Published: 25th September, 2025
Members of our branch are to begin three weeks of strike action from 29th September, which will seriously disrupt the operations of the University of Leicester. The strikes have been called to stop compulsory redundancies as the university seeks £11m in cuts to its staffing budget. In addition to striking, members of UCU will also, among other things, work to contract, refusing to volunteer for some activities and/or refusing to reschedule classes lost due to their strike action. Such actions are standard forms of Action Short of a Strike that have been taken by UCU branches around the country.
Rather than try to resolve the dispute the University have said they want to be the first University in the UK to escalate the dispute by deducting an additional 50% of wages of those who do not volunteer for specific duties or who refuse rescheduling classes lost due to the strike. This will be on top of the 100% deduction for each day of strike action participated in. This in UCU’s view is a clear sign the University would rather inflame the situation by attempting to use aggressive strike-breaking tactics, than try and resolve it.
Senior managers say they will deduct half a days pay for staff not covering student recruitment activities, which for many staff have been treated as voluntary in the past, and that staff who do not reschedule teaching missed due to strike action could lose another two and a half days pay.
The dispute is about job losses in multiple academic areas. The University is also threatening hundreds of professional service staff.
Branch co-chair Caren Frosch said: “This dispute is in defence of education at Leicester. We cannot stand by and let senior managers destroy the education our students deserve. Members understand that they will have to sacrifice pay to strike. What they don’t accept is having pay deducted twice. They will have already lost pay for the day they were due to be teaching. Rather than adopt such an appalling stance the University should follow what other institutions such as Newcastle and Lincoln have done and confirm there will be no academic compulsory redundancies.”
The other branch co-chair, Joseph Choonara, said: “We know Higher Education is facing real difficulties. But addressing them by attacking staff will further undermine teaching and research at the University. Our University managers have refused to meet us to negotiate alternatives to compulsory redundancies. Now they are turning to this union-busting escalation in an attempt to intimidate our members. They are turning our fight into a confrontation with major national implications for unions. I’m confident we will receive support from trade unions across the country.”
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