UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE UNION (UCU)
PRESS RELEASE 25th Nov 2021
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Staff at 42 universities to be balloted for strikes
· Reballots will start at 42 universities from Monday 6 December and run until Friday 14 January
· Successful branches will join nationwide industrial action next term
· UCU members at 58 universities begin a three day walkout from Wednesday 1 December
Up to 100 universities could face disruption in the new year if disputes over pensions and pay & conditions are not resolved, the University and College Union (UCU) warned today (Thursday).
UCU members at 42 universities will be asked to back strike action in ballots that open on Monday 6 December and close on Friday 14 January [NOTE 1]. The reballots come after a number of branches narrowly missed the Conservative’s anti-trade union turnout threshold, in some cases by only one or two votes.
Strikes will also begin at 58 universities next week Wednesday 1 December to Friday 3 December [NOTE 2].
The union has warned that if the disputes cannot be resolved then more strikes are likely in the new year, with the reballoting process allowing more members to take part, affecting even more universities.
To resolve the pension dispute UCU is demanding employers revoke their 35% cuts to the guaranteed pensions of staff. To resolve the pay & working conditions dispute UCU is demanding a £2.5k pay increase, as well as action to tackle the unmanageable workloads, pay inequality and insecure contracts that blight the sector.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: ‘Next week staff at dozens of campuses will be going on strike over attacks on their pensions, pay and working conditions. In the new year, staff at 42 more universities could join them for a period of sustained and escalating industrial action.
‘There is still time to avoid this disruption, but that is in the gift of vice chancellors who sadly are still choosing to ignore the serious concerns of staff rather than address them.’
NOTES
[1] Universities being reballoted got over 40% turnout, but missed the 50% threshold. 17 universities are being reballoted over both pensions and pay & working conditions. 20 universities are just being reballoted over pay & working conditions. Five universities are being reballoted over pensions only.
Six of the universities being reballoted will be taking action over either pensions or pay and working conditions, but are reballoting to secure mandates for action over both disputes.
Those being reballoted over both pensions and pay are:
- Aberdeen, The University of
- Aberystwyth University
- Brunel University
- Cardiff University
- City,
- University of London
- East Anglia, University of (UEA)
- Exeter, University of
- Newcastle University
- Oxford, University of
- Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL)
- Senate House, University of London
- Southampton, University of
- Strathclyde, University of
- Surrey, University of
- Swansea University
- University of Wales Trinity Saint David
- Warwick, University of
Those being reballoted on pay only:
- Abertay University
- Bath Spa University
- Bath, University of
- Cardiff Metropolitan University
- Falmouth University
- Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU)
- Huddersfield, University of
- Leeds Beckett University
- Lincoln, University of
- Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU)
- Northumbria University
- Nottingham Trent University (NTU)
- Oxford Brookes University
- Plymouth, University of
- University for the Creative Arts (UCA)
- West of Scotland, University of the
- Westminster, University of
- Worcester, University of
- Writtle University College
- York St John University
Those being reballoted on USS only:
- Courtauld Institute of Art
- Leicester, University of
- Manchester, The University of
- Salford, University of
- University College London (UCL)
[2] 33 institutions will see strikes over both pay and pensions:
- Aston University
- Birkbeck, UoL
- Durham University
- Goldsmiths, UoL
- Heriot-Watt University
- Keele University
- King’s College London
- London School of Economics
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
- Loughborough University
- Open University
- Royal Holloway, UoL
- SOAS, UoL
- The University of Birmingham
- The University of Dundee
- The University of Kent
- The University of Leeds
- The University of Nottingham
- The University of Sheffield
- The University of Stirling
- University of Bradford
- University of Bristol
- University of Cambridge
- University of Edinburgh
- University of Essex
- University of Glasgow
- University of Lancaster
- University of Liverpool
- University of St Andrews
- University of Sussex
- University of York
- Queens University Belfast
- University of Ulster
21 will see strikes over pay only:
- Courtauld Institute of Art
- Edinburgh Napier University
- Glasgow School of Art
- Greenwich University
- Kingston University
- Liverpool Hope University
- Manchester Metropolitan University
- Queen Margaret University
- Roehampton University
- Royal College of Art
- Royal Northern College of Music
- Sheffield Hallam University
- The University of Manchester
- The University of Northampton
- The University of Salford
- University of the Arts London
- University College London
- University of Brighton
- University of Central Lancashire
- University of Chester
- University of Leicester
- Four will see strikes over pensions only:
- Institute of Development Studies
- Imperial College London
- University of Bath
- University of Reading