UK wide ballot paves way for national strike action across university campuses

The dispute comes in the context of more than a decade of vicious attacks on the pay and conditions of university staff, which have led to pay being degraded against inflation by at least 30%.

All five trade unions representing higher education workers at the pay negotiations have voted to reject the 3% real terms pay cut offered by the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA). The 1.4% pay award also compares poorly to awards from similar sectors, such as the 4% recommended to teachers.

UCU has now begun preparations for an aggregated UK-wide ballot of its members, covering 138 institutions, which it expects to open in the week commencing Monday 20 October. UCU's sister trade unions in HE are also considering ballots of their members. In the absence of movement from employers, successful ballots will help pave the way for coordinated industrial action between every union representing university workers in the new year, causing maximum disruption on campus.

The last UK-wide strike action UCU took resulted in a momentous win with the UK's largest private pension scheme fully restoring a 35% cut to staff pensions.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: 'University employers are now on notice that we will launch a UK-wide pay ballot with the potential for coordinated strike action that will cause maximum disruption on campus.

'Our members, not vice-chancellors, are the people who support students, create teaching materials, conduct world leading research and keep universities running; we are the university. Employers now need to recognise that imposing a 1.4% pay award, when inflation is still soaring is a significant real-terms pay cut and an insult to hard-working higher education staff. It's time for them to come back to the table with an improved offer that will settle this dispute and avoid the need for a strike ballot and potential industrial action.'