Between Friday 21 and Wednesday 26 January we held a referendum on teaching strikes, asking you: ‘Should the Students' Union support the UCU strikes of 2021?’.
An incredible 5,116 students voted – it’s the largest referendum we’ve ever held. The motion passed, with a clear majority voting to support teaching strikes.
| Voters | % | |
| Yes | 2,996 | 60 |
| No | 1,997 | 40 |
*123 students voted to abstain.
We made a commitment earlier in the year to support UCU’s Four Fights and their campaign for fairer working conditions, we will now support strike action as a last resort in these negotiations.
It was clear during the open meeting, and the referendum campaign, that both students and staff want to avoid the need for strikes. We will take the result of the vote, and the mandate it provides, forward in our meetings with UCL and continue to push for a resolution to the dispute, and attempt to avoid the need for strike action.
If, however, more strikes are required in February and March, we will do as much as possible to mitigate the impact on students.
Union Affairs Officer, Osman, said: “During the past two years we’ve worked hard to make our democratic procedures more open and accessible, creating new bye-laws, including a new bye-law on referenda. This is the first time the referenda bye-law has been put to work and the huge turnout is a brilliant example of students getting their voices heard through their Students’ Union.”
A new policy on teaching strikes will be taken to the upcoming Union Executive meeting, reflecting the outcome of the referendum.