Industrial Action resources
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Thank you for your message but I AM ON STRIKE
The 25/26 1.4% pay increase offer is a real-terms pay cut of 3.2%
This is the lowest increase in the public sector:
Armed Forces: 4.5%
RPI (inflation): 4.3%
Doctors: 4%
Teachers: 4%
Nurses: 3.6%
Civil Servants: 3.3%
University Workers: 1.4%
University workers have not received a pay increase that matches inflation since 2009
If pay had matched inflation, salaries would currently be around 30% higher
The university sector needs reform – saving money by cutting staff pay cannot continue forever
Please join us in solidarity rallies on your lunchbreaks at:
Tuesday 10th February, 12 p.m – 1 p.m.
Senate House, Tyndall Ave, BS8 1TH
Thursday 12th February, 12 p.m. – 1 p.m.
Wills Memorial Building, Queen’s Rd, Bristol BS8 1RJ
If you are able to donate to our hardship fund to support striking workers, please contact: unison-office@bristol.ac.uk
SEE YOU ON THE PICKET LINE
University of Bristol UNISON – Join us!
Top 10 UK university and 51st in the world (QS Rankings 2026)
Top 5 UK university for research (THE analysis of REF 2021)
Top 5 most targeted university by top UK employers (High Fliers 2024)
NONE OF THIS WOULD BE POSSIBLE WITHOUT OUR HARD WORK
Postal Ballot resources
For the ballot held in November 2025
Vote Yes for strike action – LANDSCAPE / Teams background
change your Teams background
- Download the image above
- Join a meeting or call
- Click Camera icon > More video effects and settings > Video effects > Add New
- Select strike_teams_backround.jpg from your Downloads
- Select the image and click Apply
- Don’t panic if the image looks reversed! This is because you have “Mirror my video” selected. It will look normal for everyone else 🙂
Vote Yes for strike action – SQUARE / Teams profile image
Coming soon
BALLOT CHECKLIST poster
Coming soon
PAY BALLOT 2025
KEY INFO
- 📅 Monday 24th November – the last day you can send your ballot back to be sure it arrives in time – but do it ASAP!
- 📅 Thursday 13th November – the last day you can join UNISON and still be eligible to vote
- ☎️ 0800 0 857 857 – the number to call if you haven’t received your ballot by 28th October
- 📧 unison-office@bristol.ac.uk – the email address to use if you have any questions
- 💵 3.2% – the real terms pay cut you received this year after the 1.4% increase
- 🕰️ 2009 – the last time higher education workers got a pay increase that matched inflation
- 📈 30% – how much higher your salary would be if it had matched inflation since 2008
- 💪 4 – the number of higher education unions that are currently balloting over pay (UNISON, UCU, Unite, and EIS)
- 📣 50% – the turnout we require to get a mandate for industrial action!
PAY BALLOT 2025
🤔 WHY VOTE YES?
📉 The 25/26 1.4% pay increase is a real terms pay cut of 3.2%
😔 This is the lowest increase in the public sector
- Armed Forces: 4.5%
- RPI (infation): 4.3%
- Doctors: 4%
- Teachers: 4%
- Nurses: 3.6%
- Civil Servants: 3.3%
- University Workers: 1.4%
⛓️💥 The current model is broken
- University workers have not received a pay increase that matches inflation since 2009
- If pay had matched inflation, salaries would currently be around 30% higher
- The university sector needs reform – saving money by cutting staff pay cannot continue forever
👍 All unions involved in the negotiations, as well as our local branches, are recommending VOTE YES
- UoB UNISON (us 🥰)
- UoB UCU (our sister union 🤝)
- The joint higher education unions:
- UNISON
- UCU
- UNITE
- GMB
- EIS
🤝 UCU and UNITE are balloting at the same time
- The threat of joint industrial action with our sister unions greatly increases our strength
💪 A strong union branch holds senior management to account
- If we can demonstrate that we are an engaged, active, and strong union then we can force the university’s senior management to take staff demands seriously
- A mandate for industrial action (even if we don’t exercise it) strengthens our position in all negotiations
PAY BALLOT 2025
CHECKLIST
1️⃣ JOIN UNISON
✅As long as you join before 13th November, you can still vote!
Why join: https://unisonbristoluni.org.uk/join/
2️⃣ VOTE YES
✅Fill in your postal ballot and send it back in the provided envelope
Ballot details: https://unisonbristoluni.org.uk/fair-pay/
3️⃣ TALK to your colleagues
✅Create a group chat for any UNISON members in your team
✅Remind them to vote
✅Answer their questions
✅Talk to any new members on your team about joining UNISON
Talking points: https://unisonbristoluni.org.uk/strike-faq/
4️⃣ PROMOTE the ballot
✅Put up a poster in your workplace
✅Hand out some leaflets
✅Change your Teams profile picture and background image
✅Change your email signature
Templates and suggestions: https://unisonbristoluni.org.uk/resources/
PAY BALLOT 2025
✊ HELP US HIT THE TURNOUT THRESHOLD ✊
1️⃣ Contact any UoB UNISON members you know: team members, friends, family, etc.
2️⃣ Use whichever method you think will get the best response: Teams, WhatsApp, phone, face-to-face.
3️⃣ Remind them that they have two postal ballots to send back: the pay ballot, and the general secretary election ballot.
4️⃣ Remind them how important it is that we reach a 50% turnout in the pay ballot in order to strengthen our position as a branch.
5️⃣ Remind them that we have endorsed Andrea Egan as the general secretary candidate: https://unisonbristoluni.org.uk/were-backing-andrea-egan-for-general-secretary/
6️⃣ Try to answer any questions they have, making use of the information and resources on the branch website:
https://unisonbristoluni.org.uk/fair-pay/
(If there are still outstanding questions, remind them they can email union-office@bristol.ac.uk or contact a committee member on Teams)
7️⃣ When you have confirmation that someone has DEFINITELY posted their pay ballot (i.e. it is already in the post) contact one of the following committee members so we can tick them off our list (and stop chasing them 🤫):
Elle Chilton-Knight
Nathan Street
Alex Tissandier