You may already be aware that staff who are members of the University and College Union (UCU) from 150 UK universities have voted in favour of industrial action in relation to pay and pensions following two national ballots.
UCU has now confirmed that they intend to ask members at universities across the UK, including Liverpool, to take strike action over three days in November, on 24th, 25th and 30th.
The industrial action being called by UCU is a collective UK-wide action which means that we are unable to negotiate or attempt to resolve the dispute as an individual institution. We are reliant on national negotiations, and discussions between UCU and Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) in relation to pay, and Universities UK (UUK) in relation to pensions, at a national level are continuing. You will be kept updated as these national negotiations for a resolution progress.
Please be assured that the University has robust measures in place to help protect students in the event of disruption. You will receive further communication before the 24th November to outline this detail, so please continue to check your University email regularly as well as our Student News pages.
Will my teaching be cancelled?
Only a minority of academic, professional and managerial staff are members of UCU and not all of them support this action, so we expect the majority of staff to be working as normal during the period of strike action. However, some areas of the University are likely to experience higher levels of engagement in industrial action than others.
We expect most teaching sessions to go ahead as planned. However, by law staff do not have to inform the University in advance that they intend to take strike action, so unfortunately we cannot give you advance notice of cancelled sessions, although we hope that your lecturers may choose to do so.
It is therefore important that you assume all activities are going ahead, and that you attend as planned unless you hear definitively from your lecturer or School Office that a teaching event will not take place. If a member of staff does not arrive for a teaching session at its planned start time, please wait for a few minutes to be sure that they are not late before you leave. If a member of staff takes strike action on one day, it should not be assumed that they will continue to do so on other days.
Information for postgraduate research students
Only a minority of academic, professional and managerial staff are members of UCU and not all of them support this action, so we expect the majority of staff to be working as normal during the period of strike action. However, some areas of the University are likely to experience higher levels of engagement in industrial action than others.
Please be assured that we will communicate detailed information if your viva voce examination or supervision is affected by strike action.
As a research student, in the first instance your supervisor will usually be the right person for you to talk to about any issues relating to impact of industrial action.
If for any reason you are unable to do this, please get in touch with your Department or your School Director of Postgraduate Research for further advice and guidance. Alternatively, you may wish to contact your Faculty Director of Postgraduate Research.
You can also contact advice@liverpool.ac.uk for support and the University provides additional 24-hour support through Health Assured which you can access by calling 0800 028 3766 at any time.
Support available
You will find further detailed information about the UCU Industrial Action on our dedicated web hub which is available on the Student Intranet. This includes advice around picketing and what you might expect if you are on campus during the short period of strike action.
Industrial action can be difficult for staff and for our students. Please remember the wide range of support you can access at any time as a University of Liverpool student. If you need support please contact advice@liverpool.ac.uk. The University also provides additional 24-hour support through Health Assured, you can contact them by calling 0800 028 3766 at any time.