All members should have received ballot papers by now if you haven’t received one, please let us know here.

These are UCU’s reasons for balloting our members:

• Staff pay is being systematically and intentionally eroded as part of a bad strategic choice by university managements who can afford to pay you more. Since 2009, the cumulative value of the pay cut is around 13%.
• Yet universities are spending less on their staff overall and building up their surpluses and reserves.
• In attacking pay to fund their surpluses, they are undermining the real basis of quality education for students and ultimately gambling with their own reputations.
• Their actions are unnecessary, provocative and represent a failure in their duty of care to the staff who teach our students. They are also being reckless with the reputation of our sector.
• We have tried everything possible to make them reach a negotiated agreement with us, but they are refusing to negotiate meaningfully on anything in our claim.
• They will keep on doing this, year after year, until we say enough is enough.

Voting YES for action short of a strike AND strike action will enable the union to progress swiftly to strike status if it is found that action short of a strike, for example working to contract, is unsuccessful.

BUT – whatever your views, it is of paramount importance that you do vote, to protect the right to national collective bargaining.

PLEASE VOTE!!

Stephen Minta and Geoffrey Wall, Acting Joint Presidents of UCU York University