Dundee university staff re-balloted over jobs dispute

Staff at the University of Dundee are being re-balloted on industrial action as a dispute over jobs and management enters its 11th month.

The University and College Union (UCU) opened a new ballot on 5 September, which will run until 6 October. Trade union law requires mandates for industrial action to be renewed every six months.

The dispute began in November 2024 when the then principal announced £30m in cuts and warned of compulsory redundancies. UCU members voted to strike earlier this year, pressing senior management to rule out compulsory job losses.

University leaders twice indicated that compulsory redundancies would not form part of a recovery plan. But recent media reports suggested the latest version included 390 job cuts, 170 of them compulsory. The Scottish Funding Council subsequently rejected the plan and asked managers to reconsider.

The union said the continuing uncertainty and threat to jobs made a fresh ballot necessary. It warned that deep cuts to core staff would damage the university’s ability to recover and fulfil its role in the city and wider region.

Melissa D’Ascenzio, 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.”

She added: “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.”

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “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 out 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.”