Staff at Imperial College London are due to strike for four days over a dispute about pay cuts and paternity leave.

University and College Union (UCU) members have already held six days of strike action this term over the university’s pay rise offer of two per cent. Unions have said this will amount to a real-terms pay cut.

The next wave of strikes will take place from 25 November to 28 November, with pickets in place at the South Kensington and White City campuses from 8.30am until 10.30am.

According to the UCU, a review of salary benchmarks found that they should be significantly raised. However the union claimed that Imperial management “misrepresented” the results by rewording the review's conclusions and “misled” staff.

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If staff do not receive an improved offer, the union will take further strike action for 10 working days in December.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “Imperial staff will once again down tools this week because they refuse to accept a real-terms pay cut while university management freely spends billions of pounds elsewhere. 

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“The mistakes Imperial management is making, to avoid giving staff what they deserve, will have serious consequences. The provost must stop misrepresenting a salary review, which clearly concluded that pay needs to rise, as a reason to suppress wages and return to the negotiating table with a meaningful offer.”

The union also claimed that during negotiations university management offered to increase the period over which staff could receive enhanced paternity leave pay but this was later withdrawn when it was pointed out that fathers would get more leave on full pay than mothers and that maternity pay should therefore also be increased.

Vijay Tymms, president of Imperial UCU, said: “Members are furious that after first failing to check their calculations, we now find senior management has behaved in such an underhand way. When this review was first announced, we were told that our input would help shape the principles to inform our decisions.

“Nobody thought those decisions would include rewriting the recommendations of the review.”

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Imperial’s 2 per cent pay offer was above the 1.4 per cent put forward by the Universities and Colleges Employers Association earlier this year.

An Imperial spokesperson said: "We remain committed to ensuring that staff are appropriately recognised and rewarded for the vital role they play. In uncertain times it is important that we plan for the long-term future of our institution for the benefit of our students and staff."

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com