London – UCU Goldsmiths University indefinite strike
At our branch meeting on 13 April 2026, members voted overwhelmingly to escalate our dispute with management and move to a marking and assessment boycott (MAB) in response to Future Goldsmiths, the university’s latest programme of redundancies and restructuring. This followed months of failed negotiations after the branch raised a formal Failure To Agree in June 2025 and management confirmed an £8 million shortfall in student recruitment income for 2025/26. Staff were presented with plans for £20 million in cuts, split evenly between Academic and Professional Services staff, with little meaningful consultation.
This would be the third round of mass cuts in five years. Every previous restructure was presented as the route to financial stability. Instead, staff and students have paid the price while management has continued costly external spending and repeated restructuring. Through Freedom of Information requests, our branch uncovered more than £14 million spent on consultants between 2019 and 2026, alongside at least £6.6 million on recruitment services since 2022.
Much of this followed the failed Recovery Programme, which removed internal capacity only for management to spend millions attempting to replace it. Our branch believes Goldsmiths cannot shrink its way out of crisis. The university needs stability, investment, and a serious focus on rebuilding student confidence and recruitment, not another round of cuts that undermines its future.
In a formal postal ballot held between 16 March and 10 April, GUCU members voted decisively for industrial action, with 81.22% backing strike action and 91.71% supporting action short of a strike (ASOS) on a turnout of 63.02%. ASOS began on 27 May and includes a marking and assessment boycott (MAB), working to contract, and refusing to cover vacant posts or undertake voluntary duties. Management has now escalated the dispute by announcing 100% pay deductions for staff participating in ASOS, including the MAB.
This decision was communicated to staff on Friday afternoon despite branch representatives warning that such a move would intensify the dispute and despite a branch motion mandating further escalation and an indefinite strike if full deductions were imposed. The branch is contesting both the implementation and timing of these deductions and seeking legal advice on the implications of management effectively locking staff out while deductions apply. We have also voted to undertake indefinite strike action from Monday 8 June until management withdraws 100% deductions to our pay and negotiates with us. To ensure our action remains strong in the face of punitive deductions and indefinite strike, please consider supporting our members by donating to our strike fund and sharing our campaign. Our members remain clear: defending all jobs is essential to defending the future of Goldsmiths.WRITE A MESSAGE OF SUPPORT