Striking university staff have criticised the decision by University leadership to hold an all staff meeting on an upcoming scheduled strike day.

The meeting is set to take place on Monday 27th February from 12:15 to 13:15. The meeting falls on one of eighteen days of University and College Union (UCU) strike action that are currently scheduled to take place this term.

The invitation to all members of University staff promises that acting vice-chancellor Anthony Freeling, pro-vice-chancellor for University community and engagement Kamal Munir and the pro-vice-chancellor for education Bhaskar Vira will join the meeting.

One of the aims of the meeting is to debate “the importance of making sure that Cambridge can attract the best academic and professional talent”.

An anonymous striking academic criticised the move to Varsity and said: “I think scheduling a meeting on a strike day to talk about recruitment and about making Cambridge an attractive place to work is incredibly insulting to current staff who are on strike. We already work here and are taking part in a nationwide strike with clear demands about what would make the university a better place to work.”

They continued: “We have clear demands about what would make working for the university a viable, liveable option especially for many of us who are on precarious and short term contracts, or indeed, in the case of college supervisors, on no contracts at all. To invite staff to a meeting like this at lunchtime on a strike day shows so much dismissiveness toward those of us who are on strike; it is a way of signalling to us that our distress is being actively ignored.”

The all staff online meeting will also include discussions “on the recent survey on recruitment and retention, and actions being taken to make sure Cambridge is an attractive place to work”.

The invitation to the event, from the University’s internal communications team, noted that “it will not be possible for all staff to attend the open meeting, particularly this month”. To address this, the organisers said: “We are happy to take questions in advance and will make a recording of the meeting that we will share after the event.”

The meeting will also include a discussion on “the University’s initial response to the use of artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT and their impact on teaching and assessment.” Earlier this month, Varsity revealed that pro-vice-chancellor for education Bhaskar Vira believes that bans on artificial intelligence like ChatGPT are not “sensible”.

On the 27th February, and on seventeen over days this term, staff at the University will join over 70,000 staff at universities across the UK striking over pay, conditions and pensions disputes. The UCU has said the disruption caused by the strike action is “entirely the responsibility of university bosses who have refused to make staff fair offers”.

The UCU has said that if the ongoing dispute is not resolved then ongoing strike action will continue throughout 2023. The union is threatening a “marking and assessment boycott” from April if a satisfactory offer is not made.

A University spokesperson said: “Finding a suitable day this term that wasn’t affected by university or other national strikes that might have an impact on our staff has proved difficult. Striking or otherwise absent staff can submit a question in advance, a recording will be emailed to everyone afterwards, and there will be other updates on this topic in the future.”