STAFF at the University of Cumbria will join a two-day national strike taking place across the UK on Wednesday and Thursday.

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) will be walking out in a dispute over pay.

Staff will be on the picket line at the Fusehill Street Campus in Carlisle from 7.45am.

UCU members will also begin working to contract from Wednesday, which means they will refuse to work overtime, set additional work, or undertake any voluntary duties like covering timetabled classes for absent colleagues.

If no agreement is reached in the coming weeks, members have agreed to further strike action targeting open days and graduation ceremonies in June and July.

The union is also beginning preparations for a boycott of the setting and marking of students’ work, to begin in the autumn if an acceptable offer has still not been made.

The dispute has arisen following a pay offer of just 1.1 per cent from Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA).

UCU said universities could afford to pay more and the latest offer did little to address the real terms pay cut of 14.5 per cent that its members have suffered since 2009.

Regional official, Iain Owens, said: "A 1.1 per cent pay offer is particularly insulting when we know vice-chancellors have just had over five per cent. University staff can no longer put up with the continued squeeze on their income. After six years of pay cuts and constant demands to do more for less, staff have said enough is enough.

"Industrial action which impacts on students is never taken lightly, but members feel that they have been left with no alternative. It’s time for universities to invest properly in teachers, researchers and administrators. The employers need to come back with a better offer which reflects the hard work of staff."

Around two thirds (65.4%) of members who voted backed strike action and over three quarters (77.3%) voted for action short of a strike.