2018–2020 Kazakh protests
The 2018–2020 Kazakh protests were a series of civil protests that took place in cities across Kazakhstan, commencing in May 2018 and gaining a traction after a fire in Nur-Sultan (formerly named Astana) killed five children in February 2019. Some commentators attribute President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev's decision to dismiss the government of Prime Minister Bakhytzhan Sagintayev later that month in part to the protests. Nazarbayev later himself resigned on 19 March 2019 and was replaced as president by Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the speaker of the upper house of parliament. Nazarbayev continued to hold several political positions. Tokayev called a snap election, the 2019 Kazakh presidential election, which saw him elected with over 70% of the vote. Both the run-up to and the aftermath of the election saw further protests.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests
Protests continued to be reported in the rest of the year, including protests marking Independence Day in Nur-Sultan and Almaty on 16 December. Public rallies that have not been permitted by the government are illegal in Kazakhstan, although Tokayev has stated he intends to liberalize the laws governing public protests.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests
A public poll released in October suggested that a plurality of Kazakhs, 43%, viewed public demonstrations positively, with 16% expressing a negative view and another 41% not expressing an opinion.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Background
Protest movements in Kazakhstan include the December 1986 Jeltoqsan protests while Kazakhstan was part of the Soviet Union and the December 2011 Zhanaozen massacre in which 14 protesters were killed. In April and May 2016, Kazakhs protested in relation to changes in the law in relation to land ownership. Two hundred activists and protesters were arrested.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Party and civil society groups
Groups associated with the protests include an illegal political party, Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (QDT), the civil rights organisation Oyan, Qazaqstan (Wake up, Kazakhstan), Respublika, Erkindik Kanaty and a mother's association created following the protests against the February fire.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2018
QDT leader Mukhtar Ablyazov called for rallies to be held on 10 May 2018 to coincide with the visit to Kazakhstan of the official mission of the European Parliament which was to assess how the country is fulfilling its obligations to respect human rights. Unauthorized protests took place that day in the cities of Astana, Almaty, Oral, Aktobe, Atyrau, Semey and Shymkent where the participants demanded the release and an end of torture of political prisoners. According to observers and participants, the number of police officers in Almaty and Astana was comparable to the number of participants in the protests. An estimated of 50 people were detained in Almaty while the news agency Present Time put an estimate of 80. The Ministry of Internal Affairs did not give the exact number of those detained.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2018
Another rally was set to take place in 23 June by the QDT. A video published on YouTube on 12 June named "Teachers go to Ablyazov's rally" was received condemnation by the Prosecutor General's Office which stated that the "content of the videos does not correspond to reality and is aimed at inciting social hatred and enmity in Kazakhstani society."


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2018
The Prosecutor General's Office also accused of Ablyazov hiring professional actors and models with Asian appearance in videos whom were not Kazakhstani citizens–but in fact–Kyiv residents and warned that Kazakhstanis willing to participate in an unsanctioned rallies would violate the provisions of the law "On the Procedure for Organizing and Conducting Peaceful Assemblies, Rallies, Processions, Pickets and Demonstrations" and that participants would face up 15 days of arrest. On the day of protests, dozens of people were detained in cities of Almaty, Astana, and Shymkent of which none of them expressed any demands nor did not hold banners in their hands.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2018
On 16–17 December, detentions took place in Kazakhstan such as in Almaty where activists attempted to honor the memory of the victims of Zhanaozen massacre and Jeltoqsan in the Republic Square. The police department of the Bostandyq District commented on situation saying that all detainees after 1 PM were all released.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2019, February protests
On 4 February 2019, five sisters were killed by a house fire in Astana (later, Nur-Sultan) that broke out at night, while both their parents were working night shifts. The fire sparked a controversy on social media and led to some small-scale protests. Paul Stronski of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace wrote:


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2019, February protests
The house fire, however, epitomizes many of the country’s social problems, as well as the widening gap between the government and the governed. Despite the frigid climate of northern Kazakhstan, this family lived in a new part of town that that had yet to have city gas pipes installed, leaving them no option but to turn on the stove to keep their children warm. But, like many things in the country, that stove apparently did not meet safety standards. Citizens now often blame the country’s pervasive culture of corruption and wasteful spending for such horrific deaths. This anger about lax oversight – of the country’s financial resources, of its rapid urbanization, and of its poor – exposes a lack of public confidence in state structures.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2019, February protests
By 15 February, the outrage had led to protests reported as numbering in the hundreds. A protest in Nur-Sultan at a public event where Mayor Bakhyt Sultanov was speaking resulted in him being shouted off the stage.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2019, February protests
On 21 February, President Nursultan Nazarbayev issued a statement announcing he had dismissed the government led by Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev. The Diplomat reported: "Many reports (such as those in RFE/RL and Eurasianet) regarding Nazarbayev's decision point squarely to recent protests as a triggering factor" for the government's dismissal. On 19 March, Nazarbayev unexpectedly resigned as president, leading to the appointment of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the speaker of the upper house of parliament, as the new President of Kazakhstan. Nazarbayev retained his status in several powerful positions, such as being Chairman of the Security Council and Chairman of the ruling party Nur Otan and in October 2019 gained the right to veto appointments of most ministers, of provincial governors and of some other senior officials.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2019, 2019 presidential election
Protests broke out in the cities of Nur-Sultan and Almaty on 9 June 2019. The protest itself was organized by a banned opposition group the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan which is led by a former, now-exiled Kazakh banker Mukhtar Ablyazov. The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that in Nur-Sultan, the protesters used throwing stones, objects that came to hand, and used pepper spray, which caused three police officers to be injured.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2019, 2019 presidential election
According to official reports, the units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the police and the National Guard took measures to ensure public safety and law and order, the squares and streets were cleared of protesters by dispersal and detentions. According to the statement of the First Deputy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Marat Kojaev, on 9 June, during the protests, about 500 people were detained among which were journalists.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2019, 2019 presidential election
On 10 June, at an unauthorized protest, Rinat Zaitov, a Kazakh musician and poet who was a supporter of Amirjan Qosanov, was detained in Almaty, where his speech was filmed by Channel 31, who also recorded his arrest on video. Soon after the legal interview, Zaitov was allowed to go home. However, late in the evening, in front of the building of the police department, citizens gathered in search of Zaitov and demanded his release. After they were informed that Zaitov was at home, they did not want to leave.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2019, 2019 presidential election
At the request of law enforcement agencies, Zaitov was taken from home at night to the gathering place of citizens, where he urged people not to violate the law by complying with the legal requirements of law enforcement officers. Zaitov asked the crowd to go home and not succumb to the provocations. The remaining protesters then held a march on Töle Bi Street which was accompanied by drivers honking their horns, causing an overflow in traffic. In response to the situation, law enforcement including the riot police closed off the street and conducted arrests.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2019, 2019 presidential election
A Tengrinews journalist Shoqan Alhabaev was knocked to the ground and hit several times by the officers. Other protesters, fleeing the pursuing police, hid in residential areas. According to the adviser of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Nurdilda Oraz, about 200 people were detained, in which 150 of them were brought to justice. President-elect Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called on the protesters to dialogue.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2019, 2019 presidential election
By 18 June, there were reports of the detainees of about 4,000 people in all cities of Kazakhstan. The operator of the online news Vlast.kz Yekaterina Suvorova, the journalist of Azattyq Pyotr Trotsenko and political scientist Dimash Aljanov, who worked at the NGO Center for Legal Policy Research, were arrested. British journalist Chris Rickleton, who worked for Agence France-Presse, said on Twitter that he was also detained. Rickleton and his colleague spent two hours at the local police department before Deputy Foreign Minister Roman Vasilenko intervened. He called the journalists and apologized, after which they were released.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2019, August–December
Protestors held a march calling for constitutional reform on 30 August. None were detained.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2019, August–December
On 21 September, people in Almaty and Nur-Sultan protested against the economic role of China in Kazakhstan, with banner slogans including "Let's not give way to Chinese expansion" and an anti-Nazarbayev slogan "The old man is the enemy" and called for political prisoners to be released. Security forces detained 57 protesters.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2019, August–December
Ablyazov and the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan initiated further protests in both Nur-Sultan and Almaty in October 2019, which police said resulted in 26 people being arrested.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2019, August–December
Protests took place in Nur-Sultan and Almaty on 9 November calling for "freedom for political prisoners, a parliamentary republic, and fair elections", coordinated by Respublika and Oyan, Qazaqstan.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2019, August–December
Another round of protests in both cities, involving "up to 100 anti-government protesters" was held on 16 December, timed to mark Independence Day. Reuters reported that "dozens" of protesters were taken into custody. The protest was held to commensurate the victims of Jeltoqsan and Zhanaozen massacre.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2020, January–February protests
Around 50 female protesters gathered in front of the Labour and Social Protection Ministry on 13 January demanding an increase in financial support to single mothers, mothers taking care of handicapped children, and those with low incomes. The protesters were invited to the building by the representative of akim's office, Elnur Beisenbaev. The women refused after the journalists were not allowed to accompany them. The women then marched to the presidential administration but were stopped by the police.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2020, January–February protests
On 16–17 January, protests were held by car owners in different cities, protesting the high cost of fees to register the vehicles imported from other countries in the EEU. The fees are around the same price as the cars themselves. The law had been in effect for more than year.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2020, January–February protests
On 22 February, multiple protests were held across the country. Two of them were held in Almaty. The first one was organized by the Democratic Party of Kazakhstan (QDP), led by Janbolat Mamai, who was detained by the police earlier on Friday night and faced 3 days of detention. Another one was held later that same day by the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (QDT). Around 200 protesters were detained.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2020, January–February protests
On 25 February, a demonstration was held in front of the Interior Ministry building in Nur-Sultan over the death of Kazakh political activist Dulat Agadil while he was held in a detention center. According to the Internal Affairs Minister Erlan Turgymbaev, Agadil's death was caused by "heart problems". The protesters demanded a detailed information about his death as well as the officials to come out of the building to speak to them. After receiving no response, the activists then blocked a street which resulted in police violently detaining the protesters into the police buses.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2020, January–February protests
On 27 February, the day of Agadil's funeral, a protest was held in front of the Astana Concert Hall in Nur-Sultan, to demand the creation of an independent commission including the participation of civil society representatives to investigate Agadil's death. The police dispersed the rally, and loaded about 20 people into police buses. In Almaty, 80 people gathered in Republic Square to mourn Agadil.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2020, January–February protests
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev made a public statement on Agadil's death in an interview to Informburo.kz on 29 February saying that "given the great public outcry, I carefully studied this case. I can say with confidence that, unfortunately, the Agadil activist died as a result of heart failure. To say otherwise is to go against the truth."


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2020, January–February protests
Calls for protests to be held on 1 March 2020 were met with blocked access to main city squares and detainment dozens of people. In Almaty, dozens of protesters reached the Republic Square in front of the Äkimat building until being arrested by the police who every corner of the neighborhood around the building. Members of the Oyan Qazaqstan were detained at a coffee shop, where around 30 of them, including three journalists, were whisked away into police vans.


2018–2020 Kazakh protests, Chronology, 2020, January–February protests
Other members of Oyan and as well as the opposition groups were reported to have been stopped at their doorsteps as they left their homes. According to the Internal Affairs Minister Erlan Turgymbaev, around 80 citizens were detained of which only four were brought to justice while the rest were released.


2018–2020 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Continental Cup
The 2018–2020 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Continental Cup were a beach volleyball double-gender event. NORCEA is the North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation. The winners of the event qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics.


2018–2020 Serbian protests
In late 2018, a series of largely peaceful protests (called Stop Bloody Shirts, Serbian: Стоп крвавим кошуљама, romanized: Stop krvavim košuljama; or One of Five Million, 1 of 5 Million, #1of5million, Serbian: Један од пет милиона, 1 од 5 милиона, #1од5милиона, romanized: Jedan od pet miliona, 1 od 5 miliona, #1od5miliona) over the rise of political violence and against the authoritarian rule of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and his governing Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) began to take place in the Serbian capital of Belgrade, soon spreading to cities across the country, as well as in cities with the Serbian diaspora. The demonstrations have lasted more than a year and they become the most prolonged mass anti-government demonstrations in Serbia since the time of the Bulldozer Revolution and some of the longest-running in Europe.


2018–2020 Serbian protests
The protests were precipitated by an assault on an opposition non-parliamentary politician Borko Stefanović in November 2018. The protests were also triggered by many scandals of ruling party members, such as sexual harassment at work, assaults on investigative journalists, a plagiarism scandal, the arrest of whistleblower who uncovered the arms trade that allegedly ended up in the hands of ISIS fighters in Yemen, as well as the smear campaign and the unsolved murder of Kosovo Serb opposition leader Oliver Ivanović.


2018–2020 Serbian protests
Parallel to the protests, Vučić launched a campaign "Future of Serbia", organizing rallies in all districts of Serbia, while the pro-government media have constantly demonized protesters and opposition leaders, linking them to fascism as well, spreading misinformation to their readers. Twitter announced that they shut down the network of 8,500 spam accounts that wrote 43 million tweets — acted in concert to cheerlead for president Vučić and his party and attack his opponent, including those involved in the protests.


2018–2020 Serbian protests
The non-partisan expert group formulated the demands of the protests, concluded there were no conditions for free and fair elections, and drafted a comprehensive document with demands and recommendations. The protest resulted in inter-party European Parliament-mediated negotiations, but the largest opposition parties announced a boycott of the coming elections due to lack of press freedom and fair electoral conditions. Since February 2020, protests have continued with more significant involvement of opposition parties with key messages to boycott the election.


2018–2020 Serbian protests
Protests were suspended in March 2020 over the coronavirus pandemic. Some further and more sporadic gatherings, with heterogeneous demands started in April 2020. Many opposition parties boycotted the elections in June, while less than half the electorate turned out and ruling parties won more than two-thirds of the votes.


2018–2020 Serbian protests, Background
Since the 2000 mass unrests that ended Milošević's rule, major opposition protests had been relatively rare in Serbia. The protests commencing in 2018 have been the third series of such mass demonstrations in three years. The previous series of protests took place in 2017 and were also directed at Vučić and his party, denouncing SNS's perceived domination of the media and voicing concern regarding claims of voter intimidation. The 2016 protests were similarly in part also directed against Vučić.


2018–2020 Serbian protests, Background
Vučić became Prime Minister after a snap election was called in 2014. He was a longtime member of the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party, leading to fears that he would "succumb to the temptations of authoritarianism" after his accession to the premiership in 2014. As head of SNS, Vučić however tended to embrace more politically moderate conservative populist and pro-European values, steering government policy toward an eventual entry into the European Union while also maintaining close ties with Russia and China.


2018–2020 Serbian protests, Background
However, particularly since being elected President in 2017, Vučić had "amassed more power, silenced the press, and undermined opposition", displaying increasingly authoritarian tendencies. Furthermore, Serbia's press freedom rankings decreased sharply during Vučić's rule, with the European parliament admonishing the government to "improve the situation regarding freedom of expression and freedom of the media". Serbia is ranked 90th out of 180 countries in the 2019 Press Freedom Index report compiled by Reporters Without Borders, declining its ranking by fourteen if compared to 2018 and 24 places if compared to 2017.


2018–2020 Serbian protests, Background
In 2018, International Research & Exchanges Board described the situation in the media in Serbia as the worst in recent history, and that Media Sustainability Index dropped because the most polarized media in almost 20 years, an increase in fake news and editorial pressure on media. Freedom House reported that Serbia's status declined from Free to Partly Free due to deterioration in the conduct of elections, continued attempts by the government and allied media outlets to undermine independent journalists through legal harassment and smear campaigns, and Vučić's accumulation of executive powers that conflict with his constitutional role.


2018–2020 Serbian protests, Background
Observers have described Vučić's rule as authoritarian or autocratic. Data from the Transparency International showed that a significant increase in perceived corruption was seen exactly from 2012, when Vučić came into power. According to research conducted by the Centre for Investigative Journalism, the battle against corruption in practice comes down to media announcements and arrests in front of cameras.


2018–2020 Serbian protests, Background
During 2017, Oliver Ivanović, Kosovo Serb opposition politician, was the target of a smear campaign led by Serb List, Serbian Progressive Party and pro-government Serbian media prior local elections. In July 2017, his car was burned down by unknown perpetrators. On 16 January 2018, Ivanović was shot in a drive-by shooting, while entering his office in North Mitrovica.


2018–2020 Serbian protests, Background
The protests were prompted by an assault on Borko Stefanović, one of the leaders of the strongest opposition coalition Alliance for Serbia. Stefanović was attacked by multiple assailants wielding steel rods on 23 November 2018. Stefanović, speaking to a New York Times reporter, said he was struck in the head from behind and knocked unconscious, after which the attackers continued battering him with strikes to the head, leading him to conclude the attack was in fact a failed assassination attempt. A day after the attack, Stefanović displayed his bloodied shirt from the night of the attack at a press conference.


2018–2020 Serbian protests, Background
The image later became a symbol of the protests, with protesters carrying signs and rallying under the slogan "No More Bloody Shirts" / "Stop the Bloody Shirts". Following the assault, members of the opposition asserted that the attackers (multiple suspects were arrested shortly thereafter but denied any involvement) had ties to the ruling party, or that the assault was a result of hateful and vitriolic rhetoric used by the government against its opponents.


2018–2020 Serbian protests, Background
On 8 December, thousands of protesters had rallied in downtown Belgrade to voice concern about the incident while also condemning the government.


2018–2020 Serbian protests, Background
On 11 December, the house of investigative journalist Milan Jovanović was shot up and bombarded with Molotov cocktails. The attack on the journalist (who "narrowly escaped") further fueled the protests. Jovanović believes that the attack was related to his reporting on corruption in the municipality.


2018–2020 Serbian protests, Background
In Belgrade, the crowds have regularly numbered over 10,000, making them the largest in two decades. Protests have taken place on every consecutive Saturday since the initial rally.


2018–2020 Serbian protests, Background
The protests have been organised by various students and activists, along with the Alliance for Serbia, a loose alliance of various opposition parties and organisations. Prominent leaders of the protests have included actor Branislav Trifunović, and Jelena Anasonović, a political science student. Boško Obradović, a hard-right opposition politician, has also emerged as a leading figure of the protests. The political background of protesters and organizers is diverse, with both far-left, liberal, moderate, and far-right nationalist factions voicing opposition to the government. The protests are formally headed by the group Protest Against Dictatorship which also organised similar protests in 2016.


2018–2020 Serbian protests, Background
The protests have been non-partisan in nature (despite opposition parties providing some logistical support), but some protesters and supporters have voiced consternation over the inefficacy of the political opposition, expressing concern that without a viable electoral outlet, the momentum of the protests will simply fizzle out. Notably, the magazine Foreign Policy argued that demonstrations against Vucic’s authoritarian government won’t achieve anything until the opposition can present a coherent alternative. This is a similar concern voiced by experts who argue that Vucic's opposition is too fragmented and its leaders too different to work in unison against Vucic. The survey conducted among the protesters showed that about half of the protesters do not support any political party, but to protest against the suppression of media freedom and corruption. The vast majority of protesters (77%) were made by highly educated citizens and students.


2018–2020 Serbian protests, Background, Demands
The protesters have called for greater press freedom, greater political freedom and plurality, electoral reform, new elections, and more government transparency, and condemned what they perceive as Vučić's increasingly authoritarian tendencies (with manifestations including "hate speech" against opponents, suppression of dissenting voices, and mounting control over the country's media), while also accusing him of creating a climate of fear and violence, and the party he heads of being corrupt. Some protesters and prominent figures also called for Vučić's resignation.


2018–2020 Serbian protests, Timeline, Later gatherings
Although there have been some sporadic gatherings since then, regular Saturday protests have not been re-established, even though the state of emergency was abolished in early May.


2018–2020 Serbian protests, Timeline, August 2020
They've also supported the "United Against Covid" petition of over 2,900 Serbian doctors who demanded the resignation of the COVID Crisis Team for their incompetence and allowing themselves to make decisions based on political influence from the ruling party.


2018–2020 Serbian protests, Government response
Responding to the protests, Vučić said that he would not compromise with the protesters "even if there were 5 million people in the street" (prompting protesters to adopt the slogan "One of Five Million" ("#1od5miliona")) but saying he would be willing to call a snap election. Both Vučić and his Serbian Progressive Party maintain popularity of over 50% in spite of the protests, and opposition leaders have responded to Vučić's suggestions of an early election by committing to a boycott due to what they describe as "unfair conditions.


2018–2020 Serbian protests, Government response
One of the political opposition leaders justified the boycott plans by saying that no election can be considered legitimate until "normal conditions for elections and living are created". Instead, many of them have called for the institution of a technocratic transitional government which would serve for a period of 1 year after which elections would be held.


2018–2020 Serbian protests, Government response
In an interview in late December, Vučić declared he was ready to discuss the protesters' demands, saying "I am ready to look at what causes dissent of the people".


2018–2020 Serbian protests, Government response
In late January, Vučić announced the arrest a mayor (and a member of Vučić's SNS party) in connection to the attack on the journalist's home, saying "A party membership card will not save anyone from responsibility. Journalists will be protected no matter for whom they work for [sic] ... No one will be protected because of being a politician" while also promising a fiercer fight against political violence and cronyism, including legislative actions.


2018–2020 Serbian protests, Government response
After several months of protests, President Vučić and the ruling party members have labelled protesters "fascists, hooligans and thieves" and accuse them of violence. Goran Vesić, Belgrade’s Deputy Mayor, linked the protests to the "celebration of the day that Adolf Hitler invaded Belgrade", as well as alleged support by Ramush Haradinaj, Prime Minister of Kosovo whom Serbia charges of war crimes, with the ultimate goal of overthrowing Aleksandar Vučić.


2018–2020 Serbian protests, Government response, Putin visit
On 17 January 2019, President Vučić received visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin in a "lavish welcome" and a showing of friendship and mutual support. Tens of thousands of attendants were bused to Belgrade from across Serbia for an event that critics labelled a "popularity stunt" and a purposeful distraction from the protests. Many of those in the cheering crowd of 100,000 were said to have been "offered incentives to attend, including five liters of milk", while others were said to have been threatened with firing by bosses should they choose not to attend, according to media reports. It was also speculated that the reception was an attempt by Vučić to placate and shore up support of conservative pro-Russian sections of the population who are concerned about the pro-European tendencies of the President and his government.


2018–2020 Serbian protests, Government response, Putin visit
The ceremony was staged at the same location where, just a day prior, tens of thousands of protesters marched for a candlelight vigil to honour the death of Oliver Ivanović, a moderate Serb politician that was assassinated in broad daylight in Kosovo in 2018. The vigil was organised by the same groups that were spearheading the ongoing anti-Vučić protests; the unsolved murder had become a "rallying point" for the protesters, signifying the repressive and sometimes violent political atmosphere of the region.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes
The University and College Union (UCU), 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".


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes
In 2018, the dispute concerned proposed changes to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS). In 2019–20, strike action on USS continued, and action on a parallel dispute over pay equality, workload, casualisation, and pay levels was added.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes
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 (UUK). 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. The strikes coincided with an exceptional level of snow and ice from the 2018 British Isles cold wave which added further disruption to education.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes
As of 28 March 2018, more than a million students were estimated to have been affected, with 126,000 students signing petitions calling for fee refunds. Students also occupied campus buildings in support of striking staff at more than a dozen universities.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes
From 25 November to 4 December 2019, and on fourteen days between 20 February and 13 March 2020, UCU undertook further strikes, partly in a continuation of the pensions dispute which triggered the strikes in 2018, and partly in a parallel dispute over pay equality, workload, casualisation, and pay levels. In this second dispute, universities were represented by the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA).


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes
During the period covered by this article, strikes also took place on local disputes at individual universities, covered in the table of all strike action below.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Background to the strikes
The United Kingdom has 130 universities. Staff at 68 universities founded before 1992 are members of the USS pension scheme. (Most academic staff at institutions which became universities after 1992 are members of the Teachers' Pension Scheme, which is unaffected by this dispute.) In January 2018, UCU members at 61 universities (initially) balloted in favour of action over the proposed pension changes.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Background to the strikes
As reporting, both in the UK and abroad, noted, the strikes took place in the context of other tensions over higher education and pension provision in the UK, as follows.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Background to the strikes, Pensions, The USS pension scheme
The USS scheme was created in 1974 to provide sector-wide pensions for UK university staff (focusing on academic staff). Its terms changed little until 2011, when major reforms were implemented, followed by further changes in 2014–15. These changes left scheme members markedly worse off: one academic study concluded that the reduced wealth of post-2011 entrants was equivalent to an 11% drop in their total compensation or a 13% drop in their salaries.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Prior to industrial action
In July 2017, USS reported a technical deficit (i.e. a gap between the fund's assets and its liabilities) of £17.5 billion, reported as the largest such shortfall in the UK at that time. USS's deficit evaluation was based on suggestions that although the fund's assets had grown (reaching £60 billion, a one-fifth increase on the previous year), its liabilities had also grown (reaching £78 billion, a one-third increase over the previous year). Following negotiations regarding the calculation of the deficit, the USS Joint Negotiating Committee accepted a technical deficit of £6.1 billion in November 2017.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Prior to industrial action
The key change proposed by UUK was to close USS's defined benefit scheme (possibly temporarily), replacing it with a defined contribution scheme.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Prior to industrial action
Specifically, the USS Joint Negotiating Committee therefore made the following proposals, to be introduced after 1 April 2019:


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Prior to industrial action
The closure of defined benefits was presented as a red line by UCU, which argued in favour of finding ways to sustain defined benefits, or to introduce a collective defined contribution scheme (the primary legislation for which was introduced in the UK in 2015, but which had not as of March 2018 been advanced to secondary legislation).


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Prior to industrial action, Arguments for the changes
USS argued that market conditions had simply proven less favourable than previous valuations had assumed, with the chief executive, Bill Galvin, arguing that 'the unavoidable fact is that market conditions have changed since 2014. Real interest rates have fallen since 2014, relative to inflation, and asset prices have soared ... We are now having to pay more – to get less in return – than we expected in the past'. Moreover, USS emphasised that its room for manoeuvre was constrained by the Pensions Regulator.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Prior to industrial action, Arguments for the changes
In theory, the deficit could have been resolved through higher contribution rates. However, UUK argued that defined benefit schemes were becoming prohibitively expensive. They said they had a legal duty to put in place a credible plan to reduce the deficit by the summer of 2018. Otherwise, pension contributions from employers and staff would have to sharply increase, potentially resulting in redundancies and cuts to other areas of teaching, research and student support. UUK stated the defined contributions proposal would compare well with private-sector competitors, with employer contributions double the private sector average.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Prior to industrial action, Arguments for the changes
USS had a legal responsibility to satisfy the UK pensions regulator that the scheme was sound, and the regulator was requiring change.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Prior to industrial action, Arguments against the changes
UCU stated that UUK's proposal would "leave a typical lecturer almost £10,000 a year worse off in retirement than under the current set-up", with younger staff the worst affected, with some losing up to half their anticipated pensions.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Prior to industrial action, Arguments against the changes
Critics of the changes offered the following main arguments against implementing the changes to the scheme promoted by UUK.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, UCU ballots for industrial action (29 January 2018)
On 29 January, UCU announced that 88% of UCU members had voted to back strike action and 93% backed action short of a strike. The turnout was 58%, meeting the 50% minimum set by the Trade Union Act 2016.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, UCU ballots for industrial action (29 January 2018)
Shortly after, on 13 February, the trade union UNISON, many of whose members in the Higher Education sector were also USS members, began a consultative ballot on striking alongside UCU. On 20 February, UNISON wrote to vice-chancellors in support of UCU's position.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Strike action commences (23 February 2018) and new negotiations follow
Strikes commenced on 23 February, whereupon UUK agreed to meet UCU for further negotiations on 27 February. Leaked emails suggested they would not negotiate on UCU's key issue, retaining defined benefits. The meeting led to an agreement to undergo conciliation through Acas, the UK's national industrial dispute conciliation body. UCU tabled and published a set of proposals which it argued was consistent with the majority of UUK members' positions in USS's earlier consultation, but strikes were not called off.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Strike action commences (23 February 2018) and new negotiations follow
A spokesperson for Universities UK said: "Both sides are currently engaged in serious and constructive talks at Acas. We are committed to seeking a viable, affordable and mutually acceptable solution to the current challenges facing USS pensions."


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, UCU's proposal (27 February 2018)
UCU tabled an alternative proposal at the first round of talks with UUK which UCU stated would involve universities accepting some increased risk and small increased contributions from employers and scheme members. UUK's response was that they would need time to cost the union's proposal which it feared would require "very substantial increases in contributions". However, some vice-chancellors voiced support for UCU's plan.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, UCU's proposal (27 February 2018)
The parties held inconclusive talks on 5 March, scheduling the next talks for 7 March. However, a bizarre Twitter spasm from UUK on the night of 5 March insisted that the group was available for talks on 6 March, and this led to talks at noon on 6 March. Talks continued on 7 March, inconclusively. On 8 March, UCU's Higher Education Committee agreed that it would call further strikes if necessary after the Easter vacation, between April and June.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Joint UUK and UCU proposal (12 March 2018)
On the evening of Monday 12 March UCU and UUK issued a joint agreement, arrived at through ACAS, to be put to their respective members.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Joint UUK and UCU proposal (12 March 2018)
The agreement was specifically for a three-year "transitional benefit arrangement" lasting from 1 April 2019, maintaining defined benefits up to a salary threshold of £42,000, reducing the accrual rate to 1/85, but raising contributions to 19.3% of salaries for employers and 8.7% for members. The next valuation was to be informed by an "independent expert group", 'aiming to promote greater transparency and understanding' of the methodologies, assumptions, and viability of the scheme. Indexation and revaluation was to be measured using CPI and capped at up to 2.5% p.a.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Joint UUK and UCU proposal (12 March 2018)
(meaning that if inflation, measured by CPI, rose above 2.5%, the pension would lose value in real terms). UCU was to suspend industrial action and "encourage" branches to reschedule any classes disrupted by the strike. The agreement stated that "there is commitment between both sides to engage in meaningful discussions as soon as possible to explore risk sharing alternatives for the future from 2020, in particular Collective Defined Contributions".


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Joint UUK and UCU proposal (12 March 2018)
Vice-chancellors were to inform UUK whether they would back this deal by the end of day on Wednesday 14 March while UCU representatives consulted with their members on whether to reject the deal or not the next day.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Acas agreement withdrawn by UCU (13 March 2018)
Local branch meetings were held on Tuesday 13 March to consider the ACAS agreement. These meetings informed a meeting of elected and branch representatives the same day. This agreement was rejected by UCU's membership on the grounds that it failed to address members' concerns. Many UCU members used the Twitter hashtag #NoCapitulation to express their disapproval of the agreement, helping to co-ordinate a strong response to the proposals.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Acas agreement withdrawn by UCU (13 March 2018)
UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said that preparations for strikes during the exam period would be made, while urgently seeking further talks.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Acas agreement withdrawn by UCU (13 March 2018)
It is hugely disappointing that students' education will be further disrupted through continued strike action. We have engaged extensively with UCU negotiators to find a mutually acceptable way forward.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Acas agreement withdrawn by UCU (13 March 2018)
In some places, the decision was followed the next day by rallies.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Developments 14–23 March 2018
As of 14 March, UUK's consultation with its members remained ongoing.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Developments 14–23 March 2018
A statutory 64-day consultation by USS on pension changes had been due to commence on 19 March, but as of 15 March, USS were declaring an unspecified delay to the commencement of consultations.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Developments 14–23 March 2018
On 16 March, UCU called on members employed as external examiners to resign until the dispute was resolved. By 23 March over 600 resignations had occurred.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Developments 14–23 March 2018
On 18 March, UUK announced that it would convene an "independent panel", featuring an independent chair and involving academics and pension professionals, to "consider issues of methodology, assumptions and monitoring, aiming to promote greater transparency and understanding of the USS valuation". The panel would invite UCU "to play a full role in providing evidence to the panel" and would also liaise with USS and the pensions regulator. UCU's response was that "UCU will of course look at any proposals UUK makes but our members have made it quite clear that what is needed is a much improved offer".


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Developments 14–23 March 2018
On 22 March, UCU sanctioned fourteen further strike days to fall in the April to June 2018 exam period should the talks fail to come to a resolution.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Developments 14–23 March 2018
On 23 March, UNISON announced that its consultative ballot of its USS members had returned 91% support for industrial action, and that it would begin a formal ballot for strike action in April.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, UUK makes a new offer (23 March 2018)
On 23 March, UCU announced a new offer from UUK. This proposed the creation of a formal "Joint Expert Panel" to reconsider how valuations should be undertaken, leaving open the possibility of maintaining the status quo not only for the statutory period up to April 2019, but possibly beyond. The panel would


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, UUK makes a new offer (23 March 2018)
take into account the unique nature of the HE sector, inter-generational fairness and equality considerations, the need to strike a fair balance between ensuring stability and risk. Recognising that staff highly value Defined Benefit provision, the work of the group will reflect the clear wish of staff to have a guaranteed pension comparable with current provision whilst meeting the affordability challenges for all parties, within the current regulatory framework.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, UUK makes a new offer (23 March 2018)
The Financial Times noted that this would be "a far more comprehensive review of the current structure and valuation of the Universities Superannuation Scheme" than previously considered, but also noted that "the new agreement avoids any mention of increases in contributions by either employers or employees to plug the hole in the scheme". UCU was due to consult members' representatives at a formal meeting on 28 March.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, UUK makes a new offer (23 March 2018)
Meanwhile, on 26 March, the UK's Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff began its round of negotiations for pay in the sector for 2018/19, with unions demanding a large pay uplift.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, New strike dates announced as UCU members balloted on proposal (28 March 2018)
UCU announced that members would be electronically balloted on the new offer in April to decide on the proposal for the Joint Expert Panel. UUK pledged to maintain the current contributions and retirement benefits until at least April 2019 while the review by the panel of experts took place.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, New strike dates announced as UCU members balloted on proposal (28 March 2018)
At the same time, UCU gave formal notice of a five-day strike action, aimed at disrupting the exams and assessments period, at some universities for 16 to 20 April 2018, potentially to be called off if there was progress in the negotiations. 13 universities including Manchester, Cardiff, Oxford, St Andrews, Leeds and Southampton would be affected by this next round of strikes with the prospect of industrial action at the other 52 universities to take place later in April and continuing into July if no agreement was reached. However, staff would not take part in additional strike action if UCU members vote to accept the UUK proposal.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, New strike dates announced as UCU members balloted on proposal (28 March 2018)
As of 28 March, nearly 700 external examiners had recorded their resignations in a UCU document. The Guardian reported that "students at the end of their courses could find themselves unable to graduate if crucial exams cannot be invigilated, marked or assessed" as a worst-case scenario.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, New strike dates announced as UCU members balloted on proposal (28 March 2018)
Debate followed among UCU members as to whether to accept the proposals or not. As of 4 April, some branches had decided to recommend that their members reject the proposals as they stood, and prominent discontent with the proposals continued to be registered in the run-up to the ballot closing.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, UCU accepts UUK proposal (13 April 2018) and Joint Expert Panel is formed
The result of the ballot was the UCU members accepted UUK proposal. Industrial action was suspended and the impending strikes of 16 April were called off.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, UCU accepts UUK proposal (13 April 2018) and Joint Expert Panel is formed
On 18 April, UCU confirmed that it was ending its call for external examiners to stand down. Commentary suggested that scrutiny of the pension negotiations by the union membership was nonetheless ongoing.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, UCU accepts UUK proposal (13 April 2018) and Joint Expert Panel is formed
On 18 May, UUK and UCU announced that the Joint Expert Panel would be chaired by Joanne Segars. On 21 May UCU announced three nominations to the panel. Other members were later determined as Ronnie Bowie, Sally Bridgeland, and Chris Curry (appointed by UUK) and Catherine Donnelly, Saul Jacka, and Deborah Mabbett (appointed by UCU). The Joint Expert Panel was scheduled to report in September.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, UCU accepts UUK proposal (13 April 2018) and Joint Expert Panel is formed
On 1–3 June, a tumultuous UCU congress included calls for the general secretary, Sally Hunt, to resign over what was perceived to be undemocratic practice within the Union's prosecution of the dispute. Much of the congress's proceedings had to be aborted, and a new congress was proposed for the future. (On 18 October a recalled congress saw the withdrawal of motions to call for resignation, but a motion of censure was passed complaining at a lack of transparency and accountability in Hunt's representation of UCU members during the dispute.)


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, USS plans contribution increases (25 July 2018)
While the Joint Expert Panel deliberated, USS announced that, given that the legal deadline for addressing the fund's deficit had passed, it would, in accordance with statutory procedure, act already to raise both staff and employer contributions, following a statutory consultation period, to maintain the scheme's benefits. The proposed rises (as a percentage of salary) were to be phased in over a year:


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, USS plans contribution increases (25 July 2018)
These plans were announced against a backdrop of USS's annual report calculations of the deficit falling, due to changing assumptions about factors such as returns on corporate bonds and mortality. On different measures, the 2018 annual report showed a 2014 deficit of 12.6bn falling to a 2018 deficit of 12.1bn; or a £17.5bn deficit falling to £8.4 billion deficit. Though this plan was criticised by UCU and UUK, as of 22 November 2018, USS continued to plan to implement it.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Joint Expert Panel releases first report (13 September 2018)
On 13 September, the Joint Expert Panel that had been convened to re-examine the valuation of the USS scheme issued its first report.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Joint Expert Panel releases first report (13 September 2018)
The Panel's press release recommended a number of adjustments to the methodology and data used in the 2017 valuation of the USS scheme, and stated that "it is the Panel's belief, based on independent actuarial analysis, that the full implementation of these adjustments could mean total required contributions estimated at 29.2% to fund current benefits [...] This compares to the current rate of 26% (18% of salary paid by employers, 8% by employees) and the rate of 36.6% from April 2020 which is proposed by USS, based on the valuation as it stands". It was suggested that this proposal might entail raising employees' contributions to 9.1% of salary, and employers' by 2.1%, taking their contribution to 20.1%.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Joint Expert Panel releases first report (13 September 2018)
On 15 October Sam Marsh, of the University of Sheffield, reported in detail on his own analysis of data obtained from USS after a long period of requesting the information. He found that the methodologies by which USS's 'test 1' measures the pension scheme's viability were flawed, and that by maintaining previous investment strategies, USS would have the surplus it would require to meet its future liabilities. UUK asked the USS trustee to investigate Marsh's arguments. Marsh's commentary had also attracted prominent support from Michael Otsuka.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Joint Expert Panel releases first report (13 September 2018)
USS defended its position the next day, accepting that Marsh's reanalysis was 'not wrong in isolation', but arguing that de-risking was necessary anyway. In response, UCU commissioned an independent report by First Actuarial which on 16 November 2018 supported Marsh's arguments and levelled a number of criticisms at USS's valuations and reasoning.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Joint Expert Panel releases first report (13 September 2018)
On 8 November, UUK reported on a consultation of its members, which found them, like UCU, to support the Joint Expert Panel's recommendations. The news was welcomed by UCU. This suggested that a consensus position between these parties had been more or less achieved, meaning that the main faultline in the dispute now ran between USS on the one side, and UCU and UUK on the other.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, USS declares 2017 valuation complete but agrees to a new 2018 valuation (22 November 2018)
On 22 November, USS declared that 'as member and employer representatives on the Joint Negotiating Committee could not agree on an alternative outcome to the 2017 valuation', it would maintain the defined benefits scheme but implement contribution increases using the Scheme's default rules for cost-sharing between members and employers, as published on 25 July (starting with a small increase in contributions in April 2019). The 2017 valuation was eventually signed off on 29 January 2019.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, USS declares 2017 valuation complete but agrees to a new 2018 valuation (22 November 2018)
However, USS agreed to undertake a new valuation of the fund as it stood at 31 March 2018, which the Joint Expert Panel had suggested would indicate a far smaller deficit. It was thought that this new valuation might forestall further requirements for contribution increases after April 2019.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Consultation on 2018 USS valuation closes (28 February 2019)
On 2 January 2019, USS began a consultation with UUK on its 2018 valuation, which closed 28 February. USS proposed that it should be possible to increase overall contributions from 26% of salary (the contribution level that obtained from April 2016 to April 2019) to 29.7% of salary, rather than the higher increases planned in response to the 2017 valuation—but only if scheme members agreed to a system of 'trigger contributions' (additional contributions that would be triggered if short-term measures of deficit exceeded a certain level). UUK members, however, expressed scepticism at the necessity and appropriateness of this arrangement.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Consultation on 2018 USS valuation closes (28 February 2019)
In response, on 9 May 2019, USS proposed three options 'for finalising the 2018 valuation', retaining the scheme's previous benefits, and requiring lower contributions than the arrangement that the scheme had defaulted to in the absence of an agreement, but requiring much higher contributions than the proposals put forward by the JEP:


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Consultation on 2018 USS valuation closes (28 February 2019)
Meanwhile, on 15 March the Council of Trinity College, Cambridge voted to withdraw the college unilaterally from USS as of 31 May 2019, in a move that came to be called Trexit. By October 2019, the college had replaced the USS scheme with a defined benefits scheme to avoid the college bearing any responsibility for other pensions in the UK higher education system in the event of foreclosures in the sector. The move sparked protests, resignations, and a boycott.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Consultation on 2018 USS valuation closes (28 February 2019)
On 21 May 2019, it was revealed that Jane Hutton, in her capacity as a non-executive director on the USS board of trustees, had in March 2018 complained to the Pensions Regulator, alleging that her efforts in 2017 to check whether the USS deficit had been miscalculated had been frustrated by delays and obstructions to providing her with data to which she needed access to fulfil her fiduciary duties. As of May 2019, the Pensions Regulator and Financial Reporting Council were investigating the allegations.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Consultation on 2018 USS valuation closes (28 February 2019)
On 14 June 2019, as the investigation continued, the Regulator rebuked USS for claiming that aspects of USS policy were mandated by the Regulator when in fact they were not. On 11 October 2019, it was reported that Hutton had been dismissed as a director of USS on the grounds that, according to an independent investigation, "she had breached a number of her director's duties owed under company law and contract". USS said that the dismissal was independent of Hutton's whistleblowing and the ongoing investigation; Hutton said she did not view the decision as valid and was considering further action.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Consultation on 2018 USS valuation closes (28 February 2019)
On 22 August 2019, the Joint Negotiating Committee, representing UCU and UUK, met to determine the position that they would put to the USS trustees. The independent chair, Andrew Cubie, used his deciding vote to support UUK's preferred plan. In this scheme, total contributions per member would be 30.7% of salary, with 9.6% being paid by the employee and 21.1% by the employer. A further valuation would follow in 2020 and in the absence of an alternative agreement, the contribution rate would rise to 34.7% in October 2021 with members paying 11% and employers 23.7%.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2018 USS pension negotiations, and associated strike action, Consultation on 2018 USS valuation closes (28 February 2019)
UCU argued that employees' contributions should not rise above 8%, and that the Joint Expert Panel had suggested alternative paths to achieving this that had been agreeable to both UCU and UUK. UUK offered to limit staff contributions to 9.1% instead of 9.6% if UCU would agree to hold no strikes on pensions for two years, an offer which UCU rejected. The 21.1%:9.6% contribution rates were ratified on 12 September by the USS trustee board.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Changes in UK law
The strike brought to the attention of unions and the UK government a potential ambiguity in UK legislation: migrant workers on Tier 2 and 5 visas have an annual 20-day limit on unpaid absence from work. As some universities had seen local strike action during 2017–18 in addition to the 14 days of national strike action, fears arose that staff members who were on strike for more than 20 days in a year might have their visas revoked, and that this might in turn impinge on their legal rights to take industrial action.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Changes in UK law
On 12 July, the home secretary Sajid Javid declared that it was "not the government's policy to prevent migrant workers from engaging in legal strike action" and that he would introduce changes to the rules and guidelines on immigration to be explicit that strike action did not count as "unpaid absence".


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Staff
In the ballot for the strike, UCU achieved an unusually high turnout and strong support for industrial action, and membership grew by about 15,000 between the beginning of 2018 and 12 April.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Staff
Staff organised "teach-outs" off campus at "every university with a substantial picket line"; these featured education sessions which tended to be left-wing or critical of recent changes in UK higher education, apparently led by the University of Leeds, whose UCU branch had tested the model during a local dispute in autumn 2017. Some pickets also featured staff singing rewrites of popular songs, among them Leeds University UCU's Strike Up Your Life (based on the Spice Girls' hit Spice Up Your Life) or dance routines, prominently including Cambridge University UCU's performance to Public Enemy's Fight the Power. Geographers at the University of Nottingham produced a 'strike zine'. A Cambridge researcher working in the UK under a visa made an art installation reflecting their precarious situation. Meanwhile, Southampton University UCU's 'Dinosaur of Solidarity', a person in a dinosaur costume, became a minor social-media sensation.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Staff
As the strikes commenced, academics at Oxford and Cambridge began using those universities' democratic structures to change the universities' position on pension reform. Oxford staff's attempts to use the university's supreme governing body, Congregation, to effect a change of policy failed due to procedural problems on 5 March, but the next day Oxford's vice-chancellor Louise Richardson declared that the University would nonetheless heed the wishes of staff to "reverse its response to the UUK survey".


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Staff
As the strikes developed, university staff increasingly called into question the governance structures of UUK, individual universities, and USS, along with the marketisation of the UK higher education sector and its increasingly precarious workforce. By 13 April, over 12,000 people had signed a petition calling for UUK to be made subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Staff
Staff also made extensive use of social media (see below).


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Universities
However, some vice-chancellors expressed support for UCU's position before the strike. Anthony Forster, vice-chancellor at the University of Essex, described a staff consultation process that led Essex to support retaining defined benefits via increased pension contributions. The University of Warwick's Stuart Croft publicly stated that "I am sure that I am not alone in being mystified at this [proposed] change", and argued, in line with the position of the Liberal Democrats, that the UK government should underwrite USS pensions.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Universities
After the strike began, other vice chancellors voiced concern about UUK's position, and by the second day of strike action, 18 were being reported as calling for renewed negotiations, or as supporting UCU's position. Some joined staff on picket lines, among them Anton Muscatelli (Glasgow), Keith Burnett (Sheffield) and Robert Allison (Loughborough).


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Universities
In a letter to The Times of 16 March, the vice-chancellor of Cambridge University, Stephen Toope, expressed sympathy with the concerns of staff and students about not only pensions, but also marketisation of UK universities, and held a wide-ranging public meeting with around 550 staff and students in Great St Mary's Church, scheduling a further such meeting for 26 April.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Universities
Some universities decided to cushion the financial impact of strike action on their staff by deducting pay for the days not worked over several months. These included Glasgow, Leicester, Cardiff, Cambridge, and York.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Universities
Video recording of lectures had become widespread in UK universities by 2016, and some universities sought to use lectures recorded in previous years to substitute for teaching missed during the strikes. This prompted renewed debates about what rights universities should claim in the intellectual output of their staff.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Universities, Threatened pay deductions for not rescheduling teaching
Conversely, many universities demanded that staff reschedule teaching that had not been delivered during the strike, noting their right to deduct pay for partial performance if staff did not. However, a smaller number appeared to be committed to implementing deductions. Examples which attracted media attention included:


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Universities, Threatened pay deductions for not rescheduling teaching
In Sheffield's case, pay deduction of 25% for partial performance, rising to 100% after five days, was initially threatened, provoking alumni to threaten to withdraw donations. The University then explained that it would not implement deductions for partial performance. Similar developments occurred at St Andrews, with the Principal, Sally Mapstone, writing that "having considered all matters in the round, I believe that our current policy to deduct pay at 100% for failure to reschedule classes cancelled due to strike action is inconsistent with this University's values and the store we place on our shared sense of community".


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Universities, Threatened pay deductions for not rescheduling teaching
At Leeds, a number of external examiners resigned in protest at the university's plans, ongoing as of 10 March, to deduct pay for partial performance, while Alice Goodman, widow of the university's noted professor Geoffrey Hill, addressed an open letter to the university's vice chancellor asking the University to reconsider its stance.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Students, Polls
A Yougov poll of 738 undergraduate students conducted for UCU between 13 and 20 February 2018 found that nationally, 61% of students said they supported the strikes, with 19% opposed and the remainder unsure. At striking institutions, support was 66%, with 18% opposed. In February 2018, a poll of 1,500 students for Times Higher Education magazine found over half (51.8%) would support their lecturer in a walk-out and just under a third (29.3%) would not. Support for the national strike was evenly balanced, with 38.4% in favour and 38.4% against.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Students, Polls
By 8 March, extensive student support for the strikes was still being reported, observing that students were joining with staff in solidarity against the marketisation of UK higher education.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Students, Occupations and other activism
On the first day of the strikes the UUK head office in London was occupied by students. Students undertook occupations of university buildings in support of the strike at various institutions, including University College London (26 February), the University of Liverpool (28 February) and the University of Bristol (5 March), along with students at Leicester, Bath, Exeter, Southampton, Sussex, and Reading. A fresh wave of occupations began on 12 March, following the publication of the first ACAS-brokered joint agreement between UCU and UUK, which UCU members rejected. Universities with occupations during that week included Reading, Cambridge (in the Old Schools), Dundee, York (in Heslington Hall), Sheffield (in the Arts Tower), Stirling, Aberdeen, Surrey, Sussex, Glasgow, and, Queen Mary University of London (in the Octagon).


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Students, Occupations and other activism
The purpose of the occupations extended into other issues: on 19 March, University of London students occupied Senate House in support of a strike called for 25–26 April by outsourced worked including cleaners, porters and receptionists. At one point during the occupation, students were locked into a room by staff members of the university.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Students, Occupations and other activism
In the wake of the February–March strikes, the students' union at SOAS called on its members to refuse to submit work with deadlines before 23 March, arguing that deadlines so soon after the end of the strikes would negatively affect students' work.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Students, Compensation
Students, who in England had since 2012 paid fees covering most of the cost of their education, responded by demanding compensation from their universities, explicitly in support of the striking staff: by 20 February 2018, 70,000 had signed letters and petitions of this kind, rising to around 126,000 by 5 March.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Students, Compensation
On 4 March 2018, it was reported that King's College London had become the first university to offer to use money not spent on striking staff's salaries to compensate students. Robert Liow, a third-year law student at the university, told the BBC that if universities did not refund students part of their fees, they would be profiting from the dispute, as they would gain the money not paid to striking university staff:


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Students, Compensation
I don't want a consumerist education service. I believe education is a public good and not a service to be sold. But if we are going to be treated as consumers we are going to ask for our money back.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Students, Compensation
On 23 March 2018, it was reported that the international disputes lawyers Asserson had begun co-ordinating a no-win no-fee suit for compensation for students affected by the strikes, inviting students to sign up to participate online. On 24 April 2018, it was announced that over 1,000 students had signed up: enough to apply for a group litigation order. By 17 June, over 5,000 had joined. Asserson estimated that one million students had been affected by the strike, with 575,000 teaching hours lost. They suggested that universities might be liable for £20m compensation.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Students, Compensation
By May 2019, the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (designated under the Higher Education Act 2004 to run the higher education student complaints scheme within England and Wales) has issued a number of adjudications in response to student complaints, asking universities to offer partial refunds of fees.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Students, In media
On 25 November 2019, Joshua Curiel, a student at the University of Kent, wrote an article for The Guardian encouraging fellow students to support their lectures. Curiel argued that "This strike will have a greater impact if universities see that the lecturers have the full support of their students and understand that changes must be made. We have a part to play in these strikes, to keep the pressure up to ensure fairer working conditions."


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Politicians
On 29 November 2017, Carol Monaghan (Scottish National Party) tabled an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons entitled "Defending Academic Pensions", noting "with concern the proposal by Universities UK to close the defined benefit portion of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) to all future service". The motion was sponsored by Caroline Lucas (Green Party), Martyn Day and Pete Wishart (SNP), and Jim Cunningham, and Mary Glindon (Labour). As of 19 March, it had been signed by 133 MPs.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Politicians
During the first week of industrial action, UCU's stance was explicitly supported by the Labour and Green Parties. The Liberal Democrats argued that the government should underwrite the USS pension scheme, easing its assessment of risk. The Conservative universities minister Sam Gyimah encouraged the parties to negotiate, and encouraged universities to compensate students for missed education.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Politicians
The Chinese embassy in the UK also made representations to the Department for Education, expressing concern for the situation of Chinese students in the UK.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, UCU
The "intense infighting" experienced by parts of UCU during and following the 2018 pension strikes and negotiations led UCU to establish a 'democracy commission' to recommend ways to improve participatory democracy within the Union. Among its recommendations was the suggestion that the office of General Secretary should be held for three-year terms, and for a maximum of three terms. The commission suggested introducing a mechanism for members to recall general secretaries. Its recommendations were put to a special congress of the union of 7 December 2019.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Scholarly societies
Some scholarly societies issued statements supporting the strike or its goals. They included History UK, which said it 'believes universities should try to maintain the conditions of employment under which academics were originally employed. That includes pensions'; the Engineering Professors' Council; and the British Dental Association. Others did not take a position but did publicly discuss the issues, among them the British Psychological Society.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Media, Traditional media
The action attracted national television coverage, and supportive editorials from newspapers including the Observer and the Financial Times, which opined that "the universities must increase their pensions offer, and lecturers should give a fair hearing to any new proposals. Failing that, students should be compensated by the colleges". Support for UUK, meanwhile, was offered in The Times, with Daniel Finkelstein, for example, arguing that "the pension fund is a pot of money shared between current and past staff. All that the trustees and the regulator are trying to do is to make sure it is fairly shared out. They are ensuring the money hasn't all been given away while there are people with future claims against it".


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Media, Traditional media
A number of commentators expressed exasperation at a tendency in the media, and on social media, to refer to the strike as a "lecturers' strike", when it involved a wide range of staff, academic and non-academic.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Media, Social media
UCU members made extensive use of social media during the dispute. They were used to disseminate activists' research on the changes to pensions. Social media were also used to satirise universities' senior management: for example, the hashtag #FindMyProvost was used to mock vice-chancellors who did not engage with staff, and the 'UCU Strikeposting' meme page on Facebook, which was run by students and staff who supported the strike, and quickly amassed over 6,000 likes in 4 weeks. Hashtags were also a powerful organising tool.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, Responses to the 2018 pension strikes, Media, Social media
A prominent example was the Twitter hashtag #NoCapitulation, which emerged as the unifying message university staff rallied behind twenty hours after the Acas agreement of 12 March. Dr Ed Rooksby, a tutor at Ruskin College Oxford, said "the leadership saw this wave of hostility coming towards them and backed down ... I'm sure there wouldn't have been as much momentum without Twitter, and without someone coming up with that hashtag." Dr. Jo Grady, a senior lecturer in employment relations at Sheffield University, stated her belief that Twitter had helped people connect "outside of traditional union frameworks" and that this was ironic as their employers were the ones who encouraged staff to use social media as a tool for self-promotion.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights'
Concern about pay and conditions, particularly in relation to high senior pay and expenditure on new buildings in the face of declining staff pay, the gender pay gap, precarious contracts and casualisation, and workloads were all expressed as part of the wider context of the pensions dispute, but also formed the basis of ballots for industrial action across all UK higher education unions (UNISON, Unite, EIS, GMB and UCU) during the period of the pensions strikes.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights'
Accordingly, from September to October 2019, UCU balloted members for industrial action in two disputes: renewed industrial action on pensions (for those institutions participating in USS), and new industrial action on pay and conditions (which UCU called the 'four fights'—pay inequality, job insecurity, rising workloads, and pay deflation—for all higher education branches).


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights'
Ballots were undertaken separately for each institution in the belief that turnout might pass the 50% of members required by the Trade Union Act 2016 at a sufficient number of institutions to enable meaningful industrial action, while averting the risk of an aggregated national ballot falling below the 50% threshold. It was argued that it was necessary to make industrial action possible on both issues at once to avoid gains to overall remuneration made via one channel being negated by losses on the other.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights', Ballot on USS pensions (31 October 2019)
On 26 May 2019, UCU's Higher Education Sector Conference voted to commence a further dispute with USS employers. UCU wrote to relevant vice-chancellors on 7 June asking them to avert possible industrial action by committing "to uphold the level of contributions no higher than 26% (8% for members)", in the first instance by seeking to influence USS policy via employers' representatives on the Employers' Pension Forum (EPF) and the UUK nominees to USS's joint negotiating committee. The Union asked that, failing that, employers "must cover any increases in full that are needed to maintain current benefits until USS's governance and valuation methods and assumptions have been overhauled".


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights', Ballot on USS pensions (31 October 2019)
On 31 October 2019, UCU reported that of 64 branches balloted, at least 43 had passed the 50% turnout threshold or were otherwise able to take industrial action. The national aggregate of votes (with four institutions still to be counted) achieved a 53% turnout with 79% voting for strike action.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights', Ballots concerning joint higher education trade union national pay claim (31 October 2019), 2018-19 pay negotiations
In March 2018, the UK's Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff began its round of negotiations for pay in the sector for 2018/19, with unions demanding a large pay uplift. Citing long-term real-term declining pay, on 26 March 2018 the unions submitted a pay claim seeking a 7.5% pay increase or £1,500, whichever was greater; a £10 minimum wage to make all higher education institutions "living wage" employers; and gender pay equality by 2020. In April 2018, the Universities and Colleges Employers Association proposed a 1.7% pay increase for 2018–19, raising the offer to 2% (and 2.8% for the lowest paid) in May. These figures were both below inflation, which in March 2018 stood at 2.7%.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights', Ballots concerning joint higher education trade union national pay claim (31 October 2019), 2018-19 pay negotiations
On 6 June 2018, UCU commenced a consultative ballot to determine whether to conduct a formal ballot for industrial action in relation to the UK Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff's negotiations over 2018-19 pay. The ballot closed on 27 June 2018, with 82% of participating members voting to reject the offer from the University and Colleges Employers' Association of a minimum pay rise of 2 per cent, rising to 2.8 per cent for the lowest paid. UCU formally declared a trade dispute on 24 July 2018.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights', Ballots concerning joint higher education trade union national pay claim (31 October 2019), 2018-19 pay negotiations
On 21 August 2018, UCU served statutory notice of its intention to ballot members for industrial action regarding the 2018-19 national pay dispute. The ballot opened on 30 August 2018. On 22 October 2018 UCU announced the results of the ballot. Although the majority of Union members who voted elected to take industrial action, the turnout only passed the 50% of members required by the Trade Union Act 2016 at seven universities (alongside which three Northern Irish universities, unaffected by the legislation, also voted to strike).


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights', Ballots concerning joint higher education trade union national pay claim (31 October 2019), 2018-19 pay negotiations
Likewise, on 29 October Unison reported that although a majority of voting members had supported strike action, the vote was frustrated by insufficient turnout. On 7 November, UCU's special higher education sector conference decided to run another ballot, this time aggregating votes across the sector rather than running a different ballot for each university. On 23 November, the ballot was scheduled to run from 14 January to 22 February 2019. This ballot achieved a turnout of only 41%, so again led to no industrial action.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights', Ballots concerning joint higher education trade union national pay claim (31 October 2019), 2019-20 pay negotiations
On 1 May 2019, employers' final offer in the 2019-20 pay negotiations was 1.8%, rising to 3.65% for the lowest paid (deleting the lowest point on the pay scale to ensure a living wage for all staff). For most members, the offered raise was below inflation (then 2.4% RPI), and unions called for an increase of RPI+3% or of £3,349 – whichever was greater. Later that month, the UCU congress resolved to campaign to win an industrial action ballot on this offer, with a campaign naming the 'four fights' of pay, equality, casualisation, and workload. Unite and Unison also resolved to ballot on pay.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights', Ballots concerning joint higher education trade union national pay claim (31 October 2019), 2019-20 pay negotiations
On 31 October 2019, Unison reported that although around 66% of members voting had voted for strike action, turnout had not passed the 50% threshold. Likewise, Unite announced that 73.3% of members had voted to take action, but that turnout had been 32.1%.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights', Ballots concerning joint higher education trade union national pay claim (31 October 2019), 2019-20 pay negotiations
On the same day, UCU reported that of 148 branches balloted, at least 54 had passed the 50% turnout threshold or were otherwise able to take industrial action. The national aggregate of votes achieved a 49% turnout with 74% voting for strike action (with four institutions still to be counted).


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights', UCU announces eight days of strikes (5 November 2019)
On 5 November 2019, UCU announced that at those institutions with a legal mandate to strike, eight consecutive strike days would be held from Monday 25 November to Wednesday 4 December, 'unless', in the words of UCU's general secretary Jo Grady, 'the employers start talking to us seriously about how they are going to deal with rising pension costs and declining pay and conditions'. Following 4 December, Union members were also to begin action short of a strike (such as 'working to contract'). 60 universities were to be affected (43 regarding both pensions and pay, 14 regarding pay only, and 3 regarding pensions only).


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights', UCU announces eight days of strikes (5 November 2019)
It was estimated that the strikes would affect over a million students.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights', UCU announces eight days of strikes (5 November 2019)
Spokespeople for UUK and Universities & Colleges Employers Association argued that UCU did not have a strong mandate for action given that the majority of branches had not qualified to take strike action. The UUK spokesperson expressed hopes that the industrial dispute could be resolved without strike action and that UCU 'will now join us to consider governance reforms and alternative options for future valuations' regarding USS. The UCea spokesperson argued that the 2019-20 national pay negotiations had delivered a pay deal 'at the very limit of what is affordable'. Opinion among university leaders was not uniform, however: on 15 November, the vice-chancellor of the University of Essex argued that 'the University of Essex is willing to increase contributions to the scheme to sustain critical features of the USS, including defined benefits'.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights', UCU announces eight days of strikes (5 November 2019)
On 19 November, UUK and UCEA jointly wrote an open letter 'to staff impacted by the UCU pensions and pay disputes', partly arguing that 'the publication of the JEP's second report will present UUK and UCU with the opportunity to develop a valuable and sustainable future for USS' and that while universities 'simply cannot afford to put more into this year's pay increases than they already have', UCEA had invited negotiations on 'workload, gender pay/equality and casual employment arrangements'.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights', UCU announces eight days of strikes (5 November 2019)
UCU's response included the argument that 'you cannot refuse to talk about pay yet say you want to talk about closing pay gaps that exist for women and BME staff' and that 'we are always keen to negotiate and will attend talks to try and avert the disruption the strikes will inevitably cause'.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights', Strikes take place (25 November–4 December 2019)
Strikes began on 25 November. According to figures subsequently gathered by UCEA, 29.2% of UCU members at the affected universities took strike action, representing 5% of all staff at those universities (not all of whom were in the constituency represented by UCU), though around 26% reported pockets of high impact on teaching.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights', Strikes take place (25 November–4 December 2019)
As in 2018, striking staff at a number of universities ran educational 'teach-outs' off campus, which were open to students affected by the strikes. On 27 November, negotiators from UCU and UCEA met, with UCEA pledging to consult its members on 'gender and ethnicity pay gaps, casual employment arrangements and workload' ahead of a meeting the next week, while stating that it had no mandate to alter the pay increase that had been implemented for the 2019–20 academic year.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights', Strikes take place (25 November–4 December 2019)
Employers' organisations continued to argue that the strike represented a minority of staff in a minority of universities, with Oxford Brookes University's vice-chancellor Alistair Fitt arguing further that 'the call for more money comes at a time when universities are operating in a challenging environment amid increased competition, a freeze on tuition fees, and prolonged uncertainty over the implications of Brexit'.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights', Strikes take place (25 November–4 December 2019)
A few universities were reported as being heavy-handed in their response to the strikes, with the University of Liverpool attracting criticism for telling its students they must not join picket lines; Sheffield Hallam putting a form online for students to record which lecturers were on strike (which attracted a large number of satirical submissions); and the University of Birmingham telling its staff that picketing on campus would be trespass (which attracted a large petition in opposition).


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights', Strikes take place (25 November–4 December 2019)
An attempted occupation at the University of Reading in support of the strikes resulted in clashes with "heavy handed" security staff and injuries to the would-be occupiers. The university took disciplinary action against the students involved, banning an undergraduate and a postgraduate student from campus, as well as suspending the undergraduate.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights', Strikes take place (25 November–4 December 2019)
As the strikes began, the Guardian published an editorial arguing that the strikes represented "a battle for the soul of the campus" and that "the market model in higher education has created an intellectual precariat who are right to fight back". Soon after, the Financial Times ran en editorial arguing that "while academics and universities might not want to hear it, if the USS is to continue operating, the money has to come from them", and also saying that "the current industrial action carries wider significance than the fate of a disputed retirement plan. It has exposed the precariousness of Britain's higher education system as it has become more of a marketplace", and calling for an "independent inquiry" into the handling of the USS valuation "by all key players, including the Pensions Regulator".


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights', Strikes take place (25 November–4 December 2019)
The National Union of Students supported the strikes, as did the Labour shadow secretary for education, Angela Rayner. Support from individual university students' unions was less clear, with some, such as the University of Birmingham Guild of Students, taking an explicitly neutral stance. Reading University Students Union voted to support the strikes, but was unusual in doing so. The Times reported that 'by and large' students 'support their lecturers and their anger is with universities and vice-chancellors'.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights', Strikes take place (25 November–4 December 2019)
In Edinburgh, students occupied David Hume Tower in solidarity with the strike, while students at Strathclyde University occupied a lecture theatre (both in support of the strikes and in protest at what they called 'rampant mismanagement, alleged corruption and irresponsible fossil fuel investment at the University of Strathclyde'). Students at the University of Stirling occupied a management building for two weeks, later receiving an eight-week suspension in punishment.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights', Strikes take place (25 November–4 December 2019)
Some scholarly societies, such as the American Studies Association, expressed support for the strike.


2018–2020 UK higher education strikes, 2019–20 industrial action on pensions and on the 'four fights', Strikes take place (25 November–4 December 2019)
The 2019 strikes took place in a somewhat different regulatory and legal environment from the 2018 ones, due to the establishment of the Office for Students and the emergence of a body of case-law from the Office of the Independent Adjudicator on the compensation of students for lost teaching in the wake of the 2018 strikes. Growing anxiety about the position of international students whose visa requirements for class attendance might be affected by the strikes, in the context of the UK Home Office's hostile environment policy towards migrants, was also in evidence. The University of Liverpool and Goldsmiths University attracted particular attention for telling international students that missing classes on account of refusing to cross picket lines might jeopardise their visas.