Union claims UEA is becoming "driven by profit for the few"
It comes ahead of result from their ballot on pay and conditions in two days. After two-thirds voted to strike last Friday.
The University of East Anglia has become "overly marketized" and "driven by profit for the few".
That's according to Joanna Drugan the branch chair of the UEA's University and College Union.
This all comes ahead of results from their ballot on pay and conditions in two days, after two-thirds of local UCU members voted to strike last Friday.
She says strike action is unavoidable unless a range of issues from pensions to contracts are addressed by management.
Nevertheless she went on to say that nobody wins when industrial action is taken: "We are really conscious of the impact this could have on our students. We don't do this lightly and we hope that striking wont be necessary, but if that's what it takes to get the employers back to the table to help sort out the sector, that's really in a mess, that's what we're prepared to do. It's never an easy option for anyone, because we have to give up our pay. When we strike we don't get paid".
Professor Drugan also told us that their demands are very reasonable: "We are not asking for the sky. We are asking for people to have fair contracts, for them to start to re-address the erosion of our pay over the last decade, we are asking for them not to rush ahead with changes to a very sustainable pension scheme, because of the way that they have mis-managed the valuation. We are not radicals here".
She went on to say that the UCU want to put education back at the heart of UEA: "We care about education, we care about students and want them to have a wonderful learning experience and we want to work with our colleagues and know that they are well supported in their jobs as well. But at Universities like the UEA it feels like we are becoming a marketized business designed to make profit for the few."
Professor Drugan concluded by saying that the last 18 months have been really tough: "We are the ones that have been seeing our students dialling in from their bedrooms and dealing with the real challenges that they have been facing over the last few years. We know more that than anybody and we are as keen as anybody to get back onto campus."