Almost £100,000 in wages forfeited during last academic year’s double strike action

Almost £100,000 in wages were forfeited by Warwick staff who went on strike last academic year, a Freedom of Information (FoI) request has shown.

During the two strike periods in the academic year 2019/2020, £97,291 in wages were forfeited. 

In the FoI request, the University confirmed that the deducted wages “will be put towards the student experience”. 

Last academic year, members of the University and College Union (UCU) went on strike in Term 1 and Term 2 which accumulated to a total of 22 working days. 

269 members of University of Warwick staff went on strike during the first strike period (25 November 2019 to 4 December 2019). This number decreased by 36% during the second strike period (20 February 2020 to 13 March 2020), where 172 members of staff went on strike. 

108 of the staff who went on strike during the first strike period were from the Faculty of Social Sciences, which made up 40% of individuals who participated in strike action in Term 1. The Faculty of Arts had the second highest number of staff participating in strike action, with 82 individuals in the first strike period. 

The Faculty of Science had 48 members of staff who went on strike during Term 1 and 32 during the Term 2 strike period.

In response to the FoI request, the University did not provide data for staff on the Sessional Teaching Payroll (STP). STPs have to declare strike action in advance every day that they participate, unlike permanent staff.

In the academic year 2019/2020, 19 students submitted formal complaints relating to industrial action and Covid-19. Five of those 19 complaints were escalated to the highest stage of the Complaints Resolution Procedure. 

Last academic year’s strikes centred around the sustainability of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) and rising costs for members, as well as on universities’ failure to make significant improvements on pay, equality, casualisation and workloads.

Warwick students were divided in their support for the Term 2 strikes, a survey by The Boar showed. 

Last term, the Warwick branch of the UCU voted to ballot on strike action if the University did not adopt full online teaching, stating that face-to-face teaching was not safe amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. 

Correction (28.01.2021 11.03): In December, Warwick UCU agreed to call off the ballot for local industrial action, as a result of negotiations with the University.