Joint statement regarding the national industrial dispute

Central senior leadership and Central University and College Union (UCU) regret that the national industrial dispute remains unresolved. 

This has been a stressful situation and is particularly detrimental for our students who continue to be impacted. For the sake of everyone involved, Central senior leadership and Central UCU ask that UCEA and UCU work together to reach a national resolution and that negotiations consider all areas of the dispute. 

Central’s senior leadership acknowledges the right of UCU members to participate in lawful industrial action, and Central UCU acknowledges in return management’s desire to mitigate the impact on students in order to support them to complete their studies.   

Central senior leadership and Central UCU remain committed to national collective bargaining and to constructive dialogue as the best way to resolve disputes fairly and equitably. National collective bargaining is most effective when it operates on the basis of constructive negotiations where movement on both sides leads to agreement, potentially covering multiple years, rather than descending into an annual cycle of dispute. This is in the best interests of our students, our staff, our workplace and the sector as a whole.  

Central senior leadership and Central UCU agree that this current impasse is the result of wider, systemic problems in the sector. Unfair distribution of resources in the sector and underfunding of some universities has placed institutions and individuals under immense pressure. It has placed additional burden on small, specialist institutions – especially those within the arts and humanities – which have struggled for many years with unequal distribution of resource. We note also a lack of support for arts institutions and for the arts sector in general. The financial position of a small arts institution like Central is not commensurate with that of a large, multi-faculty university, and within the Higher Education sector the funding disparity between institutions is large. These inequalities in the distribution of resources between universities have exacerbated tensions and stymied a resolution to the dispute.   

Central senior leadership and Central UCU urge UCEA and UCU nationally to initiate a conversation about the University sector’s finances, and the pressures on individuals and institutions, with the aim of reaching mutual agreement for the 2024/25 pay round. UCEA’s recent return to talks is to be celebrated and gives hope that a settlement can be achieved.  

Central senior leadership and the Central UCU maintain a positive working relationship, working closely through the Joint Negotiating and Consultative Committee, and together with other staff unions. In recent years, Central management and Central unions have worked collegiately and constructively to great effect. Important progress has been made in addressing many of UCU’s national concerns at a local level. Central is committed to the London Living Wage, addressing both the Gender Pay Gap and Ethnicity Pay Gap as it applies to permanent staff, and is currently gathering data to assess and address other potential pay gap. Through the JNCC, we are working to address and reduce casualisation in Central’s workforce, with substantial changes expected in the medium term, and designing a new transparent workload allocation model for all academic staff, to be piloted in the next academic year. All sides believe that these local negotiations strengthen our community and serve as an example of good industrial relations.   

There is more work to be done, but for this to take place it is imperative that a resolution first be reached in the national dispute.   

Central senior leadership and Central UCU recognise that the whole Central community, students and staff, urgently need a positive outcome to this situation. We urge that meaningful talks resume.