A message to our students about the upcoming strike, 17-19 November 2025
Dear students,
UCU Edinburgh will again be going on strike Monday 17th, Tuesday 18th and Wednesday 19th November as a result of University management’s refusal to commit to no compulsory redundancies. This means that striking staff will not be able to work and teach on those days.
Staff are going on strike as a result of University of Edinburgh management’s refusal to rule out mass redundancies or halt existing financially-driven restructuring. Despite being financially unjustified, staff cuts of £92 million have been proposed and are already underway, with the potential for 1800 jobs across the university to be cut. A huge number of casualised staff on hourly and fixed-term contracts have already lost their jobs through hidden redundancies.
Our union, UCU Edinburgh, is resisting management’s undermining of student learning conditions; provision of support services to all students, staff, and visitors; staff job security; staff wellbeing; and the future of quality higher education and research at the University.
We know that you recently had an email confirming the University’s “commitment to your academic and pastoral experience”. While we as staff love teaching and working with you, the recent cuts and changes in our university is making that more and more difficult, with increased workloads and class sizes, cuts in contact time with students, colleagues lost to ‘hidden redundancies’ (cuts to hourly paid staff work, and non-renewals of fixed term contracts for others) and ‘voluntary severance’ and ‘voluntary redundancies’ – and in the last month with compulsory redundancies on the horizon at the Institute for Academic Development (IAD).
We do our absolute best to give you a fantastic time at Edinburgh, but some claims in a recent email to you from University management do not square with our experience.
Some claims from the email:
Claim 1: “You will most likely be aware of the significant financial challenges that universities across the UK are currently facing, including here at the University of Edinburgh”.
Actually…
· The University makes an operational surplus: in FY 2023, it earned on average £12.3m more than it spent every month.
· The evidence of financial troubles offered by the Principal is misleading; he wants to compel us to reach unrealistic surplus targets.
· The University is wealthier than it has ever been: it has net assets of £2.7bn, up by £181m compared to 2022.
· Staff costs are not ballooning: in fact, the evidence available from the most recent financial reports suggests they have been declining as a proportion of expenditures over the three past years.
· A budget reflects priorities, and recent signs suggest UoE management’s priorities are out of step with the goals of a charity committed to teaching and research.
Claim 2: “We cannot be complacent about the financial challenges Edinburgh faces”.
Actually…
The current cash reserves for this year and the forecasted reserves of next year are perfectly in line with historical trends. The fatalistic predictions seem to come from “worst case scenario” assumptions, showing a financial future at UoE worse than during the global financial crash.
Claim 3: “We do not intend to diminish the student experience, or your opportunities while at Edinburgh”.
Actually…
Management’s vision of students is one of calculative subjects as well as creatures of enjoyment – in short, consumers. They dream of them as wealthy kids, concerned with getting the degree title, the social networks and the cultural habitus that will yield them VIP careers and maximum earnings. They accordingly see the university as a degree-awarding, student experience and en-suite accommodation provider, competing with other such providers on the global higher education market. This is quite a contrast from the majority of the students we interact with, who are inquisitive, keen to develop critical thinking, asking for more interaction with academic staff, politically active and challenging the university on its endless dithering on divestment from companies supporting the Israeli genocide in Gaza; and on the other hand disciplined by management, worried and stressed, especially about finance and accommodation, and often having to work to support their studies in an increasingly expensive city.
As you will be aware, your education is already affected due to the cuts: courses have been cancelled, contact hours decreased for many, larger class sizes, longer response times, and less detailed assignment feedback.
Claim 4: “You may be concerned when some staff choose to leave the University voluntarily”
Future tense? No. This is an ongoing reality. Some staff already have accepted ‘voluntary severance’; others are now under pressure to accept ‘voluntary redundancy’ to avoid compulsory redundancy. In addition to the hidden redundancies affecting us all, and the impending restructure of IAD, it is clear that redundancies are ALREADY HAPPENING across the university.
UCU estimates that 15,000 staff across the UK will lose their jobs in the coming year. Up to 2,000 of these staff currently work here in Edinburgh. The scale of job cuts proposed by our senior management would make our university single-handedly responsible for more than 10% of estimated job losses nationwide.
Claim 5: “Our priority remains that you are taught by inspiring lecturers [and] receive the highest quality teaching”
Every single member of staff teaching you or supporting your studies RIGHT NOW is working under radical uncertainty: how much longer they will keep their job?
50% of *all* academic staff at Edinburgh are on precarious fixed-term contracts, renewed annually (or not — so-called ‘hidden’ redundancies have already affected casualized staff first. Many fixed-term teaching contracts were not renewed for 2025-26: e.g., fewer tutors for small-group classes or labs = larger classes or no small-groupwork). More than 42% of staff on casual contracts struggle to pay household bills. Casualised staff have no job security + casualization of teaching provision directly affects students’ learning conditions!
Overwork is endemic. On average, academic staff work 51.3 FTE hours per week to complete essential tasks other than teaching (teaching prep, marking, office hours, admin), equal to 2 UNPAID DAYS EVERY WEEK. Staff on fractional contracts may work 2-3x the hours they are paid for each week to complete essential tasks. (See UCU's 2021 workload survey June 2022)
No staff want to go on strike, but we have no other choice than going on strike to protect our jobs as well as students’ learning conditions. It saddens us not to be able to teach, but unfortunately, unless management reconsiders their position and engages in meaningful talks with our union, the strike will go ahead.
There will be several staff-student activities during the strike - check the UCU Edinburgh website for updates and get involved with the Staff-Student-Solidarity Network (SSSN).
Staff and students are what make the university. The university cannot function without us.
HOW CAN STUDENTS SHOW SUPPORT?
Don’t cross picket lines! You’re welcome to join them: details will be shared daily on Instagram @ucuedinburgh
Follow the Student Staff Solidarity Network on Instagram(@sssn_edi); attend their event on Wednesday 12 November + their ‘teach-out’ events during Week 10 (tbc).
Complain that classes are cancelled! Contact university management (principal@ed.ac.uk) & ask them to resolve the dispute.
Tell friends and family what’s happening! Right-media is not kind to unionized workers (or higher education!). Share the realities.
For more information, check out the FAQ.
