Union kicks off strike ballot for Newcastle University academics

Newcastle University
-Credit:Newcastle Chronicle


Newcastle University academics now have their chance to vote on potential strike action over the institution's attempts to grapple with a £35m shortfall.

University and College Union (UCU) members at Newcastle University are now able to vote on whether to strike from today until the union ballot closes on February 10. According to the UCU, a consultative ballot among members held before Christmas showed 74.6%, from a turnout of 44%, were in favour of industrial action.

Tensions between Newcastle University management and the UCU have been escalating since October last year, when the union declared a dispute over the institution's budgets. Since then, emails shown to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, revealed the University had recorded a £35m shortfall in its coffers due to the fall in international students.

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University bosses wrote to employees stating that while £15m worth of mitigations had already been found, a further £20m of efficiencies were needed. Savings included promotion freezes, restrictions on travel unless deemed "business critical", and a review into the university's building projects.

According to the Newcastle University UCU branch chair, Professor Matt Perry in a statement last week, the University was unable to rule out compulsory redundancies. The UCU also called for the University to open its books for an independent assessment of its finances.

The union has also called on the government to overhaul how Higher Education is funded, and has criticised the current "unsustainable" model.

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A university spokesperson stated on Friday that Newcastle was "not immune" to the pressures faced by Higher Education nationally and defended its previous cost-cutting in the name of preserving "world-class education and research". Over the next four weeks, more than 1,000 UCU members will be balloted on industrial action.

Northumbria University bosses staved off potential UCU strike action last year after they agreed to rule out compulsory redundancies in order to help plug a £12.5m blackhole. The UCU announced strike action at Newcastle University in 2019, sparked by disputes over pensions and working conditions.