The UCU has recently announced its members have voted to renew the strike mandate at UK universities for a further six months. We've put together a blog with all the latest information.
The UCU has recently announced the results of a ballot to renew the strike mandate at UK universities for a further six months.
The Reballot
Following the 18 days of strike action last term, UCU members have been voting in a reballot which closed on Friday 31 March.
Similarly to last time, the ballot involved two separate votes where members could vote in favour of industrial action in relation to:
This is a really complicated set of topics and we’ll be releasing an updated version of some articles that we published on these issues earlier in the year to give you some more information. It’s important to understand that UCU is aware that these issues do not affect all members equally and, as a result, not all members will be voting on both of these topics.
- 79 institutions voted only on the Pay and Working Conditions topic.
- 5 institutions voted only on the USS Pension Scheme topic.
- 60 Institutions voted on both the USS Pension Scheme and Pay and Working Conditions topics separately.
At Royal Holloway, UCU members will vote on both topics.
The results
The results for the reballot were announced on Monday 3 April at 3pm. UCU confirmed they have successfully renewed its strike mandate at UK universities for a further six months.
In the pay and working condition ballot, 85.6% of voters voted yes for strike action, and the turnout for the vote was 56.4%. In the pension ballot, 89% of voters voted yes for strike action, and the turnout for the vote was 58.4%. UCU members also voted for action short of strike in both ballots.
The ballot results mean UCU is able to call further strike action at 150 universities across the UK. They are also preparing to serve notice for a marking and assessment boycott.
Remind me, who is the UCU?
The University and College Union (UCU) is a British trade union, which represents academic and support staff in education (mostly those educating in a higher or further education setting).
UCU has over 130,000 members nationally across 152 institutions and many academic and support staff that work at Royal Holloway are members of UCU.
WHAT IS A TRADE UNION?
Trade unions are membership organisations that provide a range of assistance and services to members in exchange for a membership fee. UCU describe the role of trade unions as:
- Providers of information, advice and guidance to members for work-related problems.
- Providers of training, insurance, financial services and legal advice to members.
- Campaigning on particular issues.
There are many trade unions in the UK and they usually represent members working in a specific industry or field. Membership of a trade union is optional and is a personal decision, but is protected under employee rights. This means all employees have the right to join a trade union (or not) and employers are not able to treat employees unfairly for being members or incentivise leaving a trade union.
WHY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT THEM?
UCU are the trade union that represents the majority of the academic staff here at Royal Holloway, their campaigns and activities can have an impact on your lecturers and in turn your education.
In 2021, university staff at Royal Holloway participated in the largest strike action UK higher education had ever seen following a ballot of UCU members. This academic year, they took part in further strike action which resulted in a number of strike days across both term one and two. You can find out more information about this here. The ballot for this strike action ends on Friday 21 April 2023.
The UCU decided to re-ballot their members on 12 January 2023 in order to renew their mandate for industrial action for both the pay and working conditions dispute, and the pensions dispute.
HOW CAN I FIND OUT MORE?
We’ll be sharing some articles over the coming weeks to give you some useful background information so make sure to keep an eye out!
In the meantime, you can find out more by visiting these websites: