Marjon University support workers striking

Pay dispute continues

University support workers in Plymouth are striking in an ongoing dispute around pay.

Staff at Marjon University will walk out for two days from 2 October as part of a wider series of coordinated strikes at 17 universities across England.

The action follows several days of strikes already taken in September.

Members of the UNISON union walking out include computer technicians and library staff.

They rejected a below-inflation wage rise earlier this year.

UNISON South West head of Higher Education, Chris Roche, said:

“Support staff play a crucial role in helping students learn and develop at university, but for years the value of their pay has been under attack by Vice Chancellors who are living it up on six-figure salaries from student tuition fees.

“What kind of example are we setting for students when many of the staff who support them can’t afford to support themselves? This isn’t just a cost of living crisis, it’s a hoarding of wealth crisis – the money is there for staff to get a fair share, but Vice Chancellors are more interested in vanity building projects and feathering their own nests.

“Some support staff have already left the university sector for better-paid jobs elsewhere and that risks leaving students with a worse education. The support workers who are staying and taking strike action this week are fighting for a better university, and we should all be proud of them for standing together to do the right thing for themselves and their students.

“It’s time for Vice Chancellors to start doing the right thing too, by agreeing on a fair pay rise for staff now, and joining the campaign for a return to free education and an end to student tuition fees, funded by taxation on big business and the super-rich.”