Outcome of UCU ballot

07 Nov 2023

The University and College Union (UCU) fails to reach the legal threshold for a further mandate for industrial action

Yesterday afternoon, the University was informed of the outcome of the latest UCU ballot for further industrial action relating to the ongoing dispute over pay and working conditions*. The aggregated ballot opened on Tuesday 19 September and closed on Friday 3 November 2023.

The turnout, which was 42.59% of all eligible UCU members, failed to reach the legal 50% threshold required to give a mandate for further Industrial Action concerning this ballot.

Of those who voted:

• 68.32% were in favour of industrial action consisting of Strike Action;
• and 75.57% were in favour of Industrial Action consisting of Action Short of Strike

We understand how important pay and working conditions are to our colleagues and take these concerns very seriously. Whilst pay is still negotiated nationally by UCEA, as with all Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), we continue to input into these discussions and decisions. We have also recently established a number of Task and Finish groups in partnership with our University’s Trade Unions to work collectively on non-pay issues such as academic workload and contract arrangements.

Adèle MacKinlay

Director of People and Organisational Development

* By ‘working conditions’, UCU are referring to pay gaps, workloads, incidence of fixed terms contracts and “casual” employment arrangements.