What local hardship support will be available at RHUL to members if salary is withheld?
UCU has called a national Marking and Assessment Boycott (MAB) from 20th April 2023. This is the first national MAB since 2006, a MAB which was highly effective for members. Last year more than 20 branches undertook a local MAB. These branches won considerable gains, yet only at QMUL were any wage deductions for partial performance imposed. QMUL's wage deductions were motivated largely by a dispute over refusal to replace work lost to strike action. The decision not to deduct wages for partial performance at all other branches was in part to maintain good working relationships and in part to ensure students could be assessed and therefore graduate in a timely fashion.
RHUL have announced that they reserve the right to impose 100% deductions for partial performance of contractual duties [link to PDF]; MAB is, for some workers, partial performance. To balance this, the Senior Management Team (SMT) suggest they will award 50% of salary as an ex gratia payment to workers who are participating in the MAB. As we have reported, the use of ex gratia payments by a charity is problematic. It is not clear if the SMT assumes they will receive 50% of our work for a 50% payment. Clearly expecting unpaid work is neither legal not ethical. Should the SMT expect more than 50% of work they are paying for, the SMT may be offering less than the legally enforced national minimum wage to workers on grade 6 & 7. A 50% deduction for MAB is wholly disproportionate, and we advise all colleagues that they should write to SMT to challenge the proposal. UCL UCU have calculated that work affected by MAB may represent just 4% of a colleague's total workload [link to PDF]. The branch committee also fail to understand how a 50% deduction retains the goodwill that will be needed to assess and administer results, which will allow our students to graduate when the national dispute is resolved.
Previous financial support for members
During recent industrial action members have been able to rely upon national and local financial support. We are now in a position to announce the support available to members with fixed-term and open ended contracts during MAB. We are finalising a different offer for our casualised members, which we hope will be ready later this week.
National scheme
UCU has a national Fighting Fund which offers financial support during strike action and covers members who face 100% deductions for MAB participation. The current limits is for 11 days' support, so if you did not apply for a full 11 days' support but took at least 12 days of strike action during this dispute, we advise you to claim it now.
The UCU National Executive met on Friday 28th April and were scheduled to consider extending eligibility for support. We will update this information to reflect any changes.
RHUL UCU MAB hardship scheme
The branch is in a good position to support members if Senior Management team do decide to withhold wages for MAB participation. UCU has informed all HE employers that members will engage in a MAB this term, so individuals need not respond to various emails asking for their intentions. No member need report until the conclusion of this action. You can see various template responses to e-mails you may receive here.
If SMT decide to proceed with deductions after the fact, this will impact good will. At the point of reporting, we will provide our own reporting form to ensure the College does not inadvertently breach the Employment Relations Act 1999 (Blacklists) of 2010. On this form, the branch will advise members to declare the days that they would have ordinarily given over to marking. This may vary by department and in accordance with any workload model in operation. In a certain department, for example, the marker on a two question exam would be expected to take about a day per 20 students or so. In other departments which allocate less time for marking, the days affected by MAB would be lower.
All local support looks at the net loss to members, which is often less than the headline salary deduction for action due to other salary deductions (including income tax and national insurance). The total daily limit of support for members losing money for MAB participation will be £50. This will cover or almost cover the proposed net daily deduction for workers at grade 9 and below. For example, looking at a payslips of a worker on grade nine, the gross deduction for a day of strike action is £105, presumably £50.25 if 50% deductions for MAB are imposed. This is where we need to look at consecutive payslips to identify the loss in take home income. The net loss is smaller for this worker – at just under £59 a day which, under MAB associated with 50% deductions, would be worth around £30.
Casual members
Casual members work for limited days a week or weeks a year. Therefore a weekly support limit of £50 a day is insufficient to support them. We are currently identifying what weekly total is more appropriate to balance supporting casualised members with retaining some funds for other members. This total will exceed £250 a week. We hope to announce this total later this week.
At certain institutions, SMTs have attempted to circumvent a MAB by using inexpert markers. Sometimes this has been PGRs desperate for income, at others times any external candidates responding to online ads. This is clearly a bad outcome for students who expect to be assessed by those staff who taught them. We invite any PGR members who are offered ad hoc marking emergency contracts designed to circumvent the MAB to get in touch.
How can I support colleagues if I am not in the MAB?
During industrial action we invite any supporter to donate what they can afford. There are two ways you can do this: donations or pledges. During industrial action we have often invited supporters to donate, anonymously or not. In 2023 we have had been lucky enough to receive significant donations, some of which were from retired members.
A MAB may feel like a form of industrial action that only involves members with marking. This is not the case: members without marking have a key role to play in supporting their peers with organisational help(there's a lot of organise), moral support and by pledging salary or salary sharing. We recognise the cost of living crisis is biting workers; that's why we need a decent pay rise! But any contribution you can afford will be invaluable. Pledging to donate part of your salary once deductions have been imposed is administratively simpler than donating now and asking for a refund. We have evidence of how well pledging works. Last year we pledged Queen Mary, UofL, £500 as they faced months of 100% deductions as their management took the nation's most extreme position on demanding rescheduling lectures lost to strikes. QMUL members decided to work through their 100% deductions, recording their tasks and hours workers, and will launch a court case to recoup stolen earnings. QMUL management are set to lose the withheld wages but have already lost in the court of public opinion. QMUL thanked us then and now it will return our pledge, therefore bolstering our local funds.
Our pledge our salary scheme will launch this week, so look out for messages and posters with the relevant QR code.
Inadequate College publicity for students
There is a worrying lack of awareness of MAB among our students. During a MAB, UCU members are engaging in a boycott of student assessment, not a boycott of student support or learning. However, Senior Management have failed to explain the action to students; some seem to believe there will be no exams or that submission deadlines have been cancelled. We place this failure to explain firmly at the door of senior management.
RHUL UCU is working with student societies and media channels to get accurate information out. We await a meeting with SU representatives and in the meantime are considering whether we have the capacity to start a poster campaign to fill the information gap.
Conclusion
Always remembers that your participation in MAB needs to be honestly disclosed after your MAB has ended. RHUL UCU has attempted to explain the MAB to all colleagues, but if you find a colleague who is yet to hear about it, please point them to our FAQ. Why not invite them to join?
If you have questions about the MAB, or want to catch up with other members taking part, RHUL UCU offers a daily drop-in clinics for members on Mondays (not bank holidays), Wednesday and Fridays at 1pm. Exam Board Chairs & Deputies have a weekly clinic every Thursday at 9am.
Posted on behalf of the RHUL UCU Branch Committee
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