Important information ahead of UCU industrial action

The following message by Claire Rolstone, Interim Director of HR, has been sent to all staff at the University

Dear colleagues,

Industrial action announced earlier this month by the University & College Union (UCU) in relation to USS pension scheme reform commences this week.  

Industrial action in the form of a strike will take place on Thursday 24, Friday 25 and Wednesday 30 November, with a continuous period of Action Short of Strike (ASOS) commencing from Wednesday 23 November.  

The University acknowledges the right of colleagues to take industrial action. All colleagues, regardless of their views, are urged to be patient and respectful towards one another during the coming days and weeks. 

The University is also committed to ensuring the quality and value of our students’ learning experience. We have put processes in place to minimise any negative impact the industrial action has on our students, and we are grateful to colleagues involved in this mitigation work.  

Colleagues are encouraged to review the following information, which lays out clearly the most important implications, including financial and legal, of industrial action. 

Please contact Claire Rolstone, Interim Director of HR, if you have any questions or concerns about what this might mean for you. Further information and FAQs can be found on the Staff Portal.

Information and an FAQ for students, including how they can report any negative impact on their studies, has also been published on Essentials. A copy of the email that will be sent to all UG and PG students tomorrow (Wednesday) can be viewed here.

Participation in Strike Action 

If you are participating in the notified strike action, there are several things you need to know:

• As with previous periods of industrial action, pay will be deducted for each day of strike action at a rate of 1/365^th. Relevant deductions will be made in the next available pay-run.

• You are not required to inform the University in advance of your intention to participate in the strike action. If you do take strike action, however, you must declare your participation immediately following each period of strike action (and after no more than 24 hours, including non-working days).   Colleagues taking part in strike action are asked to confirm their participation immediately following each period of action on their next working day. You can do this by using the Strike Notification Form. If you do not do so, it will be treated as a disciplinary matter.

• If there are exceptional reasons why you might not be able to comply with these reporting requirements, please let me know as soon as possible.

• When pay is deducted for strike days the University has to make exceptional arrangements to maintain pension contributions. Your agreement is required to maintain normal pension contributions for those days you are on strike, this agreement can be expressly given on the Strike Notification Form. 

• When you return to full duties, the University may require you to prioritise missed work over other work during your working hours. The University is entitled to do this, as it is a lawful and reasonable instruction to staff. There will be no additional pay for doing this work. 

Participation in action short of strike (ASOS) 

The UCU notification has described the intended ASOS as consisting of: 

• working to contract;  
• not undertaking any voluntary activities;  
• not covering for absent colleagues;  
• 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; and  
• not rescheduling lectures or classes cancelled due to strike action.  

If you are participating in the notified action short of strike, there are several things you need to know:

• You must inform the University that you are participating in ASOS.  You do not need to notify the University in advance but must do so at the start of your participation in ASOS.  You can do this by completing the ASOS Notification Form.  

• Where the ASOS is limited to working to contract, we will monitor this but there will be no further action. However, colleagues are expected to perform their contractual duties in full and other aspects of ASOS are likely to constitute a breach of contract. The University does not accept partial performance and reserves the right to make deductions from pay where breaches of contract occur.  

• This means that the University is not legally obliged to pay you in full if you only partially perform your contractual duties. This could lead to a deduction of up to 100% of pay.  

• There may be requests for clarification of the term ‘partial performance’. The notified UCU action refers to action short of strike including ‘working to contract’. This is not unreasonable, and adherence with this will not generate further action.  The instruction not to ‘undertake voluntary activities’ would not constitute partial performance, for those activities that are genuinely voluntary and do not form part of the reasonable expectations for your role.  However, it is important to understand that as well as the express terms of your written contract of employment, there are other implied terms that are also contractual obligations, including the customary ways in which people have worked in their Schools or Functions and the implied duties to follow lawful and reasonable instructions.  

• As noted previously, the OIA and OfS expect institutions not just to simply exclude topics missed due to industrial action from any assessments, but to proactively ensure students are still able to benefit from this learning.  We must also ensure students with disabilities and/or specific learning difficulties are supported in a way that meets their individual learning needs. 

• Reasonable efforts should be made to reschedule lectures or classes cancelled due to strike action or to agree other arrangements to make up for missed teaching.  Refusal to reschedule, or to make reasonable efforts to do so, will be considered by the University to constitute partial performance and be a breach of contract.  

• Teaching materials, including those uploaded to Blackboard or Canvas, and whether written or learning capture materials, will in most cases belong to the University. You are not permitted to remove these materials unless this has been approved by the relevant Teaching and Learning Dean and to do so is likely to be a breach of contract. 

• We will periodically review the effect of the action on our students and its impact more broadly across the University. We reserve the right to withhold up to 100% of pay at any time while the dispute persists and where contractual duties are not performed in full. Where applied, deductions will continue to be made until the union calls off the action or the individual confirms he or she is resuming full duties and does resume full duties. 

Additional information 

The following points are based on queries received during previous periods of industrial action: 

• Some colleagues may enquire about taking annual leave or working from home during the strike action. Any existing annual leave bookings should of course be honoured. Line managers should consider any new requests for leave or to work from home in the normal way, but where there are concerns about service disruption or staff shortages such requests may be refused. 

• UCU colleagues are likely to maintain small picket lines at various entrances to our campuses on the days of strike action. This is perfectly legitimate. The law requires picketing to be conducted peacefully and lawfully, and no-one should be harassed when entering the campus. We have never experienced any difficulty locally in the past and have no reason to expect anything different on this occasion. If you are a member of the UCU and have decided not to participate in the strike action you are free to work as normal, and I am sure that your UCU colleagues will be respectful of your personal decision. 

• It is reasonable for line managers to ask other colleagues to cover duties disrupted by the industrial action as long as it does not over-burden people or does not require them to take on duties that they are not competent or trained to perform. 

• Some line managers are members of the UCU and may be participating in the industrial action, and the University respects their right to do so. It can be difficult to reconcile supporting the action and performing your line management duties, which could include assisting the University with its efforts to minimise disruption. As things stand the notified UCU action does not call for non-cooperation from those with line management responsibilities, so our normal expectations will apply. 

• If the dispute is prolonged beyond the currently notified dates, it will be even more important for all of us to be respectful of each other’s decisions, whether that be to continue with strike action, to return to work or to have been at work fully during the dispute. By way of a reminder, it is permissible to ask a colleague if they are going to be on strike but they are under no obligation to offer this information in advance; repeated requests are unnecessary. 

• Equally, colleagues on picket lines can hand out leaflets and ask you not to cross their line; however, they should not make repeated requests or impede you in any way. All colleagues are reminded that we continue to work together during and beyond this dispute.  

• The withholding of pay is without prejudice to any other right or remedy of the University, including any claim for damages for breach of contract. Following previous periods of industrial action there were claims brought by students against a number of universities. With this in mind the University further reserves the right to join you as a party to any claim for breach of contract brought against the University as a result of this current action. 

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

Best wishes,  

Claire Rolstone 
Interim Director of HR