Created on: 29 Aug 2025
Following on from the third and final New JNCHES pay negotiation meeting held in May, the Joint Trade Unions (TUs) formally lodged a dispute with UCEA in early June, including a request to meet with employers' representatives as soon as possible to begin talks on reaching a resolution.
The dispute is on pay, focusing on making UCEA improve the 1.4% pay offer.
The five HE TUs also notified UCEA that consultative ballots had either been opened, or were set to open, asking members to accept or reject the offer, with all five unions recommending rejection.
The EIS ULA opened our consultative ballot on Monday 30th June, remaining open for over six weeks and closing on Friday 15th August. The results of the ballot, in which 56% of members cast their vote, overwhelmingly rejected the pay offer and resoundingly supported a call for strike action in pursuit an improved offer.
The consultative ballots of the four other trade unions also returned a rejection of the pay offer.
In a recent email to you during the consultative ballot, this trend was highlighted, comparing staff pay to inflation during the last ten years. This shows universities making savings by pay staff less in real terms over a long period of time.
The comparison table can be found here.
The EIS ULA Executive Committee are scheduled to meet on Wednesday 27th August, to discuss the results of our consultative ballot and to consider what further actions might be taken in achieving an improved pay offer from university employers.
The Joint TUs are set to meet again on the first week of September to discuss their respective positions and agree on a plan of action going forward.