The Friday email: 26 September 2025

We are the University: higher education industrial action ballot

The elected representatives on UCU's higher education committee voted to call an industrial action ballot for all members covered by the JNCHES 2025/26 negotiating umbrella. In total, 138 higher education institutions/employers are involved, corresponding to 145 UCU branches. 

UCU's ballot will be conducted by the independent election scrutineer Civica Election Services as a postal vote as required by law; please note that there is no online option available for voting for industrial action in the UK. The timeframe is the following:

• Monday 20 October: ballot opens
• Friday 28 November (17:00): ballot closes

The other campus unions (UNISON, GMB, Unite and EIS) are also proceeding with statutory industrial action ballots of their members.

We are organising a UCU Live online event on Thursday 2 October (19:00). This is your chance to hear directly about the We are the University campaign, what is at stake, and how you can help us win. We will send the link to this UCU Live event imminently. 

New Deal for FE: further education industrial action ballot

In further education (England FE), following decisions made by delegates at UCU's further education committee (FEC) in May 2025, UCU has moved to set out disputes with England FE employers.

UCU will be conducting an industrial action ballot, involving around 70 FE England college employers (corresponding to over 100 FE England UCU branches). The ballot will be conducted by the independent election scrutineer Civica Election Services as a postal vote as required by law; please note that there is no online option available for voting for industrial action in the UK. The timeframe is the following:

• Monday 13 October: ballot opens
• Monday 17 November (17:00): ballot closes

You can click here for the latest updates on the New Deal for FE.

Stop the Cuts! Disputes at UK universities

University of Edinburgh: fresh from their strike action earlier this month, Edinburgh UCU are re-balloting to extend their mandate for industrial action. With staff still facing brutal cuts and jobs being lost now its critical for members to return their ballot papers and vote YES to fight cuts and save jobs. The postal ballot runs until 28 October and you can send messages of solidarity to the branch here.

Sheffield Hallam University: a strike ballot is underway at Hallam as staff fight against job cuts and worsening working conditions. The ballot will run until Wednesday 1 October. The dispute centres on university management's refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies, despite already having slashed ~450 jobs during 2024. UCU has also raised the alarm over spiralling workloads as fewer staff are left to do more work. The cuts are being driven by the university's decision to plough more than £200m into major building projects, while announcing further budget reductions of £28m for 2025-26.

University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI): UCU members at UHI's Executive Office have launched a petition this week to call on their employer to rule out compulsory redundancies. Please sign the petition and share it. The branch is also running an industrial action ballot to oppose these job cuts.

University of Nottingham: members began a period of industrial action for two weeks from 22 September. A further two weeks are planned from 13 October, in the ongoing dispute regarding job losses. University management is making significant cuts and in this first wave there remains 270+ support and academic related staff at risk; this is despite hundreds already leaving via various voluntary schemes. Academic staff will be next and this will likely be announced in the coming months.

University of Leicester: members are taking fifteen days of industrial action (29 September-17 October) in response to the university's plans to slash jobs. The action comes after an overwhelming 80% of staff backed strike action in a ballot with a turnout of 62%. University managers have told staff in six areas (geography, geology and the environment; education; chemistry; modern languages; history; film studies) that their jobs are at risk as they seek to cut staffing budget by £11m. Hundreds of professional services staff have also been told they face a review that may lead to job losses. You can send messages of solidarity to the branch, and click here to make donations to their strike fund.

Imperial College London: staff at Imperial voted to take industrial action in a dispute over pay and conditions. The decision follows a ballot in which 77% of participating staff backed strike action, on a turnout of 59%. The dispute centres on management's refusal to increase its below inflation 2% pay award. When consulted, members of all three recognised unions (UCU, UNISON and Unite) voted to reject it.

University of Dundee: some eleven months after news of the financial and management crisis broke at Dundee, staff are still facing brutal cuts and the very real possibility of compulsory redundancies. After taking multiple days of strike action earlier in the year, Dundee UCU members are re-balloting to extend their mandate to fight cuts and save jobs. The re-ballot will run to 6 October. You can send messages of solidarity here.

Lancaster University: members are continuing to campaign against proposals to sack over 400 staff as part of management plans to slash £35m from the pay bill. UCU members have held stalls in Lancaster on Saturdays over the summer, and have spoken at a recent meeting of Lancaster City Council. They have scoured the support of both the Labour and Green groups on Lancaster City Council, and have launched a statutory industrial action ballot on Friday 12 September.

University of Sheffield: an industrial action ballot opened in late August, in a dispute over management's plans to put staff in five academic areas at risk of redundancy, as well as continued risk of redundancy to professional services staff across the university. The university announced reviews of staffing in chemistry, civil engineering, management, materials science, and East Asian studies.

Visa holders and redundancies webinar, 2 October

UCU is holding a webinar on Zoom entitled 'Visa holders and redundancies' on Thursday 2 October (13:00-14:00). You can click here to register.

UCU's migrant members' standing committee (MMSC) has received many queries from migrant members who are facing redundancy and are understandably concerned about how this may impact their visa and visa fees that they have paid. Specialist immigration lawyers Bindmans LLP will be delivering a webinar on the implications of redundancy for those on a visa.

International conference on academic freedom, 15 October

UCU, with the support of Education International (EI), is hosting an international conference on academic freedom on Wednesday 15 October. The conference will hear from international trade unions and experts about global and national challenges to academic freedom and will discuss how to build effective union responses, including in the UK. The confirmed keynote speaker is Robert Quinn, executive director of the Scholars at Risk Network.

The conference is free and will be run as a hybrid event. UCU members can either attend online or in person at the Hamilton House Meeting Rooms, Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9BD. In-person places are already all full, but you can still register for online attendance.

UK officer and NEC elections 2025-26

Nominations for UCU officer and national executive committee (NEC) members are now open.

More information about these elections, including all the necessary guidance and forms, can be found on the UCU website. The closing date for nominations is Tuesday 11 November (17:00).

The results of the 2025 elections for two casual vacancies on the NEC have now been declared and are also available on the UCU website.

Power Up! New Organising 4 Power course

The international organising programme, Organising 4 Power (O4P), has a new online course. It's called 'Power Up!' and is open to all regardless of previous organising experience. The course focuses on building capacity and developing winning campaigns. It will run over four sessions, two in November and two in December, coupled with support sessions from UCU facilitators. The deadline to register is Monday 3 November (17:00).

UCU equality group conferences 2025

This year each of UCU's equality groups will have a one-day hybrid conference. The venue will be UCU head office, and the online platform will be Zoom. Those joining remotely will be able to participate fully in the conference, including voting on motions and attending workshops. When registering for the event delegates must select if they wish to attend the conference/s in-person or remotely.

The days of the conferences are outlined below (all from 11:00-16:00):

• Friday 14 November: women members' annual conference
• Saturday 15 November: LGBT+ members' annual conference
• Thursday 20 November: disabled members' annual conference
• Friday 21 November: Black members' annual conference
• Friday 5 December: migrant members' conference

This year the equality groups conference will have a broad theme of 'Organising against division: building inclusive workplaces, resisting reactionary politics'. To register please use this link, which will take you to the main equality groups conference page.

Gender Pension Gap Day

Last month (21 August), the Trades Union Congress (TUC) marked the 'Gender Pension Gap Day'. This is the date that an average retired woman would run out of pension income, if she were receiving it at the same rate as an average retired man. It is based on research showing that the gender pension gap in the UK is 36.5%.

This level of inequality is unacceptable. The gender pension gap in schemes open to UCU members is also far too high, for example 27.2% in the Teachers' Pension Scheme (England and Wales) according to the latest valuation.

Thankfully, progress is being made. Some UCU members are covered by the Local Government Pension Scheme (England and Wales), which recently consulted on proposals that would close its gender gap significantly, including making all statutory parental leave pensionable.

UCU is pushing for similar measures in all pension schemes covering our members, including in all other public service pension schemes. You can take a simple step to support our campaign, regardless of the scheme you are in yourself, by signing the following petition and encouraging friends and family to do so.

DivestUSS campaign

DivestUSS has launched a campaign to clean up the USS pension scheme. As the climate crisis worsens, USS is still investing our members' pension money in the fossil fuel companies and banks that cause the crisis. DivestUSS wants USS to commit urgently to divest from fossil fuels and use our members' money to transition companies to clean energy. You can find more information about this campaign here.

Campaign for Trade Union Freedom (CTUF) call for Second Employment Rights Bill

The CTUF recognises the progress made in improving workers' rights in the current Employment Rights Bill. It believes, however, that a second bill is needed to strengthen further the rights of all workers. To this end, it has launched the Finishing the Job campaign and UCU members can show their support here.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Caucus survey

The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Caucus (EDICa), based at Heriot-Watt University and a major research initiative funded by UKRI and the British Academy, is conducting a survey focusing on the lived experiences of bullying and sexual harassment. Specifically, they are seeking responses from anyone employed in UK's research and innovation sector, including PhD students, since 2023.

They are especially keen to hear from individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds (particularly Black respondents) and those working in non-STEM disciplines. Click here to fill out the survey, which is open until 1 October 2025.

Labour Party conference

This weekend UCU will be at the Labour Party conference, using every opportunity to raise awareness of our fight on pay, terms, and conditions in further education, higher education, adult and community education, and prison education. Pleas keep an eye on our social media channels for updates from the conference floor.