UNISON members at the University of Bristol have voted overwhelmingly to reject the 1.4% salary increase offered by the university’s senior management.
95% of branch members who participated in the consultation ballot voted to reject the offer.
In May the Universities & Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), which negotiates nationally on behalf of the University of Bristol, offered university workers a 1.4% salary increase for 2025/6, far lower than all other public sector workers.
The University of Bristol branch of UNISON, as well as each of the five unions which take part in negotiations with UCEA, recommended that its members vote to reject the offer.
UNISON represents a wide range of professional services workers at the university. The branch argues that with inflation currently above 4%, a 1.4% increase amounts to a real terms pay cut of around 2.6% for all the university’s staff.
Co-branch secretaries Vicky Redwood and Nathan Street said:
“We commend our members for standing up for their pay with this clear indication of their dissatisfaction with the offer. It’s a real demonstration of our branch’s commitment to fighting for fair pay for all university staff. We’ve had 15 straight years of below inflation pay increases, and our members just can’t afford it anymore.”
The result makes it likely that the branch will move on to a formal postal ballot which, if successful, will provide it with a mandate for industrial action.
In 2023, University of Bristol UNISON and Bristol UCU held joint strike action over that year’s pay offer, causing significant disruption to the university’s open days (Bristol UCU and UNISON hold joint strike action on university open day) and forcing the university’s senior management to enter local negotiations with the branch.