The Association of University Teachers is asking its 47,000 academics and support staff to vote for industrial action against a pay and conditions offer that it says would cost them thousands of pounds over the next decade.
Wages in the sector have fallen by 40% compared with the rest of the workforce, according to the AUT, a further sign of the financial turmoil in higher education.
University funding per student fell by more than a third during the 1990s, leading vice-chancellors to press, successfully, for top-up tuition fees.
A fully-qualified lecturer starts on a salary of £23,000, but in a survey, 79% of the public said this should be £32,000. In the same survey, those supporting strike action outnumbered those against by more than two to one, says the union. The ballot also has the backing of the National Union of Students.
