UCU staff at Dundee University announced today a five-week strike for the beginning of the new term, as their battle against job cuts continues.

The university was plunged into crisis in November 2024, when the then university principal Professor Iain Gillespie announced a £30 million deficit and the prospect of job losses, before promptly resigning his post.

His administration was panned in the Gillies report into the crisis, which has so far cost 815 jobs, but not before Prof Gillespie walked away with £152,000 to cover his legal costs and six-month notice.

Despite an unprecedented £40m Scottish government bailout, management recently announced it would look to slash another 200 posts, while continuing to refuse to rule out compulsory redundancies.

Announcing their plan to strike each weekday from September 21 to October 23, Dundee University UCU branch co-president Ian Ellis said: “The deficit that started this catalogue of failure was the fault of the university executive and court, and the inability to find a solution to this crisis that doesn’t wholly impact on staff, who have done absolutely nothing wrong, simply signifies yet another failure of management.

“We want to be part of the solution to this crisis, but willingness to open and genuine engagement is a prerequisite for that.”

UCU general secretary Jo Grady added: “Staff have shown time after time that they’re prepared to defend jobs.

“Senior management at Dundee need to listen to their staff and students and find a solution to this crisis that saves jobs and guarantees the university’s future.”

A Dundee University spokesperson called on the union to “suspend this action,” saying: “While we recognise the right to strike, this action will do nothing to help build a sustainable future for the university.

“We want to work constructively with the trade unions and have been in regular discussion with them, including on the ongoing collective consultation process.”

The university’s elected rector, North East Scotland Green MSP Maggie Chapman, however, said the workers had been “badly let down by successive university leaders, poor governance, and a lack of proper scrutiny and oversight.”

She said: “The staff and students are not responsible for the years of financial mismanagement that have brought the university to this point, and they must not be made to pay the price.”