Disillusioned university workers have voted in support of strike action on campuses across the UK following separate ballots over pensions, pay and working conditions.

The University and College Union (UCU) said the result was a serious indictment of the state of higher education, and demonstrated the depth of anger and frustration among those working in the sector, many of whom are on low-paid temporary contracts.

Temporary work at £9 an hour. No wonder lecturers are balloting to strike Read more

The union urged universities to address members’ concerns and warned that if they failed to do so strike action was “inevitable”, potentially disrupting the studies of about one million students. The UCU’s higher education committee will meet on Friday to consider its next steps, including what form of industrial action it will take and when.

Universities will be keen to avoid a repeat of last year’s industrial action over pension changes which saw 40,000 lecturers, librarians, researchers and other academic staff walk out, bringing campuses to a halt in an unprecedented wave of strikes.

UCU’s general secretary, Jo Grady, who took up the post earlier this year after playing a key role in last year’s strike, said: “The results can only be interpreted as clear support for strike action over pensions, pay and working conditions. The ballots reflect just how unhappy and angry staff are at the state of higher education in the UK.”

According to the UCU, 43 branches beat the 50% turnout threshold for strike action over the universities superannuation scheme (USS), leaving open the option of strike action, while 56 exceeded the threshold on pay and conditions. Overall, 79% of voting members backed a strike in the pensions ballot, while 74% backed strike action over pay, casualisation, equality and workload.

“It is incredibly frustrating that we had to ballot members again,” said Grady, “but universities only have themselves to blame after failing to address falling real-terms pay and for refusing to deal with casualisation, workloads and the rising cost of USS pensions.”

Last year the union succeeded in forcing employers to drop plans to change pensions at universities established before 1992 from defined benefit schemes to the less favourable defined contribution schemes. It is now challenging the size of staff contributions, which it thinks should be capped at 8% of a lecturer’s salary, rather than the 9.6% proposed by employers.

Responding to the outcome of the USS ballot, Universities UK (UUK), which represents 136 universities, said employers were open to further talks in the hope of resolving the dispute without industrial action, which would be damaging for staff and students.

“Recent negotiations between UCU and Universities UK concluded with no cuts to USS pension benefits, and employers paying the majority of the extra contributions required under pensions law,” a UUK spokesman said. “In a challenging economic environment, this outcome is the best that could be achieved. Crucially, it is acceptable to both the USS trustees and the pensions regulator.”

The Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), which represents employers in pay talks, said “low turnouts” and “patchy ballot results” suggested limited support for a pay dispute, indicating an understanding of the “financial realities” for universities.

“For the handful of institutions where UCU members have voted in sufficient numbers to support industrial action, it is unclear how they can possibly pursue UCU’s national pay dispute,” a UCEA spokesman said.

Grady added: “Universities now have to come back to us prepared to work seriously to address these problems. If they choose to ignore this message from their staff then strike action looks inevitable.”