This is a total of six days’ strike action, which we know will cause substantial disruption at the tail-end of the semester across the university. Strike action is always a last resort, but members have told us through numerous general meetings and other communications that they are deeply concerned about the threat that forthcoming restructures in Chemistry, East Asian Studies, and Materials Science and Engineering pose to job security in those departments, together with wider issues of ever-increasing workload and job cuts across the institution.
We are also calling on members to take the following forms of action short of strike, starting from Thursday 7th May:
not covering for absent colleagues, vacant posts, or posts that are discontinued due to change management;
not rescheduling lectures or classes cancelled as a result of strike action;
not sharing materials relating to lectures or classes cancelled as a result of strike action;
not undertaking any voluntary activities;
not undertaking duties which are not commensurate with the grade of the post; and
not using personal devices to conduct work.
Our negotiators will meet again with management to seek to resolve our dispute on Friday 1st May. We expect this industrial action will further incentivise management to make our members a meaningful offer. We will keep you updated on the progress of our negotiations.
Industrial action ballot result- Spring 2026
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Our branch has achieved a strong mandate for potential industrial action in our recent ballot, with a turnout of 50.44%, and 67.6% and 75.37% voting in support of strike action and action short of a strike (ASOS), respectively. This positive result reflects the incredible work of our departmental reps, branch officers, and members who contributed to the Get The Vote Out campaign. The new strike mandate will last for one year thanks to changes in trade union law.
Members have voted to reject management’s extensive and disruptive programme of restructuring, which is creating direct stress for hundreds of staff and negatively impacting the entire university. Despite the incredibly hostile and punitive approach taken by management following our action last semester, members have once again demonstrated their resolve to push back against the threats to jobs, and to demand protections from ever-increasing workloads. We know from our independent financial report that any job cuts are a choice, not a necessity. Management can avoid any further industrial action by negotiating in good faith and committing to no compulsory redundancies.
Our branch committee will meet to discuss these results and how to put a plan of action to our members. We will then consult with members before undertaking any plan of action. So please watch out for further information in later emails.
At this crucial moment, every member matters. We are asking everyone to speak with a staff member or PGR who is not currently a union member about the importance of this dispute and how they can support those whose jobs are at risk by joining UCU and joining our collective action.
Thank you again to everyone who voted. This mandate empowers us to continue ongoing negotiations with management on job cuts, job losses, and workload. We will keep members abreast of any developments in these negotiations in the coming days and weeks.
Dates of industrial action confirmed
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Our strike notification has now been submitted. Industrial action will begin in Week 8 (17 November 2025) and continue for 4 weeks, in line with the pattern in the motion passed by a branch meeting last month. We have given notification for the following dates of strike action:
Week 1: 17, 18, 19, and 21 November 2025
Week 2: 24, 25, 26, and 27 November 2025
Week 3: 1, 2, 4, and 5 December 2025
Week 4: 9, 10, 11, and 12 December 2025
Action short of a strike has also been notified starting on 17 November 2025, including the following actions:
not covering for absent colleagues, vacant posts, or posts that are discontinued due to change management;
not rescheduling lectures or classes cancelled as a result of strike action;
not sharing materials relating to lectures or classes cancelled as a result of strike action;
not undertaking any voluntary activities;
not undertaking duties which are not commensurate with the grade of the post;
not using personal devices to conduct work.
We are dedicated to using the time between now and the commencement of possible strike action to focus on negotiating a satisfactory resolution to the dispute. Although negotiations thus far have not yet led to a resolution, they have been productive. Our branch’s strong membership and our live industrial action mandate have materially helped these negotiations, and we thank members for your work in the GTVO and in organising.
We will provide full details about strike arrangements, including financial support, strike drop-ins, and other practical information later this week (week commencing 20/10/2025).
Industrial Action Ballot Outcome and Next Steps
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We have received confirmation that members have voted overwhelmingly for strike action (76.9% Yes) and action short of a strike (82.3% Yes) in our ballot for industrial action. The turnout was 52.6%.
This mandate demonstrates a strong commitment from our members to resist management’s ongoing campaign of job cuts and the threat to staff workload and wellbeing that they represent.
Thank you to all members who voted and helped organise during this ballot, particularly given that at the end of summer many people are taking leave or working off campus, which introduces challenges to getting the vote out (GTVO). Our negotiators are continuing to meet with management, and we hope that this strong mandate encourages management to make an offer that will avert the need to take this strike action. Any decision on whether to take such an offer would need to be taken by the branch collectively in a general meeting, in accordance with a motion passed last year.
Join us at our EGM this Thursday (2nd October at 1pm), where we will discuss how to use this mandate for action most effectively to protect jobs and fight back against the worsening of our workloads and working conditions.
More threats to jobs, no long term vision. Vote YES to industrial action
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At this point last year, the Vice-Chancellor was claiming that UEB’s approach to reducing staff expenditure over two academic years would allow the University to return to a surplus position by the 2026/27 academic year. Despite the announced savings target of £23m having already been nearly achieved in a single academic year, the Vice-Chancellor then announced in Spring 2025 that more targeted staff cuts and uncertainty were necessary, and a set of five academic schools would face review and a targeted voluntary severance (VS) scheme starting this Autumn. Suddenly, 27/28 was the new target year to return to surplus.
Earlier today, staff in five additional work areas were told they face targeted VS, and are potentially at risk of undergoing a review and then restructure. This decision, and the meagre justifications that UEB are offering, show a complete lack of leadership or financial strategy.
The five work areas are as follows:
Medicine and Population Health;
School of History, Philosophy, and Digital Humanities;
School of English;
School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations;
Research Partnerships and Innovation.
UEB’s justification for this stressful and destructive course of job losses has shifted from a purely financial framing relating to international student recruitment, to now forefront an ideological position of considering the University’s ‘size and shape’ with no clearly identified targets for savings.
Consistently throughout this dispute, Sheffield UCU has maintained that this level of cuts to the staff budget is both unnecessary and unacceptable, particularly given the financial state of the University based on both publicly available financial data and the financial records we have been privy to in negotiations with management. This university has the historical resources to take a more prudent approach to the drop and volatility in international student numbers, and we simply cannot continue with the ongoing pace of change, with its impact on workload, workplace stress, and morale.
Unfortunately, it seems the Vice-Chancellor and University Executive Board are committed to a programme of short-termist austerity and cuts, with no clear longer term vision.
In May when members stood down our industrial action, we knew that it represented a pause and that we would need to ballot again and be ready for potential action this Autumn.
At that time, the Vice-Chancellor and HR verbally informed the joint trade unions that the list of reviews and restructures planned for the 25/26 academic year would be IT Services, SEAS Language Teachers, and the 5 academic areas currently under review, and the 21 May email from the VC to all staff specifically identified these areas and no others. Today’s announcement contradicts that email, and again reveals the incredibly short term planning of our University leadership.
The addition of these 5 work areas to the targeted VS scheme should be a message to all of us that these cuts are for the sake of cuts, and that no area in the university is safe. There is no level of reviews or job losses that is going to be ‘enough’ unless staff stand together and say no.
We are already balloting for industrial action to fight for the jobs of our colleagues in IT Services, East Asian Studies, the Management School, Civil Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Chemistry, and PS colleagues across all Schools. Our fight hasn’t changed today, but our resolve should be hardened by the announcement that Medicine and Population Health; History, Philosophy, and Digital Humanities; English; Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations; and Research, Partnerships and Innovation are also at risk.
No number of compulsory redundancies are acceptable, and we must resist the constant environment of stress and fear - for ourselves, our colleagues currently at risk, and all of the colleagues who will undoubtedly be at risk in the future unless we do something now.
Vote YES and YES in our IA ballot, and please let us know that you have voted. Our full reasons for balloting and other FAQs can be found at the bottom of this email. Please send in your ballot ASAP. If you need a new ballot paper, you can use this form to request a replacement until Tuesday 23 September 2025 (12 noon).
Come to our next general meeting on 16 September at 1pm to discuss this news, and our ballot.