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UCU’s Higher Education Committee has voted to ballot on industrial action over pay, with the possibility of strikes before Easter.
The sector is facing the possibility of strike action next term, after the UCU higher education committee voted (based on the results of a consultative ballot) to begin a strike ballot over pay as soon as possible.
It’s a demonstration of the distance between HEC and membership – members were almost evenly split about industrial action (53 per cent in favour, 47 per cent against), and we should note that this question covered industrial action in broad terms (covering approaches like work to rule) rather than asking specifically about a strike.
A UCU spokesperson told us:
UCU’s higher education committee (HEC) met yesterday to agree the union’s next steps following the result of the consultative ballot and has agreed to launch a statutory industrial action ballot in the new year over pay.
This decision to ballot, if carried out, would halt the start of agreed joint work between the unions and UCEA on contract types, the pay spine, workload, and equality gaps. Some 87 per cent of respondents accepted the terms of reference for this work, while 68 per cent voted to reject the pay offer.
UCEA had previously offered to continue the work on pay-related issues even if the unions rejected the pay element – a huge shift from the sector employers’ representative body – who had previously insisted on an “all or nothing” approach to pay deals. The quid pro quo for this was that there were no ballots for industrial action.
UCEA chief executive Raj Jethwa said:
Given the overwhelming support among UCU members for joint work with employers, together with the ambivalent response to industrial action and the stretched financial position of the sector, we urge UCU’s HEC to reconsider its decision or consult with its branches before a ballot is launched. UCU must grasp the opportunity to work with UCEA and the other trade unions on our important joint priorities.
Unusually, it was union faction UCU Left that announced the decision of HEC, rather than UCU centrally. Note the comment from former leadership hopeful Vicky Blake. The motion in question committed HEC to:
Immediately organise an IA ballot for a ‘fully-funded pay rise’ of 5.5 per cent (2023-24 claim) linked to a political campaign for a fully-funded sector calling for emergency measures to save jobs, courses and the sector.
This is a higher rise than was requested at the start of the New JNCHES process – the five unions then asked for inflation plus 2 per cent. The ballot will be carried out quickly to enable strike action before Easter.
UPDATE: more factional maneuvering as UCU Commons (the faction most closely associated with Jo Grady) issued an interim statement making it clear that they did not support a ballot:
This decision to call an IA ballot amounts, in our view, to a fundamental misuse of member energy, time, commitment and goodwill at a moment when the sector is in an unprecedented crisis. None of the Commons HEC members voted for this decision, and we all voted against the motion calling for the ballot.