STAFF at the University of Bradford are to strike again, just months after their last walk out.

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) at the institution will begin 14 days of action on Thursday, February 20.

The strikes concern changes to a pension scheme and failures to make improvements on pay, equality, casualisation and workloads.

For UCU staff at the University of Bradford, it is specifically changes to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) which are causing disputes, whereby a typical member will pay around £40,000 more into their pension but receive almost £200,000 less on retirement, according to modelling by First Actuarial.

The strikes will take place across four weeks, escalating to a full-week walkout between Monday, March 9, and Friday, March 13.

As well as the strike days, union members are undertaking “action short of a strike”.

This involves things like working strictly to contract, not covering for absent colleagues and refusing to reschedule lectures lost to strike action.

UCU general secretary, Jo Grady, said: "If universities want to avoid further disruption they need to send their representatives back to the national negotiating table with solutions to deal with rising pension costs, and address the problems over pay and conditions.

"We have been clear from the outset that we would take serious and sustained industrial action if that was what was needed.

"As well as the strikes next month, we are going to ballot members to ensure that we have a fresh mandate for action until the end of the academic year if these disputes are not resolved."

There are 74 universities across the country in total taking part in the strikes.

This includes the University of Leeds, the University of Huddersfield and Leeds Trinity University.

UCU members at the University of Bradford took part in eight days of strikes at the end of November and into December last year.

Read more about that here...

The full details of days of action this year for the institution are as follows:

  • Week One - Thursday, February 20 & Friday, February 21
  • Week Two - Monday, February 24, Tuesday, February 25, Thursday, February 26
  • Week Three - Monday, March 2, Tuesday, March 3, Wednesday, March 4, Thursday, March 5
  • Week Four - Monday, March 9, Tuesday, March 10, Wednesday, March 11, Thursday, March 12, Friday, March 13