67 universities now ready to strike

Submitted by AWL on 18 January, 2022 - 4:20
UCU strikers

Three days of strikes in 58 universities across the UK were held in December 2021 by the University and College Union (UCU), following two ballots. One ballot was over cuts to the “USS” pensions scheme (which average 35% across the scheme’s membership). The other, on the “four fights” issues: to tackle low pay, inequality, rampant casualisation, and excessive workloads.

Over the Christmas period re-ballots were held in 42 UCU branches who just missed out on taking strike action in December having previously fallen short of the 50% turnout threshold set by anti-union laws. Some branches had live ballots on one of the two disputes, and so in some cases branches now have the legal right to strike on both.

In the USS ballot, 7 of the 22 re-balloted branches now have live ballots, of which 5 could not strike in December. Though many branches missed out by small margins, 82% favoured strike action, and 90% favoured action short of a strike, such as marking and assessment boycotts.

In the four fights ballot, 9 of 38 re-balloted are now able to take action (though here again there is some overlap with the USS dispute), making a total of 67 institutions striking out of 100 universities balloting across the two disputes.

These results are mixed. Clearly more effort by the union to better resource re-ballot efforts could have resulted in far more branches with legal strike ballots which would have bolstered the dispute. More branches involved however allows for more on-the-ground organisation, and more vigorous action in the coming weeks and months.

UCU’s higher education committee (HEC) meets Wednesday 19th to decide the next steps in the dispute. This follows on from branch delegate meetings on Tuesday 18th, at which members of the UCU branches with live ballots have elected delegates. These delegate meetings formally however have no power in the union, and do not appear to even be running in line with the union’s own guidance. This is concerning for transparency and democracy.

Clearly now is the time to escalate the dispute. The December strikes were good for rallying support and building density, but it was always going to be the second and third academic terms in which these disputes would be settled.

What form of escalation do we need? Increasing strike action throughout February, that builds towards indefinite action at the end of this university term. All out strikes might prove necessary to force the employers to budge, but indefinite action needs building towards with increased week-by-week mobilisation.

We should get this underway as early as possible in February. Many ballots run out in May, so we need to consider how and when these should be renewed for the final university term. May and June see the majority of courses undergo final examinations, a period when marking and assessment boycotts would be most hard-hitting. For those to be effective, the national union needs to properly resource branches with training and support over the coming months.

Critical in all of this is maintaining the link between both balloted disputes. The core reason we are fighting over this range of issues is the marketisation of universities. We should retain the fightback against these issues that are fundamentally linked. Fighting these in isolation would further weaken the solidarity built between members in recent years, in particular between permanent and casually employed staff. Right wing efforts in the union have been focused on ensuring the pensions issue takes priority from here on. Rank and file members of the UCU should fight to keep the disputes coupled, and hold our leadership to account for any attempts to decouple these.

A further consideration is when these national dispute strike dates should take place accounting for ongoing important local UCU strikes. One example is at Goldsmiths where 52 redundancies are still tabled for the end of March. Timing the national disputes could provide significant leverage to this dispute, which would add to the “Boycott Goldsmiths” campaign that was announced in mid-January.

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