Universities who 'opt out' of national pay rises will face industrial action, warns UCU

UCU also offered immediate talks with the employers to resolve all outstanding issues in, what it described as, the interests of providing much needed stability in the sector.

'We view UCEA's macho strategy of refusing to talk to UCU...while at the same time encouraging universities to believe they can opt in and out of national pay deals, as a tactical disaster for our sector.'

The employers' body, the Universities and Colleges Employers' Association (UCEA), has told universities they have until the end of March to opt out of national bargaining.

In response, UCU's Higher Education Committee (HEC) today approved plans for the union to write to every university vice-chancellor and principal warning that if any institution does decide to 'opt out' of national bargaining it would face local industrial action and greylisting.

The union will appeal to university chiefs to use their influence to reverse what it believes is an unnecessarily macho strategy from UCEA. It said today that talks needed to take place urgently on the issues facing the sector; including the UCEA opt out, the exclusion of UCU from current bargaining structures and the threats of a 'zero pay increase' from some institutions.
 
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'We view UCEA's macho strategy of refusing to talk to UCU, the largest highest education union, while at the same time encouraging universities to believe they can opt in and out of national pay deals, as a tactical disaster for our sector.
 
'The current UCEA position is the equivalent of leaving the window open to let the burglar out. UCU will target for action any university which seeks to destabalise the sector by opting out of national pay deals at this key time.
 
'With the UK in recession, staff and management should be working together to provide stability. Now, more than ever, we need stable national bargaining supported by all parties. UCU is prepared to begin negotiations immediately on resolving our differences with the employers. It takes both sides to negotiate and we today repeat our offer to use an independent third party, such as ACAS, to begin immediate negotiations.'