Staff at the University of Edinburgh will strike this month and again for students’ ‘welcome week’ in September, the University and College Union has announced.
Last month, UCU members backed industrial action in a dispute over senior management’s plans to cut £140 million from the university’s annual budget and its refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies.
Eighty-four per cent of members voted in favour of strike action on a turnout of 60%, while 93% supported action short of strike.
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Sophia Woodman, UCU branch president, said: “Staff want a sustainable future for the university as much as anybody, and we want to work with senior management to end this dispute.
“But we’re clear that the use of compulsory redundancies is unacceptable. With the resources and reserves held by the university, it can easily afford to rule out sacking staff.”
Lecturers will walk out on 20 June, and for the week of 8-12 September, when the university welcomes students for the new academic year.
The university principal and vice-chancellor, Professor Sir Peter Mathieson, shocked staff in February when he announced that £140 million of cuts could not be achieved solely by voluntary redundancies.
Since then, UCU has continued to push senior managers to rule out compulsory redundancies, but they have repeatedly refused to do so.
Appearing in front of Holyrood’s education committee of MSPs yesterday, Mathieson was unable to confirm his own salary, saying he did not “know the exact figure” but that he was “certainly very well paid”.
The university’s accounts show that Mathieson was paid a £362,000 salary in 2024, a further £40,000 in lieu of pension, with life cover and benefits in kind bringing his overall package to £422,000.
Asked if a reduction to his salary was under consideration given the financial pressures, Mathieson said: “You could pay the senior team of the University of Edinburgh nothing and that would make largely no difference to the size of the expenditure challenge we face.”
He also repeatedly refused to endorse giving up his five-bedroom, grace-and-favour home on one of Edinburgh’s most expensive streets to raise funds. A similar, smaller house on the road is currently listed for £2.7 million.
When Scottish Conservative leader, Douglas Ross, the convenor of the committee, asked if Mathieson would suggest selling his “free house” to raise funds for the university, he said it was “not up to me”.
Last week, UCU members at the University of Dundee began five days of strike action over threatened job losses and compulsory redundancies. The industrial action follows 15 days of strikes in February and March.
A similar dispute at Durham University sees staff walk out on 13-14 and 19 June.
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