Staff at the University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University will go on strike tomorrow and Thursday as part of a national pay dispute.

Members of the University and College Union (UCU), which includes staff ranging from receptionists to professors, will take action nationally over a range of pay-based concerns.

These include that, according to the UCU, since 2009 university employees have had a real-terms pay cut of 14.5 per cent. The Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) offered a pay increase this year of 1.1 per cent, which was rejected by the UCU as “insulting”.

The UCU claims there is a “shameful” gender pay gap of 12.6 per cent in universities nationwide, which rises to 17.4 per cent at Cambridge.

The UCU is also protesting against the widespread use of what it terms “casualised contracts”, including zero-hours contracts, claiming that “unpredictable hours are bad for teaching, staff wellbeing and quality of research.”

The union has also expressed disapproval of the significant rise in the average salaries of university Vice-Chancellors, which increased by an average of 6.1 per cent this year. Last month, Varsity revealed that the appointment of Cambridge’s next Vice-Chancellor could be accompanied for pay rise of up to 38 per cent for the role.

Speaking to Varsity, Waseem Yaqoob, Research Fellow in Politics and History at Pembroke, Research Staff Rep for Cambridge UCU, and head of the local Industrial Action Committee, condemned current pay-setting practices within the University.

“The pay for senior managers, who often sit on boards awarding each other rises, goes up”, said Yaqoob, “while for people who actually do value-generating work, their pay goes down”.

“We are annoyed that there is this massive inequality,” he said.

“Staff don’t want to strike,” Yaqoob emphasised, “and they don’t want to disrupt student education”.

He noted the particular financial difficulties that living costs in Cambridge create, saying it is “not really a livable city” for junior academics.

In a leaflet entitled ‘Why should Cambridge students support the university staff strike’, the UCU asserts: “We cannot let pay erode even further, inequality to grow and employment to become more insecure.”

“Our working conditions are your learning conditions,” it adds.

Staff from Cambridge will be on a picket line from 7am until noon at Great St Mary’s church on King’s Parade, with Anglia Ruskin staff picketing from 8am on East Road.

There is also going to be a joint rally between Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin, with speakers from UCU, other unions, and local political parties tomorrow at 12.30pm at Wesley Methodist Church.

In response to questions about whether the strike might affect any exams or teaching taking place on Wednesday or Thursday, spokesperson said that Cambridge “has policies and plans in place to ensure it can respond effectively to any potential disruption to the University's core activities.”

“In this regard, the University is working to ensure that students are not affected by the anticipated strike action.”