Unions face an uphill battle to reverse wide-ranging job cuts across?UK universities despite many announcing strikes, but those involved argue their action?is ¡°keeping vice-chancellors at the negotiating table¡±.?

At least?eight university union branches have won strike ballots in 2025, with staff at the universities of Newcastle, Sheffield, East Anglia, Dundee and Brunel having already taken to the picket lines.?

While unions have claimed some wins with job cut numbers reduced and certain courses or departments saved, the action has done little to quell the direction of travel?which the University and College Union (UCU) anticipates could equate to?10,000 job losses this academic year alone.?

Duncan Adam, a senior lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University who specialises in industrial relations, said that while ¡°it¡¯s unlikely that individual universities will make major concessions in the face of action¡±, the wave of strikes is ¡°nevertheless important in highlighting the breadth and depth of the problem¡±.?

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He said that?national action?would be a more effective way to draw attention to the problems facing the sector as a whole, but added: ¡°That¡¯s not to say that I don¡¯t think that these local actions are justified, valid and proportionate responses to what¡¯s going on at a local level. But more effective would be a coordinated national strike, because the only way that this is going to be resolved is through a change to the funding regime.¡±

Some universities are going down ¡°the Trump route¡± and providing ¡°maximum threat¡± to staff members by ¡°announcing hundreds of job losses in order to frighten [and] bully?staff into submission¡±, said Roger Seifert, emeritus professor of industrial relations at Wolverhampton University.?

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But at universities suggesting ¡°more realistic job cuts¡±, unions may expect to be able to negotiate settlements?that include a mix of voluntary deals, restructuring and a ¡°few cases of compulsion¡± to lessen the impact on members.?

Gregor Gall, visiting professor in industrial relations at the University of Leeds, agreed, adding that ¡°a reduced amount of voluntary redundancies on enhanced terms is the best situation the union is likely to achieve in any one single institution¡±.?

Some university unions have shown signs in recent weeks of escalating their industrial action, with Newcastle ¨C which?went on strike in March, but has since announced further strike action for April ¨C saying that it is ¡°building towards a marking and assessment boycott¡±, which could threaten to derail the university¡¯s graduation calendar. It also committed to seek a further mandate for more action in September, should the dispute over the?university¡¯s plans to make cuts of 300 full-time-equivalent staff?not be resolved.

Gall described marketing and assessment boycotts as ¡°the sharpest tool the union can wield¡±. But he noted that some unions may be discouraged by what happened in 2023, where some staff lost tens of thousands of pounds in wages after their university deducted them full pay for taking part in in a similar action, something that?is being?challenged by the union at a tribunal.??

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One upside to the latest development for the unions is that most have?seen rising membership and record engagement. The universities of East Anglia, Durham and Newcastle ¨C among others ¨C all saw?high levels of turnout in their strike ballots.

Nadine Zubair, co-president of the UEA UCU branch,?said that growing membership and engagement has had a positive impact on negotiations with?its management.?

¡°We believe that having record turnout, not just for the ballot but on the picket lines, is keeping the vice-chancellor at the negotiating table,¡± she said.?

The?branch has seen its membership grow by about 10 per cent, she said, despite losing over 100 members in the university¡¯s last round of redundancies, which saw?400 people leave the university in 2023.?The university has said it intends to cut headcount again by?a further 170 members of staff.

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The growing membership has given the committee ¡°confidence¡± going into negotiations, and means that ¡°the employer also recognises that we¡¯re not just speaking in isolation¡±.

¡°We genuinely believe that our meetings have been positive and there has been movement¡­I don¡¯t want to undermine or make [the university] out to be the bad guys completely on this, because I think they have changed their tone and are engaging with us quite productively,¡± she said, adding that the union is demanding greater financial transparency and governance on top of compulsory redundancies.

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David Bates, secretary of Newcastle¡¯s UCU,?said that the union had had a ¡°big influx¡± of members at the beginning of the year, which he said showed that staff are ¡°angry and defiant¡±.?

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com