The University and College Union (UCU) has lost an industrial action ballot that would have allowed it to take national strike action over pay and job cuts.

Only 39 per cent of members participated in the vote which closed on 28 November – well short of the 50 per cent turnout requirement mandated by trade union law.

The outcome has triggered a bout of soul-searching within the union with some senior members criticising the “manifestly wrong decision” to trigger a ballot in the first place.

Of those who took part, 70 per cent of UCU members backed strike action, and 83 per cent backed taking other forms of industrial action.

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The result marks a . When UCU last ran a national ballot in 2023, turnout stood at 42.6 per cent.

UCU had been pursuing collective action alongside the sector’s other unions, and the Educational Institute of Scotland has also failed to meet the turnout requirements. Unison said it is hoping to announce its results later this week.

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A UCU spokesperson said: “A strong majority of our members backed strike action in response to unfair pay, worsening conditions, and widespread threats to jobs across the sector. It will be particularly disappointing for those who voted for action that, despite this clear mandate, we are not able to proceed.

“Across the country, our members are working tirelessly to defend their jobs and protect their universities from damaging cuts. It is past time for both politicians and employers to stop undermining our higher education sector and start working with us to safeguard its future.”

The ballot was described as “divisive” among members, who had argued that strike action over pay could detract from local disputes over job cuts. Many local branches have experienced record turnouts and increased union membership as they have looked to battle local disputes.

Writing to members, UCU general secretary Jo Grady said that “our immediate next steps must be to understand why more members did not engage with the ballot”.

She noted that during the campaign, conversations with members had showed “there was not agreement on how we should confront the important issues we face”, adding “we must find a way to ensure these conversations continue and that they are properly supported”.

“It is clear the union needs a period of reflection to engage with you fully outside of the pressure of a ballot campaign, and to develop a supportive environment for these conversations. A loud and clear message from the meetings I attended was that members want a strategy. They want us unified and with a shared understanding and plan of how we will work together to achieve a better higher education sector.”

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UCU vice-president Dyfrig Jones told ̽����Ƶ: “There’s no getting away from the fact that it’s a really disappointing result and it leaves us weakened. It’s not a good place to be.”

He said the decision to pursue the national ballot was “manifestly the wrong decision”, adding that “a number of us were clear that there was no appetite among the members for this ballot but it happened anyway”.

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“That has to trigger some kind of reflection for us as elected lay members, that we have taken the decision that I think is damaging to the union, and we did it when all the indications were that this did not have broad support among the membership, and we have to make sure that we do not make the same mistake again.”

Going forward, the union has to “try and talk to as broad a range of people as possible and really try and reach those UCU members that maybe don’t engage with the ordinary elections, with branch meetings, with congress, and all those things”, Jones said. 

Gregor Gall, an industrial relations expert who is a visiting professor at the universities of Glasgow and Leeds, called the turnout result a “predictable and sizeable flop”, adding that recent record turnouts among local branches over job cut disputes “only serve to emphasise this”.

“As Jo Grady suggests in her review of the result, much reflection is needed. But this will take many months and years to conduct and conclude so the union is best to only fight on issues it can realistically make headway on.”

Raj Jethwa, chief executive of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association, said it was willing to “move forward constructively” and urged the trade unions “to do likewise”. 

“Ucea had signalled our willingness to work with the unions on key areas had they not balloted for industrial action. The failure to meet the threshold, as well as the fact that nearly a third of UCU members did not support strike action, will no doubt be a point for reflection,” he said.

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He said employers and unions needed to work together, “rather than finger pointing or attempting industrial action to create disruption and suffering for students, especially when their members do not back this approach”. 

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com