Over 65,000 University and College Union (UCU) members working in
universities across the UK will be balloted for strike action
after employers refused to budge from their ‘offer' of 1.4%,
which represents a 3% real-terms pay cut [NOTE 1], the union
announced today [Monday].
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 [NOTE 2] 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.'
Notes
[1] Using the inflation figures from May 2025,
when UCEA made its final offer, the 1.4% offer represents a 3%
real-terms cut against RPI.
[2] UCU, Unison, EIS, GMB and Unite.
