The University and College Union announced today that its members would strike on 8 April, and claimed that 90 jobs are at risk at the institution.

The union criticised the university for refusing to extend the 28-day time limit in which union members can strike after a strike ballot has taken place. It argued that an extension would have allowed the two parties to negotiate further.

Martyn Moss, UCU regional official, said: ¡°We fail to understand why the university has essentially asked union members to put up or shut up when it comes to strike action.

¡°Anyone looking for a peaceful resolution to this dispute would have extended the window and sought to avoid industrial action.

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¡°Had the university agreed to UCU¡¯s request to extend the window for potential industrial action, we could have focused on trying to resolve the dispute.

¡°By refusing the union¡¯s olive branch, they have left members at Liverpool Hope who value their jobs and the university¡¯s long-term reputation with little choice but to take strike action. We appeal to the university to see sense and reconsider their position.¡±

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Mr Moss added that union members at the institution ¡°have no faith in how the university is handling the funding problems that have beset the higher education sector¡±.

¡°They do not think the university should be swinging the axe on jobs so hastily,¡± he said.

The university said it was disappointed that a strike had been called, and insisted that it had to ¡°act quickly to ensure it maintains its strong position¡± in the face of public cuts.

A spokesman said the university had already made clear that it did not want to ¡°pass on government debt to graduate debt¡± by charging ?9,000 fees from 2012.

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On the refusal to extend the deadline for strike action, he added: ¡°UCU has failed to get a national agreement on job security and no university can give a guarantee that there will be no compulsory redundancies. This is the basis of UCU's dispute with Liverpool Hope and the situation will not change in the next four weeks.¡±

john.gill@tsleducation.com