Durham UCU
@ducu.bsky.social
Pinned
Results are in regarding our local ballot.
63.3% of voters are prepared to take IA consisting of a strike action, and 75.6% are prepared to take ASOS. Return rate was 53.1%, comfortably clear of the Tory anti-trade union minimum.
63.3% of voters are prepared to take IA consisting of a strike action, and 75.6% are prepared to take ASOS. Return rate was 53.1%, comfortably clear of the Tory anti-trade union minimum.
Caleb makes some really useful points here - the feeling that we need a new approach to workload in Durham is even more widespread than the raw ballot numbers suggest. We need to hear more from our employer than "We responded fully to [your] claims".
& over 60% had intention to vote but not all possible in time.
Oh & the main reason given for not having voted was “completely swamped at work, haven’t had time to even look at it”
This mandate gives the branch leverage to seek real negotiated solutions on workload & job security at @durham.ac.uk
Oh & the main reason given for not having voted was “completely swamped at work, haven’t had time to even look at it”
This mandate gives the branch leverage to seek real negotiated solutions on workload & job security at @durham.ac.uk
Results are in regarding our local ballot.
63.3% of voters are prepared to take IA consisting of a strike action, and 75.6% are prepared to take ASOS. Return rate was 53.1%, comfortably clear of the Tory anti-trade union minimum.
63.3% of voters are prepared to take IA consisting of a strike action, and 75.6% are prepared to take ASOS. Return rate was 53.1%, comfortably clear of the Tory anti-trade union minimum.
February 10, 2026 at 12:03 AM
Caleb makes some really useful points here - the feeling that we need a new approach to workload in Durham is even more widespread than the raw ballot numbers suggest. We need to hear more from our employer than "We responded fully to [your] claims".
Nice quick write-up of our situation here.
Durham University staff vote to strike over "untenable" working conditions
Staff at Durham University have backed strike action in a fight to protect working conditions and job security, announced the University and College Union (UCU) today
www.ucu.org.uk
February 9, 2026 at 11:53 AM
Nice quick write-up of our situation here.
Results are in regarding our local ballot.
63.3% of voters are prepared to take IA consisting of a strike action, and 75.6% are prepared to take ASOS. Return rate was 53.1%, comfortably clear of the Tory anti-trade union minimum.
63.3% of voters are prepared to take IA consisting of a strike action, and 75.6% are prepared to take ASOS. Return rate was 53.1%, comfortably clear of the Tory anti-trade union minimum.
February 8, 2026 at 9:31 PM
Results are in regarding our local ballot.
63.3% of voters are prepared to take IA consisting of a strike action, and 75.6% are prepared to take ASOS. Return rate was 53.1%, comfortably clear of the Tory anti-trade union minimum.
63.3% of voters are prepared to take IA consisting of a strike action, and 75.6% are prepared to take ASOS. Return rate was 53.1%, comfortably clear of the Tory anti-trade union minimum.
Apologies for not answering this sooner: we're aware of one case which was settled before tribunal. We don't know details due to confidentiality. Beyond that, all cases we're aware of were withdrawn by the members involved, often following threats by their institution to impose costs.
Did any UCU colleagues actually recover docked pay following the 2023 MAB? There were supposedly some court cases going through, supported by the union, but it all seems to have gone quiet on that front
Absolutely disgraceful; full solidarity with our colleagues in Sheffield. This reads a lot like an escalation of what some institutions - including ours - did after the MAB: demand the work we were docked pay for not doing then got done for free.
February 8, 2026 at 9:23 PM
Apologies for not answering this sooner: we're aware of one case which was settled before tribunal. We don't know details due to confidentiality. Beyond that, all cases we're aware of were withdrawn by the members involved, often following threats by their institution to impose costs.
Reposted by Durham UCU
Whose union just went and smashed the ballot? Why, @ducu.bsky.social! Let's reclaim our time and fight for decent working conditions ✊🤗
February 6, 2026 at 2:35 PM
Whose union just went and smashed the ballot? Why, @ducu.bsky.social! Let's reclaim our time and fight for decent working conditions ✊🤗
Reposted by Durham UCU
As someone who works for another UCU branch (@ducu.bsky.social), I endorse this message at Lboro, Durham, and everywhere
Stronger together ✊
Hear from #LboroUCU members on why union membership matters and how we support each other.
Be part of it: ucu.lboro.ac.uk/join/
@ucu.org.uk #UCU #JoinAUnion
Hear from #LboroUCU members on why union membership matters and how we support each other.
Be part of it: ucu.lboro.ac.uk/join/
@ucu.org.uk #UCU #JoinAUnion
February 3, 2026 at 2:19 PM
As someone who works for another UCU branch (@ducu.bsky.social), I endorse this message at Lboro, Durham, and everywhere
Reposted by Durham UCU
@ucu.org.uk @theguardian.com @timeshighered.bsky.social @chroniclelive.co.uk @labourunionsuk.bsky.social @teamlabouruk.bsky.social @tuc.org.uk @ducu.bsky.social @ducuuo.bsky.social @umucu.bsky.social
💪💪💪 @ucunorthumbria.bsky.social members start indefinite Action Short of a Strike @northumbriauni.bsky.social on 12 February. Strike Action is currently scheduled for...
February 2, 2026 at 9:53 AM
Reposted by Durham UCU
Stronger together ✊
Hear from #LboroUCU members on why union membership matters and how we support each other.
Be part of it: ucu.lboro.ac.uk/join/
@ucu.org.uk #UCU #JoinAUnion
Hear from #LboroUCU members on why union membership matters and how we support each other.
Be part of it: ucu.lboro.ac.uk/join/
@ucu.org.uk #UCU #JoinAUnion
February 3, 2026 at 10:27 AM
Stronger together ✊
Hear from #LboroUCU members on why union membership matters and how we support each other.
Be part of it: ucu.lboro.ac.uk/join/
@ucu.org.uk #UCU #JoinAUnion
Hear from #LboroUCU members on why union membership matters and how we support each other.
Be part of it: ucu.lboro.ac.uk/join/
@ucu.org.uk #UCU #JoinAUnion
Reposted by Durham UCU
This cause is close to my heart - please sign: www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/no... @ucu.org.uk @sheffielducu.bsky.social @ucunorthumbria.bsky.social
Northumbria Pay and Pension Petition: Stop the Steal!
If Northumbria does this, other universities will too.
These cuts will harm thousands of people, their students, families, and their local communities now and into the future.
www.megaphone.org.uk
January 30, 2026 at 3:20 PM
This cause is close to my heart - please sign: www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/no... @ucu.org.uk @sheffielducu.bsky.social @ucunorthumbria.bsky.social
Reposted by Durham UCU
The same can be said for @ducu.bsky.social !
Every gain on campus – from workload to health & safety – has come from members taking action together. If you’re feeling isolated, you don’t have to face this alone. Join Birmingham UCU today.
January 31, 2026 at 10:21 PM
The same can be said for @ducu.bsky.social !
Reposted by Durham UCU
Every gain on campus – from workload to health & safety – has come from members taking action together. If you’re feeling isolated, you don’t have to face this alone. Join Birmingham UCU today.
January 29, 2026 at 7:51 PM
Every gain on campus – from workload to health & safety – has come from members taking action together. If you’re feeling isolated, you don’t have to face this alone. Join Birmingham UCU today.
Reposted by Durham UCU
Shame nobody from UCU is quoted in this article
Half of English students have noticed an impact from cost-cutting measures at their university, with most saying it was leading to a worse experience than expected www.timeshighereducation.com/news/nearly-... via @twilliamsthe.bsky.social
Nearly half of students concerned about their course closing
Cost-cutting measures impacting student experience, find OfS polling, with increased class sizes and reduced access to facilities among issues raised
www.timeshighereducation.com
January 29, 2026 at 1:08 PM
Shame nobody from UCU is quoted in this article
Attention, Durham members! You've got 'til the end of the week to safely post your local ballot. Numbers keep climbing, but the more votes we get, the stronger a position we're in! Here's 12 good reasons to get that vote in!
Have you voted yet? – Durham UCU
durhamucu.org.uk
January 28, 2026 at 11:54 AM
Attention, Durham members! You've got 'til the end of the week to safely post your local ballot. Numbers keep climbing, but the more votes we get, the stronger a position we're in! Here's 12 good reasons to get that vote in!
Reposted by Durham UCU
400 jobs at risk. A campus set to close.
This film explains what’s happening at the University of Essex and why staff, students and the local community are organising to stop it.
📍 Southend rally | 5 February
This film explains what’s happening at the University of Essex and why staff, students and the local community are organising to stop it.
📍 Southend rally | 5 February
January 26, 2026 at 3:13 PM
400 jobs at risk. A campus set to close.
This film explains what’s happening at the University of Essex and why staff, students and the local community are organising to stop it.
📍 Southend rally | 5 February
This film explains what’s happening at the University of Essex and why staff, students and the local community are organising to stop it.
📍 Southend rally | 5 February
Ric gets it (and happy birthday, Ric!)
Voted in our local ballot. Working conditions will never improve unless we fight for them. @ducu.bsky.social
January 23, 2026 at 4:50 PM
Ric gets it (and happy birthday, Ric!)
Go get 'em, @ucunorthumbria.bsky.social !
UCU - Northumbria University staff vote for strike action in pay and pensions row www.ucu.org.uk/article/14383
Northumbria University staff vote for strike action in pay and pensions row
Staff at Northumbria University have voted to take industrial action over plans to pressure them to leave the Teachers' Pension Scheme (TPS), the University and College Union (UCU) announced today .
www.ucu.org.uk
January 23, 2026 at 4:21 PM
Go get 'em, @ucunorthumbria.bsky.social !
Reposted by Durham UCU
Solidarity @sheffielducu.bsky.social ✊
Petition and branch hardship fund details below 👇
www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/no...
Petition and branch hardship fund details below 👇
www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/no...
No lockout for University of Sheffield staff
UCU members have been standing up against the continual cutting and restructuring of the last several years which has significantly damaged the University’s international standing, the quality of educ...
www.megaphone.org.uk
January 23, 2026 at 10:38 AM
Solidarity @sheffielducu.bsky.social ✊
Petition and branch hardship fund details below 👇
www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/no...
Petition and branch hardship fund details below 👇
www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/no...
Reposted by Durham UCU
A big part of the reason the UK university sector is in such a mess is that it is led by people who despise their staff & actively try to break their spirits.
January 22, 2026 at 9:30 PM
A big part of the reason the UK university sector is in such a mess is that it is led by people who despise their staff & actively try to break their spirits.
Reposted by Durham UCU
The move in recent years for a number of UK universities to do this is disgusting and unjust. Sheffield management isn’t alone, but they are a disgrace. Only a leadership team that has utter contempt for their staff & doesn’t care a jot about ongoing relations and morale would do this.
The University of Sheffield has stopped paying staff.
Not for striking but for refusing to work unpaid to make up for strike days they were already docked for.
This is punishment, not negotiation. And it’s completely reckless.
www.ucu.org.uk/article/1438...
Not for striking but for refusing to work unpaid to make up for strike days they were already docked for.
This is punishment, not negotiation. And it’s completely reckless.
www.ucu.org.uk/article/1438...
Union condemns continued docking of staff pay following strike action at University of Sheffield
The University and College Union (UCU) has today condemned the lockout and withholding of staff pay at the University of Sheffield following lawful industrial action
www.ucu.org.uk
January 22, 2026 at 9:28 PM
The move in recent years for a number of UK universities to do this is disgusting and unjust. Sheffield management isn’t alone, but they are a disgrace. Only a leadership team that has utter contempt for their staff & doesn’t care a jot about ongoing relations and morale would do this.
Reposted by Durham UCU
Solidarity with @sheffielducu.bsky.social - please donate to striking members as they are now facing 100% deductions! It is our right to strike.
Well that’s me locked out. No pay for the foreseeable future, all because I refuse to reschedule lost teaching, for which I have already lost pay as part of the strike. Please donate to support @sheffielducu.bsky.social members like me at www.gofundme.com/f/heubvb-sup...
January 21, 2026 at 8:58 AM
Solidarity with @sheffielducu.bsky.social - please donate to striking members as they are now facing 100% deductions! It is our right to strike.
Reposted by Durham UCU
‘haphazard’ and ‘uncoordinated’ is a real through line in cost cutting in the university sector
it’s almost like the people making decisions here fail to understand that universities are very complex institutions and that very few people (if any) ‘do the same job’ within them
it’s almost like the people making decisions here fail to understand that universities are very complex institutions and that very few people (if any) ‘do the same job’ within them
Missing from the coverage of redundancies at Edinburgh: this was done in such a haphazard, uncoordinated way, there are now core teams who have gone from 5 people to 1 with no change in workload or pressure and huge loss in knowledge of institutional process. www.heraldscotland.com/news/2576321...
Hundreds of staff leave Edinburgh University amid cuts drive
According to the university, 345 of these departures were the result of a targeted voluntary severance (VS) scheme run by the institution in 2025.
www.heraldscotland.com
January 15, 2026 at 8:03 AM
‘haphazard’ and ‘uncoordinated’ is a real through line in cost cutting in the university sector
it’s almost like the people making decisions here fail to understand that universities are very complex institutions and that very few people (if any) ‘do the same job’ within them
it’s almost like the people making decisions here fail to understand that universities are very complex institutions and that very few people (if any) ‘do the same job’ within them
Reposted by Durham UCU
Just reading this skeet made my heartrate spike. I could taste bile. It occurs to me that so many of us have still open wounds from what happened in 2023, which we don't know how to even start healing.
We got as far as demanding a convocation for an explanation, where to my recollection the justification in full was a) it was legal, and b) they could have taken *more* of our money.
January 20, 2026 at 10:55 AM
Just reading this skeet made my heartrate spike. I could taste bile. It occurs to me that so many of us have still open wounds from what happened in 2023, which we don't know how to even start healing.
Absolutely disgraceful; full solidarity with our colleagues in Sheffield. This reads a lot like an escalation of what some institutions - including ours - did after the MAB: demand the work we were docked pay for not doing then got done for free.
Well that’s me locked out. No pay for the foreseeable future, all because I refuse to reschedule lost teaching, for which I have already lost pay as part of the strike. Please donate to support @sheffielducu.bsky.social members like me at www.gofundme.com/f/heubvb-sup...
January 19, 2026 at 7:06 PM
Absolutely disgraceful; full solidarity with our colleagues in Sheffield. This reads a lot like an escalation of what some institutions - including ours - did after the MAB: demand the work we were docked pay for not doing then got done for free.
We are so, SO far past the point where it is even remotely acceptable for UKHE and the government to just keep insisting there's nothing that can be done, and forcing our colleagues and friends to pay for that total failure to act.
Short-termism kills knowledge.
It's government that provides the incentives for this drive to cut into a university's key resource, whatever the long-term harm. We need an overhaul of the financial & governance system of #UKHE.
It's government that provides the incentives for this drive to cut into a university's key resource, whatever the long-term harm. We need an overhaul of the financial & governance system of #UKHE.
UK Universities cut 13,300 jobs, paid £300m+ in redundancy.
Economic contribution of the HE sector, £265bn.
Systematically destroyed by govts - foreign students not welcome, cut real-term grants, fees, students burdened with debts, low staff pay/morale.
Govt want skilled labour.
archive.ph/favYt
Economic contribution of the HE sector, £265bn.
Systematically destroyed by govts - foreign students not welcome, cut real-term grants, fees, students burdened with debts, low staff pay/morale.
Govt want skilled labour.
archive.ph/favYt
January 19, 2026 at 11:35 AM
We are so, SO far past the point where it is even remotely acceptable for UKHE and the government to just keep insisting there's nothing that can be done, and forcing our colleagues and friends to pay for that total failure to act.
Do it, y'all! No matter how things go over the next six months, we're stronger with a mandate!
And it begins! Post your ballots ASAP, #ducu members!
Our workloads are rising & our jobs security isn’t.
We deserve better from management than just “no” to our reasonable requests and suggestions.
@ducu.bsky.social
@ucu.org.uk
Our workloads are rising & our jobs security isn’t.
We deserve better from management than just “no” to our reasonable requests and suggestions.
@ducu.bsky.social
@ucu.org.uk
January 19, 2026 at 11:33 AM
Do it, y'all! No matter how things go over the next six months, we're stronger with a mandate!