Adams and UCU representative, said recent figures showed that the wages of university lecturers and support staff had dropped in real terms by 25 per cent since austerity measures were put in place in 2010.
"Here in Shropshire we are feeling the effects of that pay drop more than those in urban areas," she said.
"Shropshire is one of the poorest areas within the diocese of Lichfield and yes we have missed out so much in the Levelling Up grants from the government."
She said the cost of living for Harper Adams staff was higher than counterparts in city universities.
"We have to have cars to get back-and-to to work - there is no public transport serving the university apart from one bus from Shrewsbury," she said.
"The cost of running a vehicle and the rise in fuel prices is a big portion of wages
"Many of us living in rural areas do not have access to gas and so we are reliant on expensive oil and coal to heat our homes. We talked to UCU members at Harper Adams and with so many strike dates for February and March, it was decided that - for this week - we could not afford to strike.
"Instead we held a protest before going to work."
She said the union had a good relationship with Harper Adams and members were passionate about the university and its students.
"We all love working here," she added.
Nationally the UCU wants changes to working hours and the casualisation of jobs, with some members on zero hour contracts.
Members of the UCU also picketed outside the Wolverhampton University Wulfruna Building.
A mixture of academics, lecturers, current and former students and supporters braved the cold to join the national strike with purple and pink banners showing slogans such as "Enough is enough", "Stand up for education" and "I stand with university staff".
Wolverhampton University UCU city branch chair Aidan Byrne had been at the university for 23 years and a full time lecturer since 2008 and said he hadn't had a proper pay rise since 2009.
He spoke about the effect of the cost of living crisis and how he was worried that about the future of the profession if people weren't coming up to take on roles as lecturers.
"Cost of living is enormous at the moment and an awful lot of my staff are in a far worse position than me as they're on short-term contracts or very limited hours contracts, which means they're not being paid over the summer," he said.
"Also, inflation is around 11 or 12 per cent and we're being offered three or four per cent and the people at the bottom just can't do that.
"The other thing worrying me is that people like me who have been teaching for a long time will be OK, but we're never going to recruit people to replace me when the time comes as our pensions have been cut, the working conditions have been cut and overwork is a massive issue."
