Union members at the University of Sheffield have backed taking strike action over plans to restructure several academic departments.��

The announcement could see disruption to the start of the academic year as students return to their studies, and is the second successful strike ballot from the union since May.��

Some 77 per cent of members voted in favour of strike action, and 82.3 per cent voted for action short of a strike, on a turnout of 52.6 per cent.

The union last year voted in favour of industrial action after the university announced that it was looking to make staff savings of £23 million, with the union arguing that the cuts would equate to about 400 job losses. However, strike action was called off after the university committed to guaranteeing no compulsory redundancies in 2025.

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Now, more restructuring has been planned by the university, with staff across its humanities departments, including English and politics, as well as staff in its schools of East Asian studies, civil and structural engineering, materials engineering, chemistry and management, facing targeted voluntary severance. The university is also reviewing its professional services division and restructuring its IT services.

David Hayes, president of Sheffield’s UCU branch, told ����Vlog that the union committee would be pushing for four weeks of continuous strike action, made up of four striking days per week, following consultation with union members throughout the ballot period. Members will meet on 2 October to vote on the proposals and their next steps.

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He said the results “indicate the depth of concern that our members have about the ongoing campaign of job cuts” being pursued by the university.��

“We are not convinced that the university needs to make these cuts to its staffing budget, and our members are increasingly concerned that job losses – whether from compulsory redundancy or voluntary severance – are having a negative impact on the quality of our work and the well-being of our members,” Hayes added.�� 

The union continues to negotiate with management over the dispute, and “we urge them to find a way to end it before strike action is taken”.��

“These job cuts are bad for the university’s teaching and research, bad for our members, and bad for the city of Sheffield as a whole, since the universities are such big employers locally. Management needs to listen to its staff and find another way through the crisis in our sector, and the national government needs to take more action to ensure that higher education is properly funded in this country,” said Hayes.

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Sheffield UCU is one of many unions to have announced industrial action in recent weeks. The universities of Edinburgh and Nottingham have confirmed strike action, while unions at Bradford and Leicester have announced successful strike ballots.��

A spokesperson for the University of Sheffield said: “We stand by our commitment to make no compulsory redundancies this calendar year and will continue to work with UCU and other trade unions to avoid them wherever possible in the future as the university adapts to the pressures facing the higher education sector.

“If the trade union decides to call on its members to take industrial action, we expect the vast majority of our students and staff will be unaffected and we will do everything we can to minimise any potential impact. We will keep our staff and students updated.”

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com