£379k in striking lecturers' pay to go towards hard-up students

Ulster University confirmed £379,932 was deducted from workers who participated in 13 days of University and College Union-led rolling strike action earlier this year.

The third level institution has revealed that the deducted pay has been paid into a hardship fund for undergraduates struggling financially.

“The University will donate this sum to the Student Hardship Fund,” it stated.

From February the UCU embarked on a campaign of industrial action over proposed changes to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), which saw pickets mounted at Magee and Ulster University’s other campuses.

The UCU said the changes would saddle their members’ pension pots to a fluctuating stock market and cost the average retiring lecturer £200,000.