Results were announced on 31st October for our two industrial action ballots. Leeds turnout was just over 60% for both, which means we beat the 50% threshold imposed by the Tory anti-trade-union legislation. That’s brilliant, thank you to everyone who voted. As always it’s vital that you have your democratic say in union decision making.

The results for Leeds are as follows:

Four Fights dispute (casualisation, workload, equality and pay)

• In favour of strike action: 74.95%
• In favour of action short of a strike: 83.36%

USS pensions dispute

• In favour of strike action: 78.12%
• In favour of action short of a strike: 85.43%

This gives our branch a mandate to take industrial action on both disputes. Thank you for supporting the recommendation of your branch officers and committee, and the General Secretary!

The turnout in some branches didn’t quite make the 50%, which means that some branches will be able to take action and some won’t. We expect that some branches who were close to the 50% will re-ballot. Across the UK, 79% of UCU members who voted backed strike action in the ballot over changes to pensions, and 74% of members polled backed strike action on the Four Fights dispute. Around 60 branches will be able to take action on one or both of the two disputes (post 92 universities are not in the USS pension scheme so those branches did not ballot on USS).

It’s clear that our members feel strongly about these two disputes, and that will strengthen the hand (and heart) of our negotiators as they work their socks off trying to get the best outcomes for us. We hope that the strength of the votes across the UK will bring the employer bodies back to the negotiating table, ready to work constructively with the union to resolve the disputes.

Watch out for details, coming soon, about industrial action. The earliest we can start any strikes is the week beginning Monday 18th November, because trade union law means that unions have to give two weeks notice of any action.

This page was last updated on 19 November 2019