Dundee University strike threat as union opens new ballot

Dundee University faces the threat of more strikes after a trade union announced its members would be balloted on industrial action.

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) at the crisis-hit university are being re-balloted from Friday as they warn management against imposing staff cuts.

The union had already voted for industrial action in November 2024 after the university considered axing hundreds of jobs to plug a £35 million black hole.

But it said members would now be re-balloted due to union laws, which see strike mandates expire after six months.

The UCU said management have failed to rule out compulsory redundancies and point to reports which suggest 170 staff could be forced to leave.

The union said any recovery plans which includes “such deep cuts to core funded staff will severely hamper the university’s chances to recover and continue fulfilling its critical role in Dundee and the surrounding area”.

The UCU called for the management at Dundee to commit to no compulsory redundancies, increased transparency and “meaningful negotiation so that staff and their unions have a genuine voice in shaping the university’s future”.

In June, a scathing report by the Scottish Funding Council into the university’s handling of its financial crisis led to the resignations of three senior members of the institution, including its interim principal.

It found that university bosses, and its governing body, repeatedly failed to identify the crisis and take action, describing problems facing it as “self-inflicted”.

Melissa D’Ascenzio, UCU’s Dundee branch co-president, said: “Senior management’s failings at the University of Dundee have been laid out in the media and the Gillies report for all to see, in a way that would have seemed unbelievable a year ago.

“The university’s students and staff have been badly let down.

“It’s wrong that uncertainty and the threat of job cuts continue to loom over staff at a time when the university’s finances have been stabilised by the intervention of the Scottish Funding Council and all efforts should be directed towards co-creating a credible and sustainable path to recovery that includes staff and students’ voices.

“Strike action is always a last resort, but staff at the University of Dundee have proven that they will take action to protect jobs and the future of the university.

“Sadly, with the failings of senior managers over the past year and before, we’re having to run this re-ballot to extend our mandate for action.

“I’m confident that, once again, staff and UCU members will do what’s right for the university and for our students.”

Jo Grady, UCU general secretary, added: “It’s scarcely believable that after almost a year, with the university on its third principal in that period, the university remains in crisis and staff are having to be balloted again to save jobs and secure the future of the university.

“The fact that university senior managers have again reverted to their default position of compulsory redundancies means that we need this ruled our once and for all.

“The only way to force senior management’s hand on this is for UCU members to again deliver a resounding ‘yes’ vote in this ballot.”

The ballot will run from Friday until October 6.

The University of Dundee has been approached for comment.