Industrial Action Ballot Result Statement

UCU Commons members are disappointed in the outcome of the ballot; a failed ballot is not a result that any of us wanted. However, we know that many members have lost faith in our union’s elected committees to make strategic and tactical choices that they can rally behind. We know that many members and reps were confused about this ballot, what we were demanding and why. But we know that many of you jumped in anyway to do all you could. Thank you, to those who campaigned and did the work to get the vote out. Thank you also to those who told us “not this time”. We know that all members take their decision to vote or not, and how to vote, seriously. 

Before this ballot was called, UCU Commons members on HEC stressed that there were real risks in calling a ballot, when member and rep concerns were so visible both in the consultative ballot and in conversations we were listening to in and across branches. Our networks up and down the UK kept reporting that the priority had to be a strategy on jobs, not another ballot over pay. Pay degradation is a serious problem, but now was clearly not the moment to confront it. Members were also confused about what the union was asking for in concrete terms when it came to the proposed national agreement to avoid redundancies.

We argued for time to work with the joint trade unions, refine our asks and advance the pay-related elements of our claim. We argued for strategic discussions about how best to build grassroots momentum before launching any ballot – HEC has not had a serious conversation about industrial strategy for years. Unfortunately, we were in the minority.

Members have clearly spoken now and it is incumbent on all elected reps in our UK-wide structures to start listening.

We need to be campaigning to win, not dedicating our union’s resources to unwinnable ballots.

In recent HEC meetings, UCU Commons members Mark Pendleton and Bijan Parsia have authored motions and discussion papers on how UCU can become an industrial force for good, and we in Commons are ready to get back to work in confronting the crises in higher education. That requires a strategy, developed with branches and members, and deployed across the full breadth of our union’s campaigning capacity – industrial, political, media and more.

We hear you. It’s past time to get serious.

But we need your help to do that. Speak up in your branches. Vote in the forthcoming elections and encourage your colleagues to vote. Get active.