page_title: 2018–2020 UK higher education strikes
section_title: Before the strikes
hierarchical_section_title: 2018–2020 UK higher education strikes / 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights' / Strikes recommence (20 February 2020) / Before the strikes
caption_attribution_description: English: Looking northeastward along the Strand in March 2020, the coat of arms of King's College London on its entrance gate, followed by the college entrance in the Strand Building. A small teach-out is being held near the entrance, with a speaker standing on part of the building, as part of the University and College Union's industrial action against a number of UK universities.
context_page_description: The University and College Union, a trade union representing 110,000 staff at UK universities, ran a major series of connected strikes in 2018, 2019, and 2020. The action has been characterised as "something of a milestone" for "impending service sector strikes of the 21st century".
  In 2018, the dispute concerned proposed changes to the Universities Superannuation Scheme. In 2019–20, strike action on USS continued, and action on a parallel dispute over pay equality, workload, casualisation, and pay levels was added.
  The first strike began in February 2018. This strike escalated over fourteen strike days between 22 February and 20 March, and took place at sixty-four universities across the UK, represented by Universities UK. This was the longest ever strike in UK higher-education history. The Office for National Statistics found that in 2018, 66% of all working days lost to strike action were accounted for by the education sector, "due mainly to disputes involving employees of universities". An estimated 42,000 staff went on strike with 575,000 teaching hours being lost. By 28 March, over 700 external examiners had also recorded their resignations in a UCU document.
context_section_description: On 3 February 2020, following consultation with branch representatives at the union's Higher Education Committee, UCU announced fourteen days of strike action, escalating over a period running from 20 February to 13 March: 20–21 February, 24–26 February, 2–5 March and 9–13 March.
  During February, UUK consulted its members on the possibility of making a new offer in the pensions dispute, responding to UCU's request that employers shoulder more of the burden of rising pensions contributions. 84% opposed the idea of making a new offer. Meanwhile, UCEA did not alter the offer it had made on 27 January. During the same period, the Times Higher Education reported restiveness among some UCU members about the desirability of further strikes.
caption: Group of people assembled for a teach-out in front of King's College London entrance on the Strand, 2 March 2020
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