Over 70,000 staff at 150 universities are to strike after University and College Union (UCU) members overwhelmingly voted ‘yes’ in two historic national ballots.
The results saw the union deliver momentous turnouts that beat the anti-union threshold. More than eight in ten of those who voted said ‘yes’ to strike action.
The union now has a mandate to deliver strike action at every university in the UK.
Staff were balloted across two separate ballots: pay and working conditions, and cuts to pensions.
In the pay and working conditions ballot, the yes vote for strike action was 81.1% and the turnout was 57.8%.
In the pension ballot, the yes vote for strike action was 84.9% and the turnout was 60.2%.
The union’s demands include a meaningful pay rise to deal with the cost-of-living crisis. Staff were offered just a 3% pay rise this year whilst a third of academic staff are on some form of temporary contract.
In the pension ballot, the UCU is demanding employers revoke the 35% cut they made earlier this year to the guaranteed retirement income of the average member.
UCU is now the only union to secure a national mandate for action in the education sector since the anti-trade union laws were passed in 2016. The entire higher education sector could now be brought to a standstill.
The UK university sector generated record income of £41.1bn last year with vice chancellors earning collectively an estimated £45 million. UCU says it can more than afford to meet staff demands.
UCU’s higher education committee meets on Thursday 3rd November to decide the next steps the union will take.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: ‘Today history has been made by our members in universities, who in huge numbers have delivered an unprecedented mandate for strike action.
‘The vice chancellors who run universities have repeatedly and in a coordinated fashion come after our members.
‘Well, now it’s 150 bosses against 70,000 university workers who are ready and willing to bring the entire sector to a standstill, if serious negotiations don’t start very soon.
‘University staff are crucial workers in communities up and down the UK. They are sending a clear message that they will not accept falling pay, insecure employment and attacks on pensions. They know their power and are ready to take back what is theirs from a sector raking in tens of billions of pounds.’
