Over 50 picketers attend University of Hertfordshire strikes

More than 50 strikers attended the 8am strikes at the de Havilland and College Lane Campuses. 

The staff joined 70,000 others across 150 universities throughout the UK as the University and College Union (UCU) prepares to go on strike on two more dates: tomorrow (November 25) and on Wednesday, November 30.    

University of Hertfordshire’s UCU rep, Katrina Navickas, who was at the de Havilland strikes this morning said: “It went really well. We got a really good sense of solidarity among everyone. We had some post graduate students all the way through and there were also some professors. 

“People going across to the business park, lorry drivers and bus drivers all showed their support. It was really positive.” 

The strikers are hoping that will bring management to the negotiating table. 

Katrina said: “We are asking for a pay increase of inflation plus two per cent; an end to casualised contracts and a serious negotiation about our workload and working conditions. So, we are hoping that this strike will at least get the management to think about what they can offer us."Labour Member, Stuart Brady attends UH strikes this morning. (Image: Peter Short)

As a current and longtime professor at the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Education at University of Hertfordshire, Katrina added: “We showed a lot of solidarity today and we are really pleased with the turnout, and we’d like to stress that we are not hurting students by going on strike.

"In fact we are striking for students because our working conditions are their learning conditions and they are increasingly being taught by stressed, overworked, and poorly paid lecturers. We are doing this so they can have better conditions in class."

This is the first time the UCU Hertfordshire strikers have come out on strike as a branch since 2017 and they were "really pleased to have hit the threshold set by the government", in terms of trade union legislations.