Staff and students slam ‘shambolic’ Bangor redundancy consultation as union wins strike ballot

The union representing university staff has won a consultative ballot on industrial action of its members following a consultation process over job losses at Bangor that has been have condemned as “a shambles.”

With around 55% of the union’s membership voting, 88% of the union branch’s academic and professional services staff voted in favour of strike action to avoid compulsory redundancies in 2025.

The ballot opened on Monday, 16 June and closed on Monday, 30 June.

A consultative ballot, also known as an indicative ballot, is a pre-legal ballot conducted by a trade union to gauge member support for potential industrial action. Unlike a formal strike ballot, it’s not legally required and does not mandate action.

Mandate

The strong showing in the consultative ballot will now mean that the branch can move forwards with a legal ballot of members. If the same results are achieved then they will comfortably win a mandate for strike action and action short of a strike (up to, and including, a marking boycott).

One staff member from the School of Arts, Culture, and Language said: “This consultation has been a shambles. All four Business Cases were riddled with inaccuracies, missing data, and were completely inaccessible.

“Communication has been terrible, piling fear and stress on top of an already devastating time. While staff scramble for answers, fearing for their livelihoods, Vice Chancellor Edmund Burke enjoys a £273k salary after a recent pay rise. I voted YES in the UCU consultative ballot. We deserve better.”

A spokesperson for Bangor University UCU said: “From the start, we told management that the consultation must be paused, the errors fixed, and the documents republished for meaningful engagement to take place.

“We even provided a collated list of specific issues to help them do this. Instead, we were just told that conversations had taken place and clarity had been provided to members at risk – a claim not reflected by our members’ experiences.

“It appears that management seem intent on forging ahead with decisions that were made before consultation began. We have a decisive mandate to formally ballot for industrial action and the fact that we won this mandate during two weeks in late June is testament to the strength of anger amongst ordinary staff members.

“We are ready to defend our red line: no compulsory redundancies.”

Wellbeing

Students have also raised concerns about the impact of the process on their education and wellbeing.

Rose Pugh, Vice-President for Education (2024–25) at the students’ union, Undeb Bangor, said: “In our response to the consultation, we highlighted concerns about the timing and accessibility of the process.

“Holding it during the exam period meant that many students were unaware of the proposals or unable to engage meaningfully … The lack of accessible information and the rushed timeline undermined students’ ability to contribute to decisions that will shape their university experience and has had a severe impact on the university’s most vulnerable and marginalised students.”

Yakubu Jidda, President 2025–26 of Undeb Bangor, said: “Students deserve to be heard, especially when decisions are being made that could impact their future …

“We’re particularly concerned about the long-term effects on the quality of education, support services, and the Welsh language provision. As we move forward, we urge the University to commit to an inclusive, and student-focused approach to any changes.”

If management refuse to rule out compulsory redundancies in 2025, Bangor UCU will decide next steps, which could include a formal industrial ballot and strike action. Unite and Unison branches at Bangor University have also indicated they will pursue ballots, if the university moves to compulsory redundancies, signalling the potential for further disruption.

Gareth Lloyd, UCU Cymru Wales Official summed up: “I am proud that Bangor branch managed to win its indicative ballot at a time when many staff will be going on leave. This should give management serious pause for thought. We urge the Vice Chancellor to drop all threats of compulsory redundancy.”

Difficult decisions

A spokesperson for Bangor University said: “These are challenging financial times for the higher education sector across the UK and like many institutions, Bangor University has had to make difficult decisions to secure its long-term sustainability.

“It is important to note that this process is still ongoing, and we remain committed to doing all we can to avoid compulsory redundancies, with our focus continuing to be on voluntary measures.

“We have recently completed a consultation exercise with staff, students and external stakeholders on the business cases for change and we were pleased to receive over a thousand responses. As a result of that consultation, we have made changes to savings proposals in some areas, including removing ‘at risk’ posts.

“Members of the University Executive have been meeting campus trade unions on a regular basis throughout this process and we remain committed to maintaining close and constructive dialogue with our recognised trade unions and the Students’ Union over coming weeks.”