Update on UCU industrial action

As reported in this update the UCU had instructed its members to take three days’ of strike action from Wednesday 1 December to Friday 3 December 2021.

198 colleagues took strike action on at least one of these three days, around 27% of UCU’s local membership and a small fraction of the University’s staff. Reported disruption, for example by way of cancelled classes, was minimal.

The University has an obligation to minimise disruption to its students and to take reasonable steps to make good any lost learning they have experienced. With the end of term fast approaching there is no immediate opportunity to take practical steps in this regard. However, we will be issuing instructions in due course to relevant colleagues to provide Heads of School (and others as appropriate) with detailed information about any learning that may have been lost or disrupted by the strike action and action they have taken, or are planning to take, to address this. This will include suggestions as to how this might be achieved during the Spring Term.

The UCU has now formally notified the University that it is escalating action short of strike (ASOS). From Tuesday 21 December 2021 this will include an instruction to its members not to reschedule classes and lectures cancelled due to strike action. From 5 January 2022 this will also include not covering for absent colleagues and removing uploaded materials related to, and/or not sharing materials related to, lectures or classes that will be or have been cancelled as a result of strike action.

Colleagues should note that, by way of an example, a refusal to reschedule lectures or classes cancelled due to strike action will (where there has been a reasonable request to do so) be considered by the University to constitute partial performance. In these circumstances, and other circumstances that constitute partial performance, the University is not legally obliged to pay relevant colleagues in full and has reserved the right to deduct up to 100% of pay.

If you have any concerns or require further information or clarification, please contact me or the Human Resources Partner for your area.

John Brady

Director of Human Resources