UNISON members at Bristol University were out on strike yesterday in a dispute over pay. Some of the lowest paid employees at the university, including cleaners and administration staff, have rejected the university's current offer of five per cent and are demanding a pay rise in line with the rising cost of living.
If an agreement is not reached in the next few weeks, UNISON members working at the university will hold five days of strike action commencing on June 15 - coinciding with the university open days.
This year the University of Bristol will hold open days for undergraduate students on June 16 and 17. Last year tens of thousands of prospective students turned up for the open day, with nearby roads being closed off to accommodate the large number of people travelling to the university.
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The University College Employers Association (UCEA) offered all higher education workers a three per cent pay rise in 2022/23. UNISON members rejected the offer with 89 per cent voting in favour of strike action.
As a result University of Bristol UNISON staff went on strike in September, November and February. Following the previous wave of strike action, Bristol University increased their pay offer from three per cent to five per cent. But campaigners say the offer is still below the current rate of inflation and education pay has failed to rise in line with inflation since 2009.
A UNISON spokesperson said: “In the space of a year the branch’s membership has grown by 44 per cent. The strike [has had] some traction [so far], with the current offer of a 5 per cent increase for most staff.
“This however remains insufficient to keep up with the current cost of living, particularly in a city with such an expensive rental and housing market as Bristol.
“Nationally, UCEA represents different Universities in different financial situations, but locally the University of Bristol has the option for a solution for their own institutional circumstances. They can reassess their own pay grading and where staff members reside on these pay scales, as a means of increasing pay for staff, this could help bridge the gap between inflation and the current pay offer.
“Workload is also a concern for many staff, as staffing levels have not kept up with the levels of increases in student numbers. The University of Bristol UNISON Branch has scheduled five more days of strike action including the 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th of June, if no resolution has been reached before this point."
University's response
A University of Bristol spokesperson said: “We are very sorry to see colleagues represented by Unison taking part in industrial action [yesterday] but, at the same time, we respect the rights of our staff to act where they feel strongly about issues which affect them.
“Unison advised that they had a mandate for strike action in relation to the pay award in September last year. We are one of only nine universities affected by this latest action.
“We remain committed to continuing discussions. The University is part of national HE collective bargaining so we cannot unilaterally change the pay award of between 5-8%– agreed for the 23/24 academic year, therefore we need to find better ways of resolving this dispute nationally.”
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