Students occupy Glasgow uni room in pension row
- Published
More than a dozen students occupied the Senate Room at Glasgow University
Students have occupied an area of Glasgow University in support of staff involved in a pensions dispute with university bosses.
More than a dozen students locked themselves in the university's Senate Room.
It comes amid strike action by lecturers from the University and College Union (UCU).
The protest follows similar action at Strathclyde, Stirling, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Dundee universities.
The students, known collectively as Glasgow University Strike Solidarity, said they wanted senior managers to give full pay to those lecturers involved in the walk-out as well as providing detailed information about the strikes at a local and national level.
The dispute between university staff and employers - known as Universities UK - centres around claims by management that the current pension scheme is unsustainable and has a deficit of about £6bn.
However, the union said planned changes to university staff pensions could leave some lecturers £10,000 worse off in retirement.
That resulted in members of the UCU embarking on 14 days of strikes, which disrupted classes at more than 60 universities across the UK.
The protest follows similar occupations at universities in Stirling, Edinburgh and Aberdeen
The current action is due to end with a five-day walkout, lasting until Friday.
A deal thrashed out by the UCU and UUK to resolve the dispute was rejected by union members earlier this week.
The student group said that failure to respond to their demands by 14:00 on Thursday would "not be taken lightly" and could result in further action by them.
'Do their duty'
In a statement the group said: "We, Glasgow University Strike Solidarity, have occupied the Senate Room of the University of Glasgow main building with a list of demands.
"We are here in solidarity with striking members of staff and to remind our university management where their sympathies should lie.
"This also a show of solidarity with occupying students across the UK."
The group said they had met principal and vice chancellor Prof Sir Anton Muscatelli and university secretary Dr David Duncan on 20 February with a list of "easily met demands", which had not been fulfilled.
The group warned that they had been forced to escalate their actions in the hope that management would "finally do their duty".
In response, a spokesman for the University of Glasgow said the student protest was being monitored and that officials were satisfied it was "entirely peaceful" and that there was no risk to health and safety.
He added: "The chief operating officer and the deputy secretary of court visited them and explained that the principal has again publicly called for national talks without preconditions as a means of reaching a settlement that is acceptable to all parties.
"The principal also offered to speak to those involved in the action.
"An email with the latest information on the strike and what this means for students has already been issued to all students and all staff."