With the first of the three stoppages due to take place on 23?January, elements within the union claim that the shortened walkouts represent ¡°a complete U?turn¡± from the strategy that members endorsed at regional meetings last autumn.

UCU Left says in a?bulletin that the December decision by the union¡¯s ÖйúAƬ committee (HEC) to stage the two-hour strikes did not reflect the wishes of local branches, which wanted to ratchet up industrial action with two-day strikes and a?marking boycott.

¡°The only possible interpretation is that a?majority on the HEC (led by the Independent Broad Left) wants to wind down the campaign,¡± it continues.

The group believes that the two-hour strikes will be ineffective because they are hard to coordinate with other unions and only a small proportion of members will be teaching in that period.

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That theme was echoed by Mark Newman, secretary of the UCU branch at the Institute of Education, University of London, who wrote an open letter expressing his branch¡¯s ¡°dismay¡± at the ¡°de-escalation of the strike¡±.

¡°The two-hour strike is in our view atomistic, divisive and cannot be implemented in any way that could make it effective as a form of industrial action,¡± he?says in the letter.

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Priyamvada Gopal, lecturer in English at the University of Cambridge, said that the two-hour walkouts might be ridiculed and viewed merely as an ¡°extended fag break¡±.

However, Sally Hunt, the UCU¡¯s general secretary, insisted that ¡°these stoppages will cause significantly more disruption than the previous one-day strikes¡± and will ¡°maximise impact on universities while minimising the cost to our members¡±.

¡°If this series of strikes does not bring [employers] back to the table, we will soon after begin a marking ban and support members by whatever means we can in the fight for fair pay,¡± she added.

A spokesman for the Universities and Colleges Employers¡¯ Association condemned the action, saying ¡°UCU¡¯s demands for higher pay increases are neither affordable nor sustainable¡±.

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jack.grove@tsleducation.com