Industrial action autumn 2023 – frequently asked questions for students

The University and College Union (UCU) has notified BU and other universities that it is organising five days of strike action from Monday 25 September to Friday 29 September. This is because of a February 2023 ballot of UCU members, which secured a mandate for both strike action and action short of strike.  

Trade unions are groups of employees who provide help and services to their members and lead collective bargaining for better pay and conditions for staff. In the UK, trade unions have a special status in law which gives them special rights to do this. At BU, we have two recognised trade unions for our staff: UCU and Unison. 

The pay for university staff is negotiated and agreed nationally between trade unions and the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA). UCEA is a member organisation of UK higher education institutions and enables collective bargaining to support equity across all universities.  

UCU did not agree to the pay award for the 2022/23 academic year. Their dispute also includes concerns about equality, the use of different types of casual contracts and workloads. As pay is agreed nationally, the resolution also needs to be agreed across the university sector. BU has a voice at the negotiations through our membership of UCEA and are seeking resolution through this national level. 

We are, however, undertaking a lot of activity in some of the other areas of concern to UCU. We are working with both of our recognised trade unions to address some of these concerns to benefit colleagues and the wider organisation around:  

Workload planning   

Working conditions for staff 

Gender pay. 

UCU has notified BU that it plans to hold a period of strike action of 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29 September 2023.  

Only members of UCU can go on strike. Staff taking part in the strike do not have to tell BU in advance that they plan to do. Some may choose to tell us, but we are not able to tell students or other staff members, as this would violate their privacy rights. 

What we can say is that not all BU academic staff are members of UCU. We also know from previous experience that not all UCU members will choose to take part in industrial action, while others may only choose to strike on some of the days. 

Yes. Please come to university as normal. Because not all our academic staff will be on strike (see question above), many sessions will run as planned.  

Timetabled sessions can be cancelled for different reasons, for example a teaching staff member being sick. Where we know that a session is unable to take place, for whatever reason, we will tell you in advance. Please regularly check your timetable and Brightspace for any notifications. 

If you are on campus and find that your session does not take place, there is still a range of activities and facilities that you can make the most of. The university and all our services will be open on the strike days, such as the libraries, study spaces, and social and sports facilities.  

The Academic Skills Hub has lots of activities and resources, including face-to-face sessions, where you can practise your academic writing, literature searching, presentations and many other skills. You can drop in and see the CareersBU in the library or check out the Graduate Skills Programme. If you want to develop your IT skills, then look at what’s on offer by the IT learning centre or through LinkedIn Learning. You can explore these facilities, as well as the food and drink outlets open on our campuses and be sure to check our Welcome app for a list of on-campus activities taking place throughout the week. 

If there is not a suitably qualified staff member available, then the session won’t be able to run. This is to ensure your safety. We will let you know as soon as possible what we are doing to make sure you don’t miss out on your learning.   

We are not expecting these to be impacted, but if they are, we will ensure that they are rescheduled at the earliest opportunity. We will tell you what you need to know as soon as we can. 

You should submit your work by the current stipulated deadlines, unless you are told otherwise. You will not be automatically entitled to or given an extension due to the strike action. We are doing all we can to maintain all assessment deadlines but will tell you if this is not possible. 

Timetabled sessions can be cancelled for different reasons, for example a teaching staff member being sick. Where we know that a session is unable to take place, for whatever reason, we will tell you in advance. Please regularly check your timetable and Brightspace for any notifications. 

If your timetabled session isn’t taking place, there are lots of other activities happening on campus to support your learning. Please see our FAQ on making the most of your time on campus for more information.  

We are used to planning for potential disruption, for example during the pandemic and periods of extreme weather. We have a group of people, including SUBU, working together to ensure that contingency plans are in place, and we will continue to share information with you to ensure that you are impacted as little as possible, if at all, by the strikes. 

Yes, you can contact members of staff in the same way as you do now; it is possible that there may be a slight delay in responding to you if that staff member is taking industrial action. 

If you hold a student visa, the conditions of the visa are not affected by any strike action. Unless we tell you that a session has been affected by industrial action, you should come to university as normal. The usual processes for attendance monitoring will apply to sessions which take place. 

Should a session be affected by industrial action, this will be recorded by the university as a cancelled session, and this will not have a detrimental impact on your attendance record for the purposes of your student visa. 

The industrial action does not change the normal requirements for compliance in terms of your student visa. You should continue to request permission for absences in the normal way. 

Your student fee covers a wide range of activities and services, including lectures and timetabled sessions. Many of these will continue despite the strikes. For information on making the most of these other activities, see our ‘how to make the most of your time on campus’ FAQ.  

If you have paid for travel or childcare costs to attend a lecture or meeting on campus and on arrival found that it had been cancelled with no notice because of industrial action, please contact the AskBU team for advice. 

There may be picket lines at some of the campus entrances on strike days, and it is their lawful right to conduct action in this way. You are allowed to carry on as you wish without being stopped by the staff members on the picket line. The picket line cannot obstruct people or property, or to create a nuisance for others.  

All our normal support services are open during the period of industrial action. You can also contact AskBU, who will advise you about any specific support which you may need at this time. 

Information about complaints, exceptional circumstances and student protection plans is available on our website.