Industrial Action: update from your SU Officers
Monday 27-04-2026 - 09:27
Since 27 February members of the Durham UCU have been taking part in ‘Action Short of a Strike’, (often referred to as ASOS). This means staff working to contract (strictly adhering to mandated hours, refusing to undertake any voluntary activities and the withdrawing of ‘goodwill’) as well as refusing to cover for absent colleagues. It also includes not rescheduling activities cancelled due to industrial action, and a boycott of activities relating to the Research Excellence Framework. You can read more about UCU’s decision-making and reasoning on their website.
As we head into exam season, we wanted to ensure that you have access to up-to-date information regarding the industrial action and how your students’ union will respond. Should industrial action escalate further we’ll bring this article up to date and will be continuing dialogue with UCU and University colleagues.
Our position on cuts as an SU can be seen on our Instagram here. The higher education system is broken. The model of funding and historic financial decisions locally means that cuts are inevitable. We hate that it has come to this, and we understand why UCU has again decided to take industrial action as a result. As a collectivist organisation that cares about the staff on our campus, we support them and their right to strike. We have asked the UCU leadership to rule out a marking and assessment boycott and are regularly engaging with the University on the topic of financial compensation, which would be important if the action were to escalate beyond ASOS.
For further FAQS and resources, please visit: UCU Industrial Action @ Durham SU.
