All members should have received ballot papers for the local dispute between Durham UCU and Durham University. We are seeking approval for action short of a strike (ASOS) and strike action.
The branch recommends that members vote YES to both action short of a strike and strike action. This is to fight worsening workloads since voluntary severance and to improve job security going into the future.
Monday 2 February the last safe day to post your ballot.
You can request a replacement ballot through 30 January.
A local mandate for industrial action will
- Allow us to protect our workloads right away by formally declaring that we will work to our proper hours (35/week FTE, actual or ‘nominal’ hours) as Action Short of Strike. This will be more significant than before because our workloads are worse.
- Give the employer pause about what they can get away with. A mandate for action provides leverage against the employer’s current trend of taking unilateral decisions without meaningful consultation. We know from experience that our employer is more emboldened to make things worse when we do not have a mandate. A mandate will show them they can’t keep solving their financial problems by cutting your jobs or making your working conditions even more untenable.
- Show our employer the urgency of the issues you face. Most members report heavier workloads than a year ago. Members are concerned about losing colleagues, if not their own jobs. Research and fixed-term/casualised staff have particularly poor job security. And all of this takes a significant toll on health and wellbeing.
- Show our employer their actions are not solving the problems. They need to genuinely negotiate with us on real solutions that will materially improve workloads and job security, not pat themselves on the back about work that has not solved the problems or stopped workloads and job insecurity getting worse for many staff.
- Strengthen our negotiators’ hand in pressing for the employer to agree solutions with us on workload and job security. (Here are our proposals and a colour-coded grid of employer responses. Let’s just say almost everything’s in the ‘red’ zone).
- Strengthen the branch to repeat previous wins. The most significant improvements to Durham University staff’s remuneration and working conditions have resulted from union-employer agreements achieved during industrial action mandates. All our industrial action mandates have made an impact (read the receipts). When mandates cease, so do employer offers (remember the Phase 1 agreement? Ever wonder what happened to Phase 2?). With a mandate, we make progress. Without a mandate, the employer stonewalls.
- Be part of a broader strategy to impact the employer through industrial action and other means, identifying key points of impact and pursuing options we have not tried before.
- Allow members to decide what action we take, when, and how. As a democratic union, we work together to develop and enact a strong, unified branch strategy.
- Allow rapid response to any future developments. While we have an industrial action mandate, we can move to take action quickly if needed.
- Allow for transition into a potential reballot, should members vote for it, under more favourable circumstances following the Employment Rights Act, which allows for twelve-month mandates, electronic balloting, and more options for branches.
- Build engagement and membership. Workers meeting, talking, and acting together, highlighting what needs to change, identifying their power and deciding how to use it tactically and strategically is our strength. Industrial action mandates are one of the most effective ways to build engagement and membership. Failed ballots weaken the union, and successful mandates strengthen it.
- Beat the anti-union threshold (hopefully) one last time. Eventually, the Employment Rights Act will also remove the 50% turnout requirement that disenfranchises union voters (and only union voters: 34.8% turnout for Durham County Council in 2024 did not invalidate that election). We don’t yet know when the new threshold will be implemented, but hopefully this is the last time we have to contend with the anti-union status quo. Beating the threshold one last time shows our strength into the future.