STRIKES will hit six higher education institutions in Yorkshire and north-east England in three separate disputes next week.

More than 1,800 University and College Union (UCU) lecturers at Leeds University will launch indefinite strike action on Monday after university authorities cut their pay by 100 per cent for taking part in a marking boycott even though they are carrying out other work including teaching.

A series of four one-day strikes from Monday will also hit a group of four colleges — Leeds City, Bradford, Kirklees (Huddersfield) and Harrogate — during students’ crucial GCSE exams. The colleges are in dispute over pay.

In the north-east, more than 100 lecturers at Tyne Coast College will strike on Monday and Wednesday over pay.

The Leeds lecturers warned that their strike could continue “for months.”

UCU regional official Julie Kelley said: “The brutal pay docking regime that University of Leeds management is enforcing on its staff is only adding fuel to this dispute; it’s bad for staff and it’s bad for students.

“Leeds’s vice-chancellor needs to get on the phone to the employer body Universities and Colleges Employers Association and demand it gets back to the negotiating table, that is the only way this dispute will be resolved.

“Our members are willing to down tools until she sees sense and stops trying to impoverish our members.” 

Lecturers at the four Yorkshire colleges will strike on Monday and Wednesday next week and Monday and Wednesday the following week. 

UCU said college leaders have only themselves to blame if strikes disrupt GCSE examinations due next week.