UCEA has read the low turnouts in the unions’ ballots* of their members as a clear indication that the great majority of university union members as well as wider HE employees understand the financial realities for their institution.
Of the five trade unions only three have announced their pay ballot results. Both UNISON and EIS have failed to get enough members to vote and will not be taking industrial action. Unite and GMB will announce presently.
UCU has just 55 results from their 147 separate ballots supporting a national dispute over the outcome of the 2019-20 JNCHES pay round. While UCU members in these 55 institutions could technically be asked to strike against their individual institution, this would be causing damage to both union members and to students in an unrealistic attempt to force all 147 employers to re-open the concluded 2019-20 national pay round and improve on an outcome that is for most of these institutions already at the very limit of what is affordable. For the handful of institutions where UCU members have voted in sufficient numbers to support industrial action, it is unclear how they can possibly pursue UCU’s national pay dispute.
It is now three months since employees covered by the national pay negotiations received above inflation base pay increases of between 3.65% and 1.8%, plus progression pay for the majority bringing the average increase at sector level to 3.5%**. It is clear that the great majority of the 325,000 colleagues in UK HE institutions covered by the collective negotiations on the base pay uplift understand the financial realities for their institutions.
Notes
*
• UCU’s disaggregated ballot results saw just 53 out of 147 UCU branches meeting the required 50% turnout, plus two in Northern Ireland who are not required to meet 50%.
• UNISON’s aggregated ballot result achieved an overall turnout of less than 50% www.unison.org.uk/news/article/2019/10/he-ballot-result-2/
• EIS’s aggregated ballot result achieved an overall turnout of 42% www.eis.org.uk/ULA/StatutoryBallot
• Unite’s aggregated ballot for participating HEIs where it has members concludes on 31 October but results are not yet known.
• GMB has balloted in only three institutions and results are awaited.
A 50% turnout is required by UK law in all jurisdictions except Northern Ireland.
** At the time of implementation CPIH inflation was 1.7% and remained at that level in the year to September. In addition to the base pay increases for all of between 1.8 and 3.65%, over half of the employees covered by these negotiations were eligible to receive progression pay increases averaging 3%.
UCEA’s website hosts full details of the 2019-20 Pay Negotiations, including the Final Offer in full:
The UCU and UNISON USS pension strike ballots are separate to their pay ballots. These ballot results relate to a separate dispute and have been separately counted and reported.
Contact Universities UK for comment relating to the outcome of the USS ballots.
ENDS
For further information: Please contact Andy Fryer, Head of Communications and Membership (a.fryer@ucea.ac.uk) or Marc Whittaker, Communications and Events Manager (m.whittaker@ucea.ac.uk). Call 020 7383 2444.
