A ballot for further strike action in the UK’s long-running industrial dispute over pay and working conditions has handed a mandate for action to only one in four branches that were polled.
Staff at 36 University and College Union branches voted in favour of walkouts and passed the 50 per cent turnout threshold which is legally required for action in most of the UK. A further 105 branches mostly failed to pass the threshold, with a handful voting “no”.
The results mean that 39 institutions currently have a green light for continuing action, as mandates remain live at Queen’s University Belfast, Ulster University and Queen Mary University of London. And results of a separate ballot tied to the dispute over cuts to pensions provided by the Universities Superannuation Scheme are yet to be published.
The Universities and Colleges Employers Association (Ucea) said that the “diminishing” mandate should be a “wake-up call” for UCU’s team to “move on” from the dispute, which focuses on last year’s pay negotiations.
Universities have already been hit by 13 days of…
