Hundreds gathered at picket lines across Durham as staff staged a three-day strike over pensions, pay and conditions.
Durham University is one of 58 in the UK to be hit by industrial action this week, with further action being threatened if a deal cannot be reached.
Around 50,000 members of the University and College Union (UCU) walked out from Wednesday to Friday.
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The UCU said just over 200 members attended four picket lines across the Durham University campus as the strike got under way on Wednesday.
Branch president Sol Gamsu said: “We had a really strong showing on the picket lines, including support from staff at Newcastle and Northumbria universities.
“We’ve also had fantastic support from the Students’ Union, who voted to support our strike action and have been providing us with tea and coffee today.”
Mr Gamsu, who works in the Sociology department, said, “We’re here because staff are facing a 21% cut to their pensions - which could be as high as 41% for some staff.
“It disproportionately affects younger members of staff who don’t have the accumulated pension benefits.
“It’s also about precarious work and the use of casual contracts, which continues to be the case for far too many of our members.
“We’re also raising the issue of excessive workloads - staff regularly work far beyond their contracted hours, which is not acceptable, especially after the pandemic.
“There are far too many cases of people being utterly exhausted and going off sick with stress in some cases.
“To have worked through the pandemic and have the universities turn around and say they’re cutting pensions - it’s not acceptable and it feels like a slap in the face.”
The union has warned that more than a million students will be affected by the action - and said more strikes could take place in the new year if the disputes with employers remain unresolved.
The UCU claims that cuts to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) pensions scheme would reduce the guaranteed retirement income of a typical member by 35%.
It has also suggested that pay for university staff has fallen by around a fifth after 12 years of below inflation pay offers, whilst thousands of academic staff are employed on "insecure" contracts.
The union is demanding that cuts to the pensions scheme are revoked and members are offered a £2,500 pay increase, as well as action to tackle "unmanageable workloads" and "insecure contracts".
UUK, on behalf of employers in the pensions dispute, suggested only a "small minority of staff" were determined to strike as it claimed that fewer than 10% of active pension-scheme members voted in favour of industrial action.
It said that changes to the pensions scheme are "necessary" .
A statement from UUK said: "Until UCU acknowledges this it will be impossible to resolve the dispute and students will continue to suffer.
"It is unrealistic to expect that strike action against 37 employers will somehow lead to fundamental reform of the way pensions are regulated in the UK.
"It is never an easy decision to change people's pensions - no-one wants to do this - but ignoring the problem and hoping it will go away is not the answer."
It added: "UCU members must realise that the outcome achieved at this valuation is not only fair, but also the best possible result under the circumstances."
