Four Fights Ballot results: KU UCU smashes threshold again and members vote strongly for further strike action

Posted on 16 April 2022 by kingston

In the recent ballot over renewing our mandate for strike action and action short of a strike (ASOS) in the Four Fights dispute, Kingston UCU once again smashed the anti-union threshold, with 59% of members voting. The results were also again emphatically in favour of continuing our industrial action, with 71% voting for strike action and 85% for action short of a strike.

In total 39 UCU branches will have a mandate for strike action running until October 2022 and 41 for ASOS, with the national vote closely matching our local one. The next steps are to take our branches’ views to the a special higher education sector conference on April 20th.

We are holding a branch meeting 19th April 11am online to gather Kingston UCU members opinions and ideas for the delegates from our branch to bring to the special conference. See inboxes for the Teams link.

Ballot opens today 16th March, ends 8th April. Vote Early and Vote YES

Posted on 16 March 2022 by kingston

From 16th March Kingston UCU members are being balloted on extending industrial action over our Four Fights beyond the current remit which ends in May.

The ballot ends 5pm Friday 8th April.

Members will get posted a ballot paper with a prepaid envelope for returning your vote. To check the address your ballot is being sent to, go to www.ucu.org.uk/myucu . If you need to order a replacement ballot papers, please email us at kingstonucu@gmail.com Get your vote in the post as soon as you can – don’t leave it to the last minute!

Why it is important to vote?

2016 Conservative legislation put additional restrictions on trade unions trying to take industrial action including a 50% turnout threshold. 50% members must vote for it to count. This means if you don’t vote, you don’t just silence yourself, you stop the voices of other members being heard.

What is the vote about?

It’s over whether to extend our action over the Four Fights dispute: unsafe workload, pay inequality, insecure jobs & shrinking pay.

A renewed mandate would allow us to continue and escalate our action, e.g. to a marking boycott, putting more pressure on employers to negotiate over our demands and resolve this dispute.

How to vote?

We recommend voting YES to strike action and YES to action short of a strike.

These issues aren’t going away, they’re getting worse. We either act, or we accept. Let’s fight to win!

Four Fights ballot result: Kingston staff vote for industrial action

Posted on 7 November 2021 by kingston

Our branch has achieved a phenomenal 60% turnout in the national Four Fights ballot over over unsafe workloads, casualisation, pay deflation, and the gender, ethnicity and disability pay gaps. This was in spite of the incredibly short ballot period and issues with missing ballot papers, and is a huge increase on our turnout of 32% in the last ballot in 2019.

92% of members endorsed some form of action, with 70% voting in favour of strike action and 92% in favour of action short of strike.

We will be talking through what this means at our branch meeting Wednesday 10th November 1-3pm on Zoom, with our discussion feeding into a national delegates meeting before the UCU Higher Education Committee convenes on Friday 12th. Please come along if you can. Check inboxes for links.

Thank you to everyone who voted and all those departmental contacts and activists who helped out with the Get the Vote Out campaign

Updates on Four Fights dispute ballot

Posted on 24 October 2021 by kingston

Ballots have gone out and should be returned as soon as possible. To order a replacement ballot use this online ballot replacement request form. You must order your replacement by 5pm Thursday 28th October.

Members of the Kingston UCU branch committee have made a video explainer about how the Four Fights on pay and conditions relate to the situation staff face at Kingston.

We’ve also been posting about each of the Four Fights and why #KingstonStaffHaveHadEnough on twitter and instagram.

We’ve had great support from Kingston students, who have produced their own posters. We’ve also made a flyer explaining the dispute to students that can be shared.

To help us get the vote out at Kingston and pass the legal threshold of 50%+ members voting, please

Talk to colleagues in your department, school and faculty about the ballot and dispute
If they are members remind them to vote! If they are not members, if they join by 27th October they can vote.
Put posters up in your offices. Download KU-specific posters and flyer here, or use UCU general resources.
Post on social media about the ballot. Tweet at and retweet from @kingstonucu. Use the UCU social media resources.

If you have questions about either the ballot or the Four Fights dispute, please Contact Us and / or see these FAQs:

Ballot on industrial action over Four Fights dispute opens

Posted on 18 October 2021 by kingston

Kingston UCU members will be balloted from Monday 18th October to Thursday 4th November on the Four Fights dispute over unsafe workloads, casualisation, pay deflation, and the gender, ethnicity and disability pay gaps.

See here for more information about what the dispute is about and how these issues relate to staff at Kingston.

See here for details of how to cast your vote and why it is so important (we need 50% of the membership to vote for it to count!)

We will contacting members to remind them to vote and answer any questions they have. Contact us or talk to a member of the branch committee in your faculty.

Help get the vote out and make it count! Talk to members in your department about the dispute and remind them to vote. Download posters here and put them up in your office.

We are at breaking point.

Vote YES and send the message to management: Kingston staff have had enough