University staff could spend up to eight days on strike in a dispute over pay and pensions.
The University of Manchester will be hit with eight days of strike action from Monday, November 25, until Wednesday, December 4.
The action will form part of a UK wide strike affecting 60 universities.
It comes after the University and College Union (UCU) members backed strike action in ballots over both pensions, and pay and working conditions.
Union bosses say universities will have to respond positively and quickly if they want to avoid disruption before Christmas.
The dispute centres on changes to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) and issues with pay and workloads.
As well as the strike days, union members will begin “action short of a strike” when they return to work.
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This will involve working strictly to contract, not covering for absent colleagues and refusing to reschedule lectures lost to strike action.
At the University of Manchester, 83 per cent of UCU members polled voted for strikes over changes to USS pensions. 79 per cent backed strikes over pay and conditions.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “Strike action is a last resort, but staff have made it quite clear that enough is enough and universities can be in no doubt about the strength of feeling.
“The first wave of strikes will hit institutions later this month unless universities start talking to us seriously about how they are going to deal with rising pension costs and declining pay and conditions.”
