Falmouth University strike over subsidiary company

The union says picket lines will be in place for every day of strike action

Staff at Falmouth University have started a three-day strike over new employment arrangements.

The University and College Union (UCU) said it was unhappy with Falmouth University's decision to employ new academics through a subsidiary company.

The university said it was "deeply regrettable" that strike action was going ahead and that it would have an impact on students.

The union said picket lines would be in place for every day of the strike.

The university says it is willing to enter "constructive negotiations" to resolve the dispute.

According to UCU more than a hundred academic staff across both the Falmouth and Penryn campuses are taking part in the strike action.

The union claimed employing staff through a subsidiary company, Falmouth Staffing Ltd (FSL), was a threat to national bargaining arrangements between unions and the University and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), and was "the beginning of an attack on hard-won national agreements".

They said the "fragmentation" had already affected new academic staff employed since September 2021, "forcing them onto a vastly inferior private pension".

Falmouth UCU branch co-chairperson Tom Scott said: "This really is a red line issue because it threatens all the major agreements made between universities and unions over the last 30 years."

He added: "When the university started using the subsidiary company to employ new staff, it assumed existing staff wouldn't mind, but being part of a union is all about solidarity and we've been really impressed that so many staff went on strike today and showed up to the picket line in support of their newer colleagues."

The union said it hoped the three-day strike would make management realise how seriously staff see this issue.

It said members did not want to strike again, but were "prepared to do so if needs be".

The university said it had made clear its willingness to enter "constructive negotiations to resolve this local dispute".