Students told to hold 'reading groups' while lecturers are on strike

Students are told to meet at cafes and hold ‘reading groups’ while lecturers are on strike

• Students at Cambridge University have been urged to hold mini ‘reading groups’
• 70,000 University and College Union members at 150 universities walked out
• The Universities and Colleges Employers Association made a ‘final’ pay offer

University students have been told to swap seminars for cafe meet-ups as their lecturers go on strike.

Cambridge undergraduates have been urged to hold mini ‘reading groups’ to make up for teaching cancelled by striking academics.

Around 70,000 University and College Union (UCU) members at 150 universities walked out yesterday in a dispute over pay, working conditions and pensions. 

It is the first of 18 days of strike action which critics say is ‘morally wrong’.

The dispute comes as the Universities and Colleges Employers Association, representing 144 employers said it has made a ‘full and final pay offer’ of between 5 per cent and 8 per cent.

Around 70,000 University and College Union (UCU) members at 150 universities walked out yesterday in a dispute over pay, working conditions and pensions

The British Museum was forced to close yesterday after workers took strike action following a long-running dispute over pay. 

Most of the workers involved are understood to be security guards or in visitor services.

Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at the University of Buckingham, said walking out on students was ‘morally wrong’.

He said: ‘Strikes are blunt, self-serving and damaging, and their success depends on the exercise of naked power.

‘Morally they are wrong, but in addition university staff have to face the fact that they lack the power to hurt anyone but themselves and their students. It is a futile gesture.’

But Jo Grady, UCU general secretary, said: ‘University staff have turned out in massive numbers on picket lines today. Their anger over falling pay, insecure employment and pension cuts is impossible to ignore.’

She added: ‘We have been overwhelmed by the support of thousands of students who have joined us on picket lines across the country.

‘They recognise that vice chancellors are wrecking the sector and are determined to stand with us and fix it.’

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