Subject:	Industrial Action - 20/2 to 26/2

Thursday 20th – Friday 21st of Feb
Monday 24th – Wednesday 26th of Feb 
 
I am on strike. The background to this is summed up by these points: In higher 
education…
•	women are paid on average 15.1% less than men
•	the disability pay gap is 8.7%
•	black academic staff earn 12-13% less than white colleagues of the same 
gender and experience
•	salaries have fallen against inflation by over 20% since 2009.
•	academic staff work over 50 hours during a typical week.
•	Over 100,000 staff are employed on fixed-term contracts, and a further 
70,000 are employed on other casual contracts.
The industrial action is intended to force the employers who run higher education to 
improve the situation in four specific areas:
•	Inequality 
•	Casualization
•	Workload
•	Salaries 
While I am on strike, I will not be checking or sending emails. I will read your message 
when I return to work after the strike action and will respond in due course.

Helpful Links: 
*	Strike explainer for students (https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/ucu/files/2020/02/Explainer-for-students-Feb-2020.docx)
*	Teach Out Schedule (http://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/ucu/2019/11/24/teach-out-schedule/)
*	General information and updates at the Brighton UCU blog (http://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/ucu)