EIGHT days of strikes are being planned at the University of York.

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) will walk out from Monday November 25 to Wednesday December 4 in a dispute over pay and working conditions, and rising pension costs.

A spokesperson said UCU members backed strike action at 60 universities in ballots last week, and universities had to respond positively and quickly to avoid disruption before Christmas.

"The disputes centre on changes to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) and universities’ failure to make improvements on pay, equality, casualisation and workloads," they said.

"As well as eight strike days from 25 November, union members will begin “action short of a strike” when they return to work.

"This involves things like working strictly to contract, not covering for absent colleagues and refusing to reschedule lectures lost to strike action.

"At the University of York, 83 per cent of UCU members polled voted for strikes over changes to USS pensions and 75 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."