Thursday February 26th 2026
University strike action back in September 2025
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
Members of the University and College Union (UCU) at the University of Edinburgh will today begin a new ballot in a new dispute over £140 million cuts and up to 1,800 job losses.
This follows on from a dispute which began a year ago in February 2025 which saw nine days of strike action taken by university staff as a result of university management refusing to rule out any use of compulsory redundances.
In December last year a short-term deal was struck where management agreed to guarantee there would be no compulsory redundancies to the end of July 2026, and the union agreed, after a close vote of members, to no further industrial action during the existing mandate which finishes at the end of April 2026.
The new ballot aims to provide a new mandate and mean that the union will be able to take further industrial action if senior managers press on with their planned cuts, job losses and revert back to the possible use of compulsory redundancies after July.
Employment law has now changed with the introduction of the Employment Rights Act 2025, meaning that in the event of a ‘yes’ vote in this ballot the mandate will last for 12 months rather than six.
The union says that cuts at this level – they estimate up to 1,800 – are unprecedented and would be the largest ever seen in a Scottish university.
The university is one of the wealthiest in Scotland with reserves of over £3billion. The union explained that last month the university confirmed that it was not in deficit.
Claire Duncanson, vice-president of the Edinburgh UCU branch, said:
“It was a clear win for members to get management to agree to rule out compulsory redundancies until the summer. There remains more to do however, and we need a new mandate for strike action if we’re going to be able to push management further on these clearly unnecessary cuts and job losses that take effect after July.
“As shown in the most recent annual report, the university’s finances are strong and healthy. The level of cuts management continue to propose are neither needed nor can they be carried out without substantially damaging education and research along with the student experience and staff working conditions. 12 months after first announcing huge cuts without an idea how to go about it, and having put staff and students through needless stress and worry, the principal and his senior management team need to resolve this dispute and rule out the use of compulsory redundancies once and for all.”
Jo Grady, UCU general secretary, said:
“A year after announcing the biggest cuts ever seen in Scottish higher education Edinburgh university management still can’t tell us how many jobs they’re looking to cut. The union has pushed management and saved jobs during this dispute but we need a new mandate for strike action to push them further to rule out once and for all the threat of compulsory redundancies.”
Professor Sir Peter Mathieson, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, said:
“Trade unions have an important role in times of change. The agreement reached in December demonstrated what constructive engagement can achieve. We continue to honour that agreement in full.
“Students need stability to make the most of their time at university, and protecting teaching and assessment from disruption must be a priority. While we respect the right to ballot, further industrial action risks undermining the progress we have made, and we urge union leaders to keep working with us to secure a sustainable future.
“Standing still is not an option – it would leave the University in a much more precarious financial position. We are making the difficult but responsible decisions necessary to cut costs across all areas, increase income and protect our global standing, with an ongoing commitment to avoid compulsory redundancies whenever possible.”
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