Reballots in UCU higher education branches

The UCU higher education committee (HEC) has decided that all branches where turnout was between 40% and 50% should be balloted again as soon as possible.  

The reballots will open on Monday 6 December. You and other members in those branches will start receiving your voting papers from Tuesday 7 December.  

The reballots will close on Friday 14 January. This is a longer window to vote than last time, but it will still enable branches that gain a mandate to join any further action that may need to be called in either dispute next term. 

Your vote can make all the difference 

As before, the reballots will be on a disaggregated basis, meaning that your branch has to clear 50% turnout among its own membership, as well as voting YES, to be able to join the action.

Your vote is critical. Some of the branches that missed the turnout threshold last time were only one or two votes short, out of hundreds or thousands of members. Your vote could make the difference and allow you and thousands of your colleagues to take action to improve your working conditions. 

University staff are facing consistently worsening pay and spiralling workloads while employers refuse to take serious action to deal with casualisation and the pay gaps that exist for women and Black and disabled staff. In pre-1992 universities, there are cuts to USS pensions that will devastate members' retirement income - especially for staff in the early or middle parts of their careers. 

We have got as far as we can by negotiating with employers without a mandate for action. I have never seen employers so entrenched and resistant to the idea of investing in staff, despite the fact that the sector's income continues to increase year on year.  

The first step to changing that is to vote for action. Look out for your papers arriving the week after next. 

Jo Grady
UCU general secretary