University staff across the UK took to the streets to strike against their employers and demand better working conditions.
Many gathered in Manchester today and yesterday to join the rest of the country in the largest ever university strikes planned in the UK, with 70,000 in attendance.
The strikes were organised after an overwhelming majority of union members voted in favour of action last month due to a growing number of complaints from staff about insecure employment contracts, real-term pay cuts and cuts to pension schemes – all of which have been exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis.
Figures from the University and College Union (UCU) show that university staff were only offered a 3% pay rise this year, after a decade of below inflation pay increases.
Staff from the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University assembled on Oxford Street to march throughout the city centre alongside a number of students, in the hope it will help spark change.
