UCU withdraw Newcastle University industrial action

The UCU have mistakenly withdrawn proposed strike action at Newcastle University.

Sam Norman
24th September 2023
Image Credit: @ucunion Instagram
Late Saturday night, the University and College Union (UCU) announced a withdrawal of their week of strike action at Newcastle University this week. Announced via X, an “administrative error beyond [the Union’s] control” was cited as the grounds for the reversing of the strikes, with more information promised to come. 

On the morning of 24 September, the UCU followed up once again via X giving further clarity to the situation. The UCU states “in error, we sent a withdrawal of action notice to the University of Newcastle.”. Upon noticing this error, the UCU said that they “contacted the university on Thursday” requesting them to ignore their “honest error.” However, in the X post, the UCU states the University has “refused and threatened legal action if the union continued to pursue action.” Following this, the Newcastle UCU branch was notified on Friday afternoon that the planned strikes were not going to be able to take place. The UCU has stated they will visit the Newcastle branch to further discuss the week’s events and has also announced a review to investigate the error by the General Secretary. 

Students across Newcastle have reacted to the back-and-forth with varied emotions. An anonymous third-year student at the University’s business school declared “Heading into third year anxieties are already sky high; these errors, though understandable, do not help.” Another third-year in the school of English co-signed this sentiment, telling The Courier “I have always been an avid supporter of the strikes, but waiting on been assigned a dissertation supervisor, then strikes announced before I have even met them, then an email the morning before lectures were meant to restart that they are actually now going to be running. It is making the experience more of an emotional roller coaster than it already is.”. 

University stakeholders now look onward to 3 November when the next re-ballot closes and the UCU are seeking to renew their mandate for industrial action. 

AUTHOR: Sam Norman
Head of Current Affairs 23/24. Campus Comment Sub-editor 22/23. BA English Language and Literature Student.

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