Category Archives: Marking Boycott 2023

Upcoming Strike Action in Response to Punitive Deductions

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This letter was sent 25/May/2023. It is available in PDF form.

Dear Members of the University Executive Board,

We hope this letter finds you well. We understand that you have now received notice that we are organising strike action in response to your punitive deductions to the Marking and Assessment boycott.

Specifically we have resolved:

  • To call 5 strike days during our graduation week 17-21 July 2023. https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/graduation/graduation-2023
  • To call additional strike days (14-18 August) to coincide with confirmation and clearing, including Clearing Open Day.
  • To call strike days during Welcome week 25-29 September 2023.

We will call these off if we deem that Cardiff University HR have withdrawn their policy of punitive deductions or our dispute on pay and conditions draws to an end.

These actions will be undertaken by Cardiff UCU locally in response to your continued implementation of a policy response to the UCU Marking and Assessment Boycott that we have previously indicated to you in correspondence that we consider to be punitive. This decision was not taken lightly but reflects the great sense of outrage by our members. It is the direct results of a motion brought by our members that was passed at a quorate Extraordinary General Meeting on 28 April 2023, which was subsequently approved by the UCU Higher Education Officers.

While we understand the disruptive nature of strike actions, we feel compelled to take this step as it appears to be the only recourse left to us.

We now call on the University Executive Board to negotiate with us around the threatened pay deductions with a view to avoiding the proposed strikes.

We deeply value a harmonious relationship between the university administration and its employees. It is therefore with a sense of responsibility that we offer a potential resolution. To be clear, we are willing to stand down the announced strike dates if the University Executive Board withdraws their threats of punitive deductions and takes steps to reverse any punitive deductions that may have already been made by the time the decision to reverse is made.

Contrary to your announcement to students, our actions are not a national issue – it is in response to decisions at Cardiff University specifically, which it is within your power to rectify.

We consider punitive deductions as pay deductions that are not proportionate to the amount of work being boycotted. We maintain that Cardiff’s response of deduction 100% of pay and claiming that further work done by staff is ‘voluntary’ and may (or may not) yield a 50% discretionary payment is punitive. Other universities have announced deductions that are far lower and that more accurately reflect the workload that marking represents. The Open University, for example, is deducting 20% while Hertford, Ulster and Queen Margaret have decided against making deductions altogether. There are reports of other universities that are quietly deciding against making deductions. It is clear that Cardiff University is making a choice that it does not have to be making: one that is designed to hurt its own staff.

We know that the successful operation of a university relies on the collective efforts and goodwill of its staff.  We hope that through open dialogue and understanding, we can find a resolution that can be mutually beneficial to all parties.

We sincerely hope that the University Executive Board will consider our proposal and engage in constructive discussions about making an immediate reversal of the punitive pay deduction policy.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. We look forward to your prompt response and a positive resolution to our shared challenges.

Yours sincerely,

Cardiff UCU

17th May Updates on Spring 2023 Marking and Assessment Boycott

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This email to members focuses on the marking and assessment boycott (MAB) that members are currently participating in.

One hundred and thirteen members have told us they are actively participating in the boycott. Another 40 members have told us they are still making up their minds. Twenty-four members have told us that they don’t have duties that they can refuse. Thirty-six have told us that they don’t intend to participate. We know that staff in CARBS, CHEMY, COMSC, EARTH, ENCAP, GEOPL, HCARE, JOMEC, LAWPL, MEDIC, MLANG, OPTOM, PHYSX, PSYCH, SHARE, SOCSI and BIOSI are participating. We know from other branches that a MAB is a form of industrial action that requires fewer participants to be effective than for a strike. It may feel you’re doing this alone, but you’re not. Remember, you can join the MAB at any point, even if you have already done some of your marking.

If you’ve not told the branch about whether you intend to participate yet, please complete the very short (60-seconds) branch survey:
https://cardiffucu.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/cardiff-ucu-marking-and-assessment-boycott-2023

The branch wrote to UEB regarding its deductions policies on the 4th May. A reply was received on Friday (12th). Unfortunately, the UEB was unable to bring any further clarity to its policies (some of which appear to have been surreptitiously changed). The branch asked UEB what it was doing to put as much pressure on UCEA to end the dispute as it was attempting to put on staff, but UEB is sticking to its line that “[a]s these are national collective matters, it requires both UCEA and the national trade union representatives to find a route through to a solution.” It is not clear what solutions can be found while UCEA refuses to negotiate with UCU. It ought to be surprising that our employer does not seem interested in effecting a change to this position.

Contributing to the local fighting fund

We are asking each member who is not participating in the MAB to give £50 to the branch GoFundMe, with the goal of raising £20,000 for it in the first instance. Participating in the MAB will cost your colleagues thousands of pounds. Much smaller sacrifices from members not participating would help ease the burden and help them to sustain action on your behalf.

Our GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/f7e70767

Marking boycotts take time to build pressure on employers. The longer that we can collectively support colleagues to stay in the action, the more pressure we can collectively exert on our employers.

Our branch treasurer has done some rough calculations, and found that a Grade 6, Spine 33 member engaged in the MAB is losing approximately £1200/month. To fully compensate everyone participating is not what we are aiming to do – not all members will need this level of support, even if we had the funds to provide it. But we do need to grow our local fighting fund in order to support members most financially affected by their participation.

The Birmingham UCU branch has raised a local fighting fund of £50,000. If we could raise even half of that we’d be in a much stronger position when it came to supporting members in the most difficult positions. If every member not participating in the MAB made a £50 contribution, we’d breeze past £20,000!

Participating in the boycott

We are asking everyone to participate to the fullest extent possible. The more tasks members refuse to perform, the more pressure we can put on our employer. If you are struggling to work out how to participate, please talk to your branch rep, or come along to one of the MAB solidarity meetings to talk about it. We are refusing tasks assigned to us as individuals, but this is a collective endeavour!

Solidarity meeting for Welsh speakers on Friday at 14.00

Ydych chi’n siarad Cymraeg? Do you speak Welsh? The branch is running a Welsh-medium solidarity meeting at 14.00 on Friday 19th May. The meeting is open to all members, not just staff in the School of Welsh. The meeting will take place entirely in Welsh. Unfortunately, Zoom is not able to provide live captioning for Welsh. If you are not a Welsh user, please do consider coming along to one of the other MAB solidarity meetings that have been scheduled. Diolch!

Please join on Zoom:
ID: 850 8418 4528
Passcode: 813119
https://cardiff.zoom.us/j/85084184528?pwd=MGxxRDk0THNqeG9lZWppSWMvTE1Ydz09

MAB solidarity meetings

Regular MAB solidarity meetings are taking place and are open to all members. Whether you have questions about the action, are thinking about taking part, or just want to talk about how things are going, please do join.

Wed 10 May at 12pm
Tue 16 May at 10am
Thu 18 May at 10am
Mon 22 May at 1pm
Wed 24 May at 11am

On Zoom: https://cardiff.zoom.us/j/81847133601?pwd=bWhKVmZ6emNxdW13cGMvOWdPVllyQT09