The University and College Union (UCU) is a British trade union in further and higher education representing over 120,000 academics and support staff.  UCU recently ran a national ballot were all their members could vote on whether they wanted to take strike action over pay and pensions.  The national ballot passed which gives the local City, University of London UCU branch a mandate to take strike action.

Some members of City staff, both academic and other central professional services (such as the Library and the Student Centre), are members of UCU and therefore may choose to strike. The ballot is valid for 6 months which means students at City can unfortunately expect strike action to effect teaching and learning, and the wider student experience.

Communications from UCU has confirmed that there will be:

• 2 days of strike action near the end of November - dates to be confirmed.
• An escalation of strike action in February 2023 if negotiations are not successful.
• A marking and assessment boycott during the final assessment period.

It is important to note that not all staff will be striking and many students may find they have had little to no impact, but we understand this risk is difficult news to take in, with Covid-19 and other strikes impacting so much of our studies over the past few years. 

Some of the things strike action could lead to include lectures and seminars being cancelled without notice, subjects being missed due to cancelled teaching, individual meetings with academics not going ahead, a delay in email replies and potentially not getting grades back in good time if there is a marking and assessment boycott.

City Students’ Union is here to support you throughout the strikes and some of the things we are working with university management and liaising with UCU colleagues to ensure include:

• That City puts in place effective arrangements to manage the impact of the strikes on both teaching and learning and your student experience. For example, lobbying for missed subjects to not be included in exams or assessment.
• That City properly communicates with you around any disruption, including how the strikes may affect different groups of students (e.g. International Students).
• That City ensures you understand what you can reasonably expect vs. what you were originally promised from your course.
• That essential student services, such as Counselling and Mental Health are still accessible over strike action.
• That City puts all unpaid staff wages into student funding to support students who are struggling.
• That you are not harassed for crossing strike picket lines outside campus.
• That your views, feelings and thoughts are listened to and relayed to university management.
• That you know how to make a claim for compensation if your teaching and learning is disrupted.

We’ll update our website with more information on the strikes, and what you need to do to build a case for claiming compensation next week. We'll also be out on campus talking to you about the strikes.

If you have any questions about the upcoming strike action, please email us on studentsunion@city.ac.uk