Industrial action- information for students

Information for students about why University staff are taking industrial action, and how you can show your support.

What is ‘Industrial action’ and what does it mean for me?

Sheffield UCU has voted to undertake 2 forms of industrial action:

Action short of strike (ASOS) from 1 May 2025 onwards.
- Staff taking part in this will still be working, but certain aspects of their work may be affected.
Strike action on Wednesday 30th April followed by a 9 day walk out from Tuesday the 6th May until Friday the 16th May.
- Staff taking part will not be working on these dates. Teaching scheduled for these dates may be affected.

Why are University staff striking?

University management is currently planning to potentially make as many as 50 staff redundant as a result of current restructures, on top of over 340 staff who have left as a result of the recent ‘Voluntary Severance Scheme’, and the roles which have gone unfilled due to ‘Vacancy Management’.

We believe that the University does not have to make any staff redundant, and that student experience and teaching will be negatively affected by these redundancies.

In particular, we are disappointed that the Vice Chancellor and University Executive Board have declined our request to cap their own salaries (to £135,000 per year, which is the top of the professorial pay scale) and to forgo bonuses, until the University has returned back to surplus. This alternative would save a substantial amount of money which the VC and UEB are currently seeking to save via making staff redundant.

We are going on strike to demand that any compulsory redundancies be avoided. We are asking that management work with us, as well as all staff at risk of redundancy, to redesign the current restructure proposals to preserve all jobs.

Do students support our industrial action?

Alongside last month’s Student Union Officer elections, students voted in referendums to support staff industrial action (83% of respondents), and express no confidence in the University Executive Board (89% of respondents).

This historic vote is the first time that the Students’ Union has used an all-member ballot to decide their position on industrial action and the high turnout and overwhelming ‘YES’ vote, alongside the vote of no confidence in UEB, shows the strength of solidarity amongst students and their hostility to aggressive cuts and job losses.

The SU have organised an official SU Strike Committee to coordinate this support.

How you can support our action

There are a number of ways you can show your support and solidarity to staff taking part in industrial action:

Get involved in the official SU Strike Committee. Details of any events or activities will be published on their instagram page.
Avoid crossing picket lines. Picket lines are peaceful demonstrations of protest that staff may conduct outside University buildings, and we ask if possible that you not cross these during strike action. However, staff taking part will always be happy to talk to you, and answer any questions you may have.
Write to the Vice Chancellor- you can email VC Koen Lamberts at vc@sheffield.ac.uk to express your concern about compulsory redundancies, and ask that University management reconsider.
Write to your MP- You can find contact details of your MP here and email them to express your concern about what is happening at the University.
Attend a ‘Teach out’ event. These are informal teaching sessions that striking staff may put on in the Student’s Union, and are a valuable way of continuing your education during strike action. Details of these will be published here.
Talk to your friends and family about what’s happening. You can help to answer their questions about what is happening and why we are taking this action. You can encourage them to show their support too.