Around 3,000 staff at the University of Edinburgh are beginning five weeks of strike action in a dispute over £140 million in cuts and compulsory redundancies.
Members of the University and College Union (UCU) began the action on Monday, with strikes scheduled to continue until October 30. The dispute comes as 90 programmes at the university are due to close. The university announced two years ago that it would make £140 million in cuts alongside compulsory redundancies.
UCU says 1,800 jobs will be cut in total. The union has said the university could still halt the industrial action by agreeing to its demands, including a commitment to no compulsory redundancies and an end to cuts affecting fixed-term hourly paid staff.
The union is also calling for the university to revise its surplus target and prioritise savings on capital expenditure rather than staff costs.
Cecile Menard, co-president of the UCU Edinburgh branch, said staff did not want to begin the academic term on picket lines. She said they wanted to welcome new and returning students and continue teaching, research and student support.
Menard blamed the university’s senior management for the disruption, saying it could stop the strike by responding to members’ demands. She said cuts to staff had left remaining employees facing unmanageable workloads and exhaustion, and argued that further job losses would undermine the education and support students receive.
She also described the proposed closure of 90 programmes as a failure of senior management. Menard said management had already carried out what she called “hundreds of hidden redundancies”, with some classes doubling in size over the past couple of years.
“We’re striking to stop more jobs being lost, but also for a university that respects its core educational purpose and its duty to students,” she said.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said staff at Edinburgh had previously taken several days of strike action and participated in a marking and assessment boycott. She said university management had nevertheless refused to rule out compulsory redundancies, despite the university having reserves of more than £3 billion.
Grady called on the minister responsible for universities to use their influence to ensure universities put staff and students ahead of profits. She also urged the University of Edinburgh to use its reserves to prevent job cuts.
University principal Professor Sir Peter Mathieson said the institution was “extremely disappointed” by the announcement of five weeks of strike action, which he said would deliberately target students during the first semester of the academic year.
Mathieson said the university recognised staff’s right to take industrial action and would continue trying to reduce its impact on students. He also said the university remained committed to constructive and transparent engagement with its joint unions.
The principal defended the need for what he described as responsible and sometimes difficult decisions to enable the university to thrive and protect its position as a world-leading institution. He said using reserves to cover day-to-day costs would not provide a reliable or responsible long-term solution.
“We need to create a sustainable model that enables the university to continue educating students, advancing research and innovation, and – ultimately – making the world a better place,” he said.
Mathieson said the university regularly reviews its academic portfolio in response to changes in society, student demand, the job market and other external pressures. He said decisions about its future academic offering had been informed by data and disciplinary insights from academics and experts, followed by the university’s governance processes.
He said the university would continue sharing information and supporting its community as it carried out the steps needed to shape its future.
The strike is therefore taking place amid opposing positions over how the university should respond to its financial pressures. UCU is demanding that staff costs and compulsory redundancies be protected against, while university management says reserves should not be used to address underlying problems and that changes to programmes are necessary to establish a sustainable model.
