The results are in! Over 60% of us returned our pay ballot, and of those that did, 92.6% voted YES for strike action relating to this year’s pay offer. ✊
🤔 What does this mean?
Because we hit the 50% turnout threshold, and because more than 50% of returned ballots were “yes” votes, our branch now has a legal mandate for industrial action over the 2025-26 national pay offer of 1.4%.
This result sends a clear message to the university’s senior management that they can no longer continue to erode staff pay as an easy solution to financial difficulties.
Unfortunately, ballot results at other UNISON branches across the country, as well as for UCU and Unite, were not as decisive as ours (our turnout was nearly double the UNISON national average!). We are one of only eight UNISON branches that met the required 50% turnout threshold. UCU ran an aggregated ballot (meaning they have a single national figure for turnout) and did not meet the required threshold. This makes national coordination less likely. We’ll need to lead by example.
However, not being constrained by joint union national days of action should give us more control over the days we propose to strike.. As a reminder, a large part of the success of the 2023 industrial action was due to our strike days coinciding with UoB open days.
👀 What happens next?
We start planning!
The next step as a branch is for us to discuss and plan how, and when, we would like to strike for maximum effectiveness.
Next steps will also be discussed at our next branch meeting on Monday 8th December at 12:00.
In the meantime, the following national actions take place:
- The Higher Education Service Group Executive – the committee elected to lead on HE matters in UNISON – has voted to support the eight branches who secured a legal mandate.
- The next step is for the National Executive Council (NEC), via their Industrial Action Committee (IAC), to sign off on this recommendation and make practical decisions like how much strike pay HE members can claim.
- Once the IAC has approved, and mandated branches have decided when to strike, UNISON’s National Officer writes to the employer to give them the legal 14 days’ notice.
This means that realistically, we are looking to take action in the New Year
Well done to everyone who voted and helped spread the word – hopefully see you all on the picket lines soon 🫡