SOUTHAMPTON SOLENT UNIVERSITY staff will strike tomorrow after losing up to £10,000 per year from their retirement income in a fire-and-rehire attack.

An overwhelming 93 per cent of University & College Union (UCU) members who voted in the ballot backed strike action on a turnout of 72 per cent after bosses forced staff out of their preferred pension scheme and threatened to sack all those who refused to exit it, the union said.

Staff will down tools tomorrow and next Tuesday.

The university moved 286 staff off its books into subsidiary company Solent University Services in December.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “Strike action is a last resort for our members but we will not stand by while staff are forced out of their preferred pension scheme.”

A Southampton Solent University spokesman denied “any claim that staff were or are at risk of having their employment terminated for refusing change.”