Industrial action- information for students
Information for students about why University staff are taking industrial action, and how you can show your support.
On this page
- What is ‘Industrial action’ and what does it mean for me?
- Why are University staff striking?
- How you can support our action
What is ‘Industrial action’ and what does it mean for me?
Sheffield UCU is calling on its members to take strike action over 4 weeks, on the following dates:
- Week 1: 17, 18, 19, and 21 November 2025
- Week 2: 24, 25, 26, and 27 November 2025
- Week 3: 1, 2, 4, and 5 December 2025
- Week 4: 9, 10, 11, and 12 December 2025
During strike action, staff taking part will not be in work. You may see them taking part in a picket line across campus – please feel free to talk to them and ask them about why they’re taking part! They would be keen to answer any questions you might have.
Staff don’t take the decision to strike lightly, and typically will be deducted 1/365th of their annual salary for each day’s strike action they take.
UCU members will also be taking part in Action Short of Strike from 17th Nov until further notice. This means that on non-strike days, certain aspects of their work may still be affected.
Why are University staff striking?
We’re doing this because University management is continuing plans to make huge cuts to staffing costs. We have serious concerns over the scale and pace of the changes, as well as the impact on students and other staff members who aren’t at risk of losing their jobs.
The University claims it needs to make these cuts for financial reasons- but their own audited financial statements do not provide a clear case to do this.
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:
- Come and support the strikers by visiting our picket lines. We’d love to chat: we can answer any questions you have about what is happening, and we’re happy to hear your concerns, too.
- File a complaint with the University about the disruption caused to you by their decision to pursue compulsory redundancies and the strike action that we’re taking to challenge that. Guidance from the University and Student’s Union on how to do this is below:
- 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.
- Share your support on social media- if you use Bluesky, you can tag us at @sheffielducu.bsky.social.
- 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.