Following an online ballot the branch membership have authorised 2 days of strike action during the exam resit and board preparation period in August and notice has been served to the university. The strike days are 7 and 10 August 2026.
We would ask all members to take part. Your colleagues in Scholar and LINCs need your support.
Members should also continue to observe action short of strike and work to contract, refusing to work excess hours or undertake voluntary duties.
Details will follow about the pickets and how to claim from the hardship fund.
Why has this happened?
The university have decided not to honour their side of the agreement reached in June.
The agreement approved by our members was that in return for standing down industrial action during the graduations there would be no compulsory redundancies in LINCS before at least March 2027 and that there having been sufficient VR applications (or redeployment opportunities) there would be no need for compulsory redundancies in Scholar.
After the graduations we were told that the the university have decided not to respect the agreement and are now moving to compulsory redundancies in both LINCS and Scholar. Our negotiators have engaged in good faith so this is an extremely disappointing development. It is almost unheard of for an employer to do this and hugely damaging to industrial relations but regrettably it is how our senior leadership team sometimes behave. We offered to meet with the university last week but the offer was not taken up.
In response to the university’s action our members voted for industrial action via a snap online consultative ballot. It is not a great time of year to catch members who might already be taking a well-earned break, so thank-you to everyone who made time to vote and get us over the threshold in only 3 days.
We would now require an immediate binding commitment from the university that they will not move to CR in Scholar and that they will stick to the agreed timeline in LINCS before we would ask the members to once again call off action. In the meantime, we remain open to meeting with the university.
Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.
Members meeting
There will be a members’ meeting at which we will discuss the latest developments in the dispute at 1pm on Thursday 6 August. The meeting will be addressed by Dr Mark Pendleton, Vice President UCU.
A Zoom link has been sent to member email accounts. Please try to attend if you can.
Postal re-ballot
Separate to the online ballot, which is now concluded, members are asked to complete and return their postal ballot papers.
With compulsory redundancies still on the table, we are re-balloting to extend our existing mandate for industrial action for a further 12 months. This will take us into the next academic year.
Members will have seen what is already happening in Dubai. Your vote is crucial to help colleagues who still face the threat of compulsory redundancy.
