Unite escalates strike action against below-inflation pay

On 20 April, Unite the Union announced that more than 1,100 workers at five Scottish universities will stage a 24-hour strike. The industrial action is scheduled for 24 April to dispute an imposed real-terms pay cut.

Unite members at Glasgow, Strathclyde, Glasgow School of Art, Edinburgh Napier and Heriot Watt universities will take part.

At 12:30pm on the same day, 24 April, Unite will also hold a Pay and Fair Funding Rally. The assembly will take place at the top of Buchanan Street, next to the Concert Hall and Donald Dewar statue.

The announcement marks an escalation of previous Unite action at Glasgow, Strathclyde and Edinburgh Napier universities on 10 April. Likewise, staff members at Strathclyde also staged a strike from 16 to 22 March over proposed job cuts.

‘No option but to fight back’ says Unite

As the Canary previously reported, the higher education (HE) sector across the country has already suffered under 15 years of substandard pay awards. Compared to 2010, the below-inflation ‘rises’ have left most staff with a real-terms cut of around 30%.

The current dispute centers on the fact that the universities are imposing a pay offer of just 1.4% for 2025/26 on the Scottish workforce. For context, retail price index (RPI) inflation currently stands at 3.6%. However, it looks set to climb far higher due to the repercussions of Trump/Netanyahu’s illegal war on Iran.

Alison MacLean, Unite’s lead officer for higher education, said:

Thousands of Unite members working in higher education have faced years of real-terms pay cuts. Our members have no option but to fight back against repeated threats of compulsory redundancies, and cuts to their terms and conditions. This funding crisis has also come about as a result of gross financial mismanagement and incompetence at some universities.

The latest round of strikes is part of Unite’s campaign to ensure that higher education is fully funded, and its workers are fairly rewarded. We can no longer accept more cuts and derisory pay awards which is why our members are fighting back.

‘Workers are facing another cost of living crisis’

Trade unions across the HE sector are already engaged in negotiations for the 2026/27 pay award. The next meeting is scheduled for 13 May.

The unions are demanding either a pay offer of RPI + 3%, or a £3,000 increase – whichever is higher. On top of that, they’re also arguing for a £15/hr minimum basic pay. These changes would impact 138 higher education institutions across the UK.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said:

University workers deserve far better from higher education institutions. For years they have had real terms pay cuts imposed on them which is unacceptable. Inflation throughout this time has soared and now workers are facing another cost of living crisis.

Unite will fully support our higher education members. We won’t tolerate them having to face attack upon attack on their jobs, pay and conditions.

Time and again, we’ve watched as the lowest-paid in our society have been forced to absorb the greatest impacts of inflation and financial crisis.

The fact that UK universities are imposing yet another below-inflation pay offer, with full knowledge that worse is round the corner, is simply intolerable. However, as the escalation of industrial action at these five Scottish universities has shown, the workers will not take these imposed cuts without a fight.

Featured image via the Canary