UCU hit with more strikes after staff claim ‘victimisation’

The UK’s biggest university union is set to be disrupted again by internal strikes, with some staff walking out over claims one of their number has been “victimised”.

In the latest development in a bitter long-running dispute between the leadership of the University and College Union (UCU) and staff members who belong to the Unite the Union, two weeks of strikes will be held in February.

Unite UCU claims that its health and safety officer, Marie Monaghan, was “targeted” after raising safety complaints about stress and workloads at UCU, including to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). 

She is now facing disciplinary action, said Unite, and the union is calling for “the immediate reversal of the unjustified and unlawful treatment” towards her.

UCU staff have long been locked in dispute with the union’s leadership, alleging a toxic workplace culture.

The HSE wrote to UCU in 2023 saying it had identified “material breaches” of health and safety law over workplace stress, and said UCU did not have sufficient risk assessment in place, following Unite’s complaints.

Unite argued that workplace stress absences have “rocketed” since then, with the number of stress-related absences standing at 350 in 2023 but rising to over 900 in 2024. It said more than 600 were recorded during the first nine months of 2025.

A UCU Unite spokesperson said it “does not tolerate” the victimisation of any Unite member, and “the threat to their job and livelihood must end immediately”.

They said the dispute would not end until the leadership agrees to sit down with Unite “to rectify the legitimate and pressing issues facing its staff”, adding that this was “something they are currently refusing to do”.

Unite claims several of its members have been targeted after speaking up about workplace concerns, noting its branch chair and vice-chair both left UCU in December.

UCU staff have taken six weeks of strike action in the past 12 months over their concerns and are planning to ballot members again on whether to extend its industrial action mandate.

A UCU spokesperson said that it had not had any formal notification of the planned union-wide strike action, only hearing it about it via a press enquiry and social media posts.

“We have written to let staff know that, until we receive formal notification from Unite, we do not know what action, if any, will be called for all Unite members,” they said.

“Unite has shared with the press its reasons for calling this action. UCU does not accept the allegation of trade union victimisation that is made and we believe that this case is best dealt with through the ongoing process, which includes appointing an external and independent investigator. 

“The union’s management team are clear that UCU line managers need to be able to manage staff using our agreed policies. The ability to do this is in the best interest of all our staff and every UCU member.”

They said that UCU members were “taking part in a number of important disputes up and down the country over pay, pensions grabs, campus closures, and job losses” and “it’s our job to ensure our members get the best support from their union in their efforts to make post-16 education a better place for staff and students.”

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com