From Professor Richard Reece | DVC Education & Student Experience

Late on Friday night UCU announced that all strike days this week and the one after have been postponed. This means that, unless informed otherwise, your lectures and classes for the next fortnight will go ahead as planned. 

We’re really pleased to see this step by UCU, which has been done to support the progress of the national negotiations happening throughout. This isn’t necessarily the end of the current dispute, but it is the sincere hope of all parties that this pause will give national bodies the space to reach a long-standing deal that avoids further action. 

As it stands, if no agreement is reached the next strike day will be Thursday 16 March. UCU are also reballoting their members so that they keep a number of options open if talks break down. However, this postponement is a positive sign and we urge all parties in the negotiations to use it to reach common ground. 

I will be in touch again when we have a clearer picture of what the weeks ahead will look like. In the meantime, I am glad you will have a few weeks of normality after so much disruption and thank you again for your patience with this throughout. Do also remember to submit any claims for expenses you may have incurred during the earlier strike days by 31 May.