Delays in UCU strike ballot leave marking boycotters ‘exposed’

The University and College Union (UCU) may be forced to abandon its marking and assessment boycott without securing a deal as time is running out to ballot its members on whether to extend industrial action.

Under the UK’s trade union laws, UCU’s current six-month mandate that allows it to call strikes and other action such as the boycott expires at the end of September.

In order to extend it, the union must organise a postal ballot for members – overseen by the software company Civica – and secure a yes vote with more than half its membership participating.

The union has twice won a mandate to take action over pay and working conditions in the past year; in October 2022 – when 81 per cent of members across 145 institutions voted yes on a 58 per cent turnout – and again in April, which saw 86 per cent vote yes on a turnout of 56 per cent.

While many in UCU remain confident of securing another extension, the time it takes to hold the ballot means that officials will struggle to complete the process before the current mandate expires, with the summer break further complicating the situation.

This could mean those still refusing to mark work would have no legal means to continue their action and may be forced by their institutions to clear the backlog during any gap in the mandate.

General secretary Jo Grady originally announced the next meeting of the body responsible for deciding industrial action strategy – the higher education committee (HEC) – would not take place until “the start of September”.

An emergency meeting has now been called for 14 August to make decisions on what to do next in the dispute, but many members fear this still does not leave enough time.

“Given the timing imposed by the legislation and the need for postal voting, it is certainly hard to see how a ballot could be called which would allow an unbroken mandate,” said Michael Carley, a senior lecturer in mechanical engineering at the University of Bath and a former longstanding member of the union’s national executive committee (NEC).

“It might be just possible to keep the gap in the mandate short, but even that might expose UCU members to the risk of pressure from their employers.”

UCU began its boycott in April, leaving thousands of students without the grades needed to graduate or progress on to further study. Last week the union refused to call off the action, saying there was “no prospect of it coming to an end whilst employers refuse to improve on their pay offer and continue to punitively dock pay”.

Many union members have been docked months of wages for participating in the boycott with universities enforcing a hard line on partial performance. An offer by the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (Ucea) to recommend any further deductions be staggered was roundly rejected last week by the UCU, with individual branches pursing strike action within the current mandate to attempt to win back pay.

Saira Weiner, branch secretary at Liverpool John Moores University and a former NEC member, said it was “entirely possible for the UCU to run a ballot prior to the end of the current mandate, at worst leaving a week or so gap before any further action can take place”.

She said this was UCU policy – having been decided at the union’s congress earlier this year and “should have already started and it certainly needs to be started now”.

Ms Weiner said a new mandate was needed to support those “who are still being deducted punishingly by their employers” and to make progress in the overall dispute.

She said the union should call a week of national strike action before the end of September to “send Ucea a message that we are not going away”.

A UCU spokesman confirmed the HEC would make decisions on the next steps in the pay and conditions dispute on 14 August “including options for further industrial action and a ballot”.

“We aren't able to confirm dates and timescales at this stage,” he added.

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com