2025 Campaign Against Cuts

Thank you to all the members who have worked so hard to unpick the errors and inconsistencies in the Academic Futures ‘final business case’ circulated to all staff on Monday. We sent on a summary of these errors to the University Executive Board yesterday, and the final business case has already been updated to correct some errors on staffing numbers. You can read a great summary of the key issues with the document on the “CU Fight Back” blog.

The Chair of Council and the Vice Chancellor appeared at the Senedd Cymru on Thursday and gave evidence to the Children, Young Persons and Education Committee. In case you missed it their appearance generated a fair bit of press coverage on the BBC, THE, Wales Online, Nation.Cymru, and the Caerphilly Observer. Their testimony contained some inaccuracies in relation to the branch’s actions in recent weeks, especially about the fact that we reported the University Executive Board to the Health and Safety Executive and the press coverage that received, and also about the recent meeting of the University Senate.

What happened at University Senate?
Senate, the senior forum for academic scrutiny, met on Wednesday 11 June. They also saw the Academic Futures final business case on Monday. Senate unanimously rejected the plans, with no votes in favour, including from senior management. Arguments heard were not based on individuals trying to save their own subjects, but because of the proposal’s foundational risks to academic sustainability and therefore the financial future of our university. 

Senate therefore has not recommended that Council accepts the final proposals. Council meets on Tuesday 17 June. The three campus trade unions (UCU, Unite and UNISON) are making a joint representation to Council recommending that they pause implementation and adopt more measured reform. We have written in advance to Council outlining the core risks, which you can read here, and we will share our full speech to Council with you all. 

Why did the union report the University to the Health & Safety Executive (HSE)?  
In our survey on the impacts of the Academic Futures process, what many members shared with us had direct and possibly very serious consequences to health and safety. We alerted the employer straight away – on 30 April, in the same meeting at which we agreed the guarantee of no compulsory redundancies in 2025.

We have been clear with UEB about our intentions from the start. On 9 May we emailed the University Executive again, asking them for prompt communication and agreed action plan, otherwise we would need to alert the HSE.

Since 30 April, extra meetings with the wellbeing team were scheduled, as a result of which they drafted a list of potential actions. We made concrete suggestions in our feedback, but we haven’t received an updated proposal, let alone a joint strategy to discuss or agree on. Six weeks down the line and with no concrete actions on the horizon, members felt it was our duty to alert the HSE. In our General Meeting on 28 May, a motion was proposed from the floor to report to HSE, and the motion was carried by a vote. The executive therefore acted on the members’ decision.

Is staff wellbeing actually okay? Is the union weaponising the reported risk of suicide?
Our University Executive Board have repeatedly noted that they recognise the effect of the Academic Futures process on staff. Our survey on the impacts of the process is unequivocal, and emphasises that the stress is, to a large extent, work-related. Our university knows firsthand the risk of staff suicide. As a union at our general meeting, we agreed that we must act on a faster timeline because of the risk and responsibility.

Why did the union make a press release?
The CU wellbeing team is trying, but they say it themselves: they don’t have the resources to tackle the scale of this crisis. Going to the press is a way to make this a priority.

What’s happening over the next week?
After our representations to Council on 17 June, the three campus trade unions are meeting the UEB in our regular Joint Consultative and Negotiating Forum on 19 June. We have already tabled requests for a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies for the calendar year 2026; the immediate removal of all staff from scope for redundancy; and specific guarantees on workload and health and safety. We will then meet as members at an Emergency General Meeting on 25 June to discuss the next steps together.

Update on strike action

On Wednesday 30 April the three unions (UCU, Unite and Unison) met with senior management to discuss collective consultation and industrial action. The meeting was facilitated by ACAS. Senior management were willing to guarantee no compulsory redundancies, and no notices served, in the calendar year 2025 as part of the Academic Futures projects for both academic and professional services staff, in exchange for the suspension of industrial action under our current mandate. 

At our Emergency General Meeting (EGM) on Thursday 1 May, UCU members voted on this offer and agreed to call off the notified industrial action, including the Marking and Assessment Boycott (MAB), the strike days on May 6, June 9, and June 23-27, and Action Short of a Strike (ASOS). Well done to the over 300 members who joined this meeting to engage in the discussion and make a collective decision for our branch.

Our short-term goal, and our industrial action mandate, was no compulsory redundancies this calendar year under Academic Futures. We brought senior management to this position via sustained work in negotiations, our media campaign, political pressure via the Senedd and MPs, and most critically through an overwhelming mandate for industrial and the impending threat of strikes, ASOS, and a marking & assessment boycott. Thank you to all members who have helped with this work, and to our colleagues from Unite and UNISON who have worked with us in a united front. 

The dispute

On 28 January 2025 Cardiff University senior management announced cuts to staff and student provision that are unprecedented in UK higher education. Our union branch has condemned the plans as cruel and unnecessary, and our members are fighting back.

On 25 March 2025 we gained a mandate for industrial action with 64.3% turnout. On 11 April 2025 we served the University Executive Board (UEB) with two weeks’ notice of industrial action. We called a Marking and Assessment Boycott (MAB) that would start on 6 May; Action Short of a Strike (ASOS) that would start on 6 May; a number of strike days (1 May; 6 May; 9 June; 23-27 June) that would target exam boards and other key dates.

Our demand was simple: to stop any compulsory redundancies in 2025. This was a very reasonable demand. We have given UEB months to slow down and reconsider their rushed plans that risk the future of the whole university. We need to stop the catastrophic pace of change that risks a spiral of decline for the whole university.

We have been trying to avoid strike action. Our union executive committee, your department representatives, and our members have been:

We have also opened a No-confidence vote in the Vice Chancellor and the UEB – please vote and share with your colleagues across all staff.