UCU strike ballot in doubt as emergency meeting called

The University and College Union’s plan to ballot for a sector-wide strike over pay has been thrown in doubt after an emergency meeting was called to discuss the vote.

The union’s higher education committee has been invited to a meeting on 19 February, after half of its members requested further discussions. The timing of the ballot is the main item of discussion.

A UCU spokesperson said: “Alternative timelines are under consideration through the union’s democratic structures, and an announcement will be made in due course.”

The higher education committee voted in December to hold the ballot over the Universities and Colleges Employers Association’s pay rise offer of between 2.5 and 5.7 per cent for 2024-25.

But the announcement was immediately criticised by some branches, which expressed concern that taking industrial action over an already imposed pay rise risked taking attention away from local disputes.

That sentiment may have heightened after recent announcements of more than 1,000 job losses across the UK higher education sector, which is facing a mounting financial crisis.

A motion has been launched by UCU Commons against the national strike, arguing that it would cost "upwards of £200,000", adding “there is no appetite from lay members for a UK-wide ballot on last year’s pay”.

They said instead that “branches need to direct member energy to fight disputes over jobs”, and “a pay rise is worthless for a member that does not have a job”.

A growing number of branches, including at Newcastle University, the universities of Dundee and East Anglia, and Brunel University of London, have now voted for strike action over cuts at their institutions.

Dyfrig Jones, senior lecturer in film at Bangor University and a higher education committee member who voted against holding a strike ballot, said the “clear message” coming from members was that they “have bigger things to worry about than a 5 per cent pay rise”. 

“So many branches are facing massive numbers of redundancies. For them, pay is less an issue than job security, and a lot of them will want to take local industrial action. It’s really, really difficult to try press more local action when you’ve got national action going on.”

The higher education committee took its earlier decision after 53 per cent of union members who participated in a consultative poll said that they would be prepared to take industrial action in response to employers’ pay offer.

Crucially, however, this vote achieved a turnout of only 27 per cent, and a formal ballot would require at least 50 per cent of members to take part in order to be valid.

Jones said that a low turnout in a national strike ballot could ultimately harm local branches.

“[Employers] will use this against us. They will say, ‘You are weak, you can’t mobilise your members.’ It really hurts us to hold ballots and lose with that kind of outcome.”

Long-running industrial action over pay, pensions and working conditions came to an end in 2023 when only 43 per cent of members voted in a ballot.

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com