Lecturers are out on strike again in their long running battle over pay and conditions.
Staff at Leeds University walked out on Monday, the first week of term, and will stay on strike all week.
Lecturers at Leeds Trinity and Leeds Beckett called off their action on Friday.
The University and College Union (UCU) have been striking for several months and the last academic year saw students affected by lecturers cancelling class due to strike action.
The union have four main demands: a fair pay deal, action on equality pay gaps, the elimination of casual contracts and action on workloads.
The university say that they have made a generous pay offer and concessions on other matters.
Lecturers have been offered a £2,000 pay rise in 2022/23 and a further £1,500 in 2023/24.
Professor Steve West CBE, President of Universities UK said: “We understand that strike action is the last thing students want after the disruption they have faced because of the pandemic and from previous industrial action. This may be a worrying time for them, they may feel anxious about possible disruption.
“Universities are well prepared to mitigate the impact of any industrial action on students’ learning, and we are all working hard to put in place a series of measures to ensure this.”
Isha Walker, president of the Leeds UCU branch, said: “Our pay rises are in no way matching the rise in inflation.”
She added: “Fair pay is not the primary issue as far as I’m concerned, it’s the casualisation of contracts and excessive workloads.”
Walker noted that it is not only the staff that are affected by causal contracts, but students are disrupted by short turnarounds for new staff and this could have an impact on their education.
Another spokesperson for the union, Rachel explained more about what exactly the demand of action on workloads means.
She said that it is impossible for staff to complete their work in paid hours. Evenings and weekends are being taken up to complete the work expected of them.
In the summer, teachers in the UCU engaged in a marking boycott over the summer, where the employer or university managers responded by making 100% pay deductions for three weeks.
Members of UCU taking part in the strike action said that they have been badly treated by university managers and responses have been aggressive and unpleasant.
UCU is calling on other universities to follow and by calling off some strikes they can focus on gathering support for the national ballot that opened this week and will close on 3 November 2023.
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