Aberdeen university staff begin 10 more days of strikes

Staff at the University of Aberdeen have walked out in a further 10 days of strike action in an ongoing dispute over cuts.

The University and College Union (UCU) had already staged four days of strikes last month.

Staff will also strike on Tuesday this week, to be followed by further days on 22 to 24 April and 27 April to 1 May.

UCU said the walkouts were over issues including refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies. The University said it was continuing to engage in talks with the union.

The latest round of action was announced at the start of this month.

UCU Aberdeen branch co-chair Dan Cutts, said: "Spring is a busy and critical time at Aberdeen university and staff want to be at work supporting students.

"But the actions of management and the failure to resolve this dispute has left us no alternative but to take this action."

The university said much of the UK higher education sector was facing challenging circumstances and had to change to become more resilient.

It said it would try to minimise disruption to students.

The university reopened a voluntary severance and early retirement scheme last year in a bid to find £5.5m in savings.

It also froze recruitment, and asked departments to identify other measures to save money.

The university recently confirmed 41 people took up an offer of a severance package or early retirement.

Elsewhere, Edinburgh University announced £140m of cuts to tackle financial difficulties, while the Scottish government bailed out Dundee University with £40m of emergency funding.

The Scottish government has said it wants a "successful and sustainable future" for higher education.