STAFF from Lancaster University will be going on strike from Monday. 

 Members of the University and College Union at 60 universities across the UK will walk out from Monday (25 November) to Wednesday December 4. 

Lancaster University will be hit with eight days of strike action after no agreement could be reached between university representatives and the University and College Union (UCU) over pensions, pay and working conditions.

Striking staff will be on picket lines at all entrances to the university from 8am, including the main campus entrance off the A6, the Alexandra Park entrance and the cycle path entrance next to Bailrigg House.

UCU said it feared that universities had learned nothing from last year’s dispute when university campuses were brought to a standstill by unprecedented levels of strike action.

Last month, UCU members backed strike action in ballots over both pensions, and pay and working conditions. The results mean that UCU members at 60 UK universities* are walking out on Monday.

At the University of Lancaster, 84 per cent of UCU members polled voted for strikes over changes to USS pensions and 79 per cent backed strikes over pay and conditions. T

As well as eight strike days, union members will begin “action short of a strike” from Monday. This includes matters such as working strictly to contract, not covering for absent colleagues and refusing to reschedule lectures lost to strike action.

UCU Lancaster University vice-president and pensions officer Sunil Banga said: "Strike action is a last resort, but universities’ refusal to deal with these key issues have left us with no alternative. 

"It is staggering and insulting that universities have not done more to work with us to try and find a way to resolve these disputes

"We hope students will continue to put pressure on university vice-chancellors to get their representatives back round the negotiating table for serious talks with the union."

Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner has called on both sides to get round the table for talks and the National Union of Students says students stand shoulder to shoulder with staff in the disputes.