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Union members at 41 universities have backed strike action over their pensions.
Forty-one universities have voted to take strike action over the disputed Universities Superannuation Scheme, in one of two nationwide ballots held by the University and College Union.
With four universities still to declare results, 41 out of the 69 universities balloted on a pensions strike passed the 50 per cent threshold legally required. Overall turnout for the USS ballot was 53 per cent.
In the 2018 pensions strike, 61 universities voted to take strike action on a national turnout of 58 per cent.
In the UCU’s second ballot over pay and working conditions, the overall turnout was 49 per cent and 54 universities out of 147 met the 50 per cent threshold required to back strike action. As of this afternoon, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the Institute of Development Studies, the University of Liverpool and the University of Sussex had yet to declare their results.
Jo Grady, general secretary of the UCU said the outcome showed “clear support” for strike action over pensions and pay.
“The results can only be interpreted as clear support for strike action over pensions, pay and working conditions. The ballots reflect just how unhappy and angry staff are at the state of higher education in the UK,” she said.
“It is incredibly frustrating that we had to ballot members again, but universities only have themselves to blame after failing to address falling real-terms pay and for refusing to deal with casualisation, workloads and the rising cost of USS pensions.
“Universities now have to come back to us prepared to work seriously to address these problems. If they choose to ignore this message from their staff then strike action looks inevitable.”
The UCU said its higher education committee will meet tomorrow (1 November) to discuss the results and plan the next steps.
In response to the ballot results, a spokesman for vice-chancellors’ body Universities UK said: “Employers remain open to further talks with UCU to discuss how the dispute can be resolved without industrial action, which would be damaging for staff and students.
“Recent negotiations between UCU and Universities UK concluded with no cuts to USS pension benefits, and employers paying the majority of the extra contributions required under pensions law. In a challenging economic environment, this outcome is the best that could be achieved. Crucially, it is acceptable to both the USS Trustee and The Pensions Regulator.”