Lecturers and researchers at Falmouth University are set to walk out for three days this month in a dispute over employment terms and conditions.
The University and College Union (UCU) said its members working at the Cornish university have voted in favour of strike action following a decision by the university to employ all new academic staff through a subsidiary company, Falmouth Staffing Ltd (FSL).
The union described the proposed arrangement would “make it harder” for it to represent members in FSL, describing it as “the beginning of an attack on hard-won national agreements.”
UCU said as a result of the move all new academic staff employed at Falmouth University since September 2021 had been denied access to the Teacher’s Pension Scheme (TPS) and forced onto a “vastly inferior” private pension.
The TPS scheme has employer contributions of 23.6% whereas the FSL scheme starts at only 6%.
The union said new staff risked losing “continuity of service” as they move to or from other modern academic institutions, adding no other university in the South West region was making a similar arrangement.
BusinessLive has contacted Falmouth University for comment.
UCU said 90% of members who voted had been in favour of strike action, which is set to take place over three consecutive days, from Monday, October 17, until Wednesday, October 19.
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Falmouth UCU branch co-chair Tom Scott said: “Our members are not taking industrial action lightly, but this is a serious issue not just for staff at Falmouth but also for our students.
“If management insists on employing staff under inferior conditions to those offered at other universities, and without the benefits that continuity of service offers academics elsewhere, this will quickly impact on the university’s ability to hire and retain the most talented lecturers and researchers.”
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