Solidarity

University lecturers and support staff are to strike for eight days in disputes over pay and pensions.

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) will walk out between 25 November and 4 December, following votes in favour of industrial action.

The strike action will affect 60 universities across the UK, UCU says. The action relates to two separate disputes - one on pensions and one on pay and working conditions.

In ballots last week, 79% of the 53% of UCU members who voted in the ballot over changes to pensions, backed industrial action. In the ballot on pay, equality, casualisation and workloads, 74% of the 49% of members who voted, backed strike action.

In total, the UCU says 43 universities are taking industrial action over both pensions and pay and conditions: Aston University, Bangor University, Cardiff University, University of Durham, Heriot-Watt University, Loughborough University, Newcastle University, Open University, University of Aberdeen, University of Bath, University of Dundee, University of Leeds, University of Manchester, University of Sheffield, University of Nottingham, University of Stirling, University College London, University of Birmingham, University of Bradford, University of Bristol, University of Cambridge, University of Edinburgh, University of Exeter, University of Essex, University of Glasgow, University of Lancaster, University of Leicester, City University, Goldsmiths College, Queen Mary University of London, Royal Holloway, University of Reading, University of Southampton, University of St Andrews, Courtauld Institute of Art, University of Strathclyde, University of Wales, University of Warwick, University of York, University of Liverpool, University of Sussex, University of Ulster and Queen's University Belfast.

Staff at a further 14 institutions are striking over pay and conditions dispute only: Bishop Grosseteste University, Bournemouth University, Edge Hill University, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow School of Art, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, St Mary's University College, Belfast, Roehampton University, Sheffield Hallam University, University of Brighton, University of Kent and University of Oxford.

And three universities are walking out over a dispute over pensions alone: Scottish Association of Marine Science, University of East Anglia and Institute for Development Studies