Thousands of university staff are to be balloted for strikes in a dispute over pay.
The University and College Union (UCU) said 65,000 of its members working in universities across the UK will vote in the coming weeks on whether to launch a campaign of industrial action.
The union said employers had refused to increase a 1.4% pay offer.
The UCU said it has started preparations for an aggregated UK-wide ballot of its members, covering 138 institutions, which it expects to open on October 20.
It warned of co-ordinated industrial action with other unions representing university staff in the new year.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “University employers are now on notice that we will launch a UK-wide pay ballot with the potential for co-ordinated strike action that will cause maximum disruption on campus.
“Our members, not vice-chancellors, are the people who support students, create teaching materials, conduct world-leading research and keep universities running; we are the university.
“Employers now need to recognise that imposing a 1.4% pay award, when inflation is still soaring, is a significant real-terms pay cut and an insult to hard-working higher education staff.
“It’s time for them to come back to the table with an improved offer that will settle this dispute and avoid the need for a strike ballot and potential industrial action.”
