Durham’s UCU branch recently balloted its members for industrial action. The outcome of the ballot was in favour of strike action and action short of a strike (ASOS).
As we have made clear in all of our communications to staff, we are doing all we can to achieve the necessary financial savings by voluntary means. However, we are not able to rule out the need for compulsory redundancies in order to put our University in a more sustainable financial position.
We will provide a full update to the University community in mid-May as to whether we have done enough to achieve savings by voluntary means.
On Friday 11 April the University was notified that Durham UCU will be taking the following industrial action:
UCU have informed us that ASOS will comprise ‘not working more than the nominal hours specified in employment contracts, not undertaking voluntary duties, not providing cover for absent colleagues, not providing cover for non-replaced staff, boycotting University-related activities relating to the Research Excellence Framework.’
While the number of UCU members voting in favour of industrial action represents a small percentage of our overall staff, our focus will now be on doing all we can to minimise any impact on our students, in dialogue with the Students’ Union.
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