THE fight for fair pay has continued on the second day of national strike action for university staff.

Lecturers and support staff from Essex University will picket again from 8am until 11am over a pay rise offer of 1.1 per cent.

Negotiations between the Universities and Colleges Employer Association (UCEA) and the University and College Union (UCU) broke down this month.

Growing anger over news the salary for university vice-chancellors rose by 6.1 per cent last year, including a lack of improvement on measures to address gender inequality and insecure contracts in higher education, lead to the two-day strike.

The union has argued universities can afford to pay more in light of staff having suffered a 14.5 per cent drop in pay since 2009.

But the UCEA maintains the offer is in addition to their base pay at more than triple the current rate of inflation, bringing the average pay increase up to 2.7 per cent.

If no agreement is made, the conflict will impact on the clearing process.

Also staff are already making steps to work just their contracted hours.

Gazette:

Peter Patrick, vice-president of the UCU Local Essex Association, believes this will have more of an impact, but is hopeful it will not take until autumn to find a solution.

The languages and linguistics lecturer said: “In my department, three-quarters of people are doing significantly more than what they're contractually obligated to do.

“Lots of work is done out of goodwill, with people doing as much as it takes and this is ongoing.

“Full-time staff at universities work a 36-hour week, but most academics, from surveys, often do closer to 50 hours or more."

“We’ve had a lot of support across the two picket lines, including from the students themselves.

“Most people who stopped to talk to us already knew about our reasons for striking, but one thing which is less clear is we’re not just acting on behalf of academics and lecturers, we also represent staff on the service side like administration.”

Outside of industrial action, the Higher Education Committee (HEC) will be appealing to UCU members to resign from currently held external examiner positions and urge them not to take up new ones until the dispute is settled.

An Essex University spokesperson said: “We're disappointed the UCU is taking national strike action without following the agreed process for national pay negotiations.

“The university is committed to putting our students at the heart of our thinking and our priority is to safeguard their interests and their education.”