Published: 30th April, 2021
Leicester UCU recently voted in favour of industrial action to defend jobs threatened by compulsory redundancy. The branch members voted overwhelmingly for both strike action, and action short of a strike (ASOS). 84.1% voted in favour of ASOS.
This guide and FAQ covers action short of a strike only. See the Strike FAQ for guidance on strike days 9, 10 and 11 June.
Important Note: Prof Canagarajah continues to reiterate statements that his Stage One of ‘Shaping for Excellence’ is over. This is factually untrue. As he should be well aware, appeals procedures for staff deemed redundant have not yet taken place; in some cases not even scheduled. External critics of the ‘Shaping for Excellence’ programme continue to add their support to stop the redundancies. He is also issuing threats about a second stage of redundancies in Professional Services, and potentially more to follow. Your action can still save these colleagues from redundancy up until the point of their departure, and prevent more redundancy proposals being drawn up.
*This page was last updated on 14 June 2021
No. Exam panels and boards are part of the assessment administration process and should be boycotted. You may receive Teams invites to indicate whether you plan to attend these. It is recommended either to ignore the invite (do not respond) or to accept the invite and then not attend. It is recommended not to decline the invite in advance.
You are not obliged to volunteer this information, as the action is ongoing. Just as you do not have to report that you’ve taken strike action in advance, you do not have to help efforts to mitigate against the effectiveness of your industrial action short of a strike. Make managers manage! However it will be clearly apparent when exam panels meet or are due to meet. The University’s own guidance, issued on 10 May after our ASOS action began (policy advice note 21) states clearly that ‘schools can continue to mark and moderate up until the date of their Panel’.
No assumptions about non-submission of marking should therefore be being made by anyone before the date of the exam panel, but if you believe that clarity is then helpful for yourself you may wish to declare your ASOS support on or immediately after the date or your exam panel. If your exam panel is postponed, it is recommended you similarly postpone your reporting of ASOS (specifically in the form of participation in the marking boycott).
If you receive such an email, it is recommended you either ignore the communication (do not respond) or send a stock reply to the manager making the request without being explicit about your precise actions. You may like to use the following as a template:
Dear X, I am sure everyone is anxious to complete their marking as soon as the current dispute is resolved. I appreciate there will be different views amongst colleagues, but the whole point of industrial action is to disrupt the normal functioning of an organisation. Workers can hardly be expected to give notice of their precise intentions so that mitigating steps can be used to undermine the effectiveness of their industrial action. I feel very bad for our students, but if their progression or graduation is disrupted, the responsibility for that will lie at the feet of the University’s senior management team who have lost the confidence of the university body.
As above, it is recommended you either ignore the communication (do not respond) or send a stock reply to the colleague making the request without being explicit about your precise actions. You may like to use the following as a template:
Dear X, Thank you for your email about the XXX marking deadline that you were no doubt instructed to send out. As I’m sure you know, assessment is currently being affected by the UCU Action Short of a Strike designed to defend our friends and colleagues who have been treated so appallingly by the university management. We are all very anxious to complete this marking as soon as the dispute is settled.
As above (question 2), you are not required to volunteer this information, as the action is ongoing. It can be anticipated that if you are believed to be withholding marks you may be subjected to badgering even up to the point of harassment and many staff have expressed anxiety that they may come in for bullying and punitive threats. Remember always that our marking boycott is a perfectly legal and legitimate action. If you believe you are being singled out in any way, contact ucu@uculeicester.org.uk
The Deputy VC’s email of 24 May set out an update to the employer’s policy on pay deductions for ASOS. Many found this confusing, but our best interpretation is:
If you continue to observe the marking boycott, by not returning marks to a departmentally-set deadline (most of which fall in early-mid June) and/or by not attending an exam panel/board, the employer intends to deduct pay continuously from the date on which your marking became available until you declare you are no longer participating in ASOS. Pay deductions relating to the period 4 May to 30 June will be deducted from the July paycheck, at a rate of 25% of pay if using the University’s preferred reporting form and 33% of pay if not using the University’s preferred reporting form. There is no scaling of pay deductions depending on how much marking you had to do.
If you do not observe the marking boycott – ie you complete marking on time and attend exam panels/boards – no pay will be deducted for other forms of ASOS undertaken between 4 May and 30 June. Any form of ASOS deemed to be partial performance from 1 July will result in pay deductions in later payrolls.
No pay will be deducted for other forms of ASOS undertaken between 4 May and 30 June. Any form of ASOS deemed to be partial performance from 1 July will result in pay deductions in later payrolls.
At an EGM on 2 June, you passed a motion supporting the establishment of the Leicester UCU Fighting Fund, specifically to support colleagues who face more pay deductions than others for Action Short of a Strike. This has already been enhanced by generous donations from other UCU branches who support our action.
Members who are not in a position to undertake the marking boycott as part of ASOS (eg if marking is not part of your role) should donate to the fund to support colleagues who are. The bank details are:
Sort Code: 608301
Account: 20444031
Details of how to claim for financial support from the Leicester UCU Fighting Fund are currently being finalised to ensure a fair and transparent process, and will be circulated shortly.
Our mandate for all forms of ASOS starts on Tuesday 4th May, and can be employed continuously until the dispute is resolved. In practice, this will mean different things for different members and for individual members it will mean different things at different times. This is due to the varied nature of our roles, and how our work varies over time.
All UCU members are expected to participate in ASOS if they are employed by the University of Leicester. If you are not a UCU member you may still participate: Once a mandate for Industrial Action has been lawfully acquired, any employee of the institution in which it taking place is allowed to join in, irrespective of union membership. If you are not a union member, however, we suggest and request that you join. If you are employed by another agency, e.g. Unitemps, then your employer is not University of Leicester and it is therefore not lawful for you to take part.
Sticking to your hours (‘working to contract’) is not a breach of contract, however anything beyond working to contract (which includes refusal to reschedule, refusal to cover for absent colleagues), could be construed as a breach of contract, but is covered under the ballot and hence implies that you cannot be disciplined for taking this action. However, you may be subject to pay deductions for breach of contract arising from ASOS.
There is no legal obligation for you to report that you are observing ASOS in a general sense at any time, and we do not recommend that any of our members do this. Some aspects of ASOS in this current dispute are unambiguous elements of working to contract. Working to contract is not partial performance. Our employer cannot compel us to report it and cannot deduct wages because of it.
Some elements of ASOS may legitimately be described as ‘partial performance’ and under current UK legislation our employer is legally allowed to deduct wages for this. However, in all bar one case (marking boycott), whether the action constitutes partial performance will depend upon the specific circumstances. We encourage members to use their judgement and report these actions if asked about them after the event and only if they constitute partial performance. Further guidance on when and how to report ASOS is available here.
You should not use the university’s form to report ASOS, which seems designed to enable maximum wage deduction. Instead use the quick, easy and lawful reporting mechanism created by Leicester UCU, available here.
If unsure what you should report or how to report it, please contact the branch: ucu@uculeicester.org.uk.
There is general guidance below for each type of ASOS (some taken from https://www.ucu.org.uk/ASOS-and-ARPS). Every member of staff is different, and general advice is difficult to provide so you may have to make your own judgement. If in doubt, you should seek advice from your UCU departmental rep, or email ucu@uculeicester.org.uk.
All industrial action, including action short of a strike, is about disrupting business as usual as much as possible for the employer so that they have to respond to our demands. The forms of action we can take under ASOS are constrained by law, so it is important we all strictly observe all forms of ASOS that we can. If some of these require a bit of effort and creativity on your part, it will be worth it:
Experienced members of UCU who themselves are in this position will lead a workshop on Tuesday 4 May at 16.00 for members at Grade 10 and Grade 9 members who hold management/leadership positions at the university. Being in a management/leadership position can often place people in a difficult and egregious position, and it can feel both lonely and isolating. This meeting will be a useful means of providing collective support for each other and to share ideas for using these positions to bring the university leadership to account for their actions. An email with a meeting link was circulated to all members on 28 April – check your email for details. If you can’t find it, email the branch Professorial reps.
This depends upon the type of ASOS you are taking. In cases of partial performance, it has been established as lawful for employers to take up to 100% of wages. Currently, the University is threatening to take 25% where ASOS is reported using their preferred systems, and 33% where it is not. We have explained here why we think this is a trap (circulated via email on 29 April). We are committed to minimising the economic cost to individual staff members and maximising disruption to the employer with this action and this is a key aim of the present document. Please be aware, however, that the University may decide to go to lengths to ensure that participating staff are penalised as severely as possible. This could certainly include taking action against us in the form of wage deductions that may, at a later date, prove to have been unlawful. We would need to challenge this as a union.
Yes. Non-union members who take part in legal, official industrial action have the same rights as union members not to be dismissed as a result of taking action. We have received reports that some senior managers are telling staff that if they are a non-union member, or a member of a different trade union to UCU, that they cannot legally take part in the industrial action. This is factually incorrect. The government’s guidance is here. Given that some senior managers don’t know this (or are deliberately misleading people), however, we strongly recommend that you do join UCU if you’re not already a member. That way, we can support you if any difficulties arise. Plus, if you’re undertaking ASOS without enjoying the benefits of union membership, you’re clearly awesome!
This is a tricky one. Approaches to some types of ASOS may be best decided at the local level, because of the varied nature of our jobs across the University: for we are legion! If possible, discuss this issue with your colleagues in your team to decide on an approach you can all collectively take. Some pragmatism and imagination may be needed because if you cannot do any of your job without using the University’s online systems, strictly observing this type of ASOS won’t be possible. In discussing with the colleagues in your team, remember the key principles of Action Short of a Strike: maximise disruption to “business as usual”, minimise disruption to you. ASOS means we are still doing our jobs but in such a way as to interrupt the normal operations of work at the University and to show that it cannot function properly without our goodwill and our efforts beyond what is contractually required.
This means being extremely strict in working exactly to the minimum required by your own contract, which will vary according to your job type/grade. Since we all typically labour under excessive workload expectations, this will mean:
In the spirit of the University’s Digital Wellbeing Protocol, Fridays should be used for work, but not online, to enable a digital detox that is healthier for everyone than the University’s own half-measure of keeping Friday afternoons free from Teams meetings.
Examples of work you could do offline:
In line with the University’s Digital Wellbeing Protocol, you should refrain from working outside of standard hours (unless you are contracted otherwise). The sending of emails is work, and this should not be done in your own time. This is simply working to contract.
The University has introduced guidance that meetings should not be arranged for longer than 50 minutes, although in practice this is often breached. The 50-minute limit should be strictly adhered to. If your contract requires you to attend a meeting scheduled for longer than this, we recommend attending the first 50 minutes of the meeting and then leave citing ASOS as the reason.
This applies to meetings only. Teaching sessions longer than 50 minutes are not included in this form of ASOS and should be carried out as normal.
Do not set assessments, such as writing and submitting exam papers.
Do not mark assessments, including exam scripts, essays and other assessed coursework, dissertations and theses. This applies to UG, PGT and PGR assessments.
Do not complete moderation or second marking.
If you have partially marked a set of assessments before the onset of ASOS on 4 May, stop marking and leave it partially marked.
Do not participate in exam panels and exam boards, both UG and PGT, or PhD vivas, either as examiners or chairs, and do not complete associated paperwork.
If your role involves administration relating to marking and assessment, you can refuse to undertake that work as part of the action. Examples might include the preparation of examination board materials, the allocation of marking and moderation duties, or any other administrative tasks related to assessment or marking.
Work related to cases of plagiarism in students’ assessed work is considered ‘discipline’ rather than assessment and is therefore not part of the marking and assessment boycott.
Commenting on and discussing plans for assignments with students are considered ‘teaching’ rather than assessment and is therefore not part of the marking and assessment boycott. Likewise, conducting supervision meetings and reading drafts of ongoing work as part of the supervision of PGR students is considered ‘teaching’ rather than assessment and is therefore not part of the marking and assessment boycott.
There are two elements of a marking boycott that make it a special case in relation to the other elements of ASOS. The first is that we would expect it to be considered ‘partial performance’ in all cases (the exception would be if you were being asked to volunteer to do marking. In this case it would come under refusing undertake voluntary activities and would not constitute a boycott or partial performance). This means that it is likely that pay will be deducted.
The second is that you will not be in a position to say you have observed a marking boycott until the final opportunity to mark the work has expired. Remember: the dispute could be resolved, and the boycott called off, at any time. We would caution against members treating the formal marking deadline as the expiry of the opportunity to mark the work as this can be extended. If asked whether you intend to mark the work, our advice would be to make it clear to your manager that you are ready and willing to do so as soon as the dispute is resolved. Once the final opportunity to do the marking has expired (either because the work has been undertaken by a colleague who is not supporting our struggle against redundancies or because a decision has been taken to assess students based on averages or some other mechanism) we recommend that, if asked, you declare that you have observed a marking boycott for the number of days it would typically take you to do the marking, counting backwards from the expiry of the opportunity to do it.
You should also explain to colleagues why you are undertaking ASOS, refer them to the Leicester UCU website, and explain that ASOS (and strike action, if it comes to that) is our last resort and that we hope to persuade the University to rescind its threat of compulsory redundancies.
Are you following the University’s guidance on looking after your mental and physical health, and managing your workload?
Prioritise your wellbeing: The Executive Board claims to care about our wellbeing, and Occupational Health have put together a range of tools and events to support us. Consider taking the time to make use of these if you are worried about your wellbeing or are experiencing stress.
Work from Home Safely: The Executive Board has a legal responsibility to ensure that we work in safe environments, yet how many of us haven’t taken the time to work through this guidance because we have been too busy? Prioritise your health – it’s our legal duty as employees to do so.
Review how the Workload Allocation Model works for you: The Workload Allocation Model is going to be reviewed shortly, so your input around how it works for you, will help improve this model for you and your colleagues. Take the time to understand how it works and how your department has applied it, and feed back to your line manager and WAM administrator.
Consider using an email signature or out-of-office reply set for all times outside of your working hours to help raise awareness of our action
We recommend the following form of words, emphasising working to contract only – rather than ASOS in general – to avoid this constituting a ‘reporting’ of something that might be construed as partial performance by the employer. Working to contract is not partial performance.
Out-of-office:
Thank you for your email.
I am a member of the University and College Union (UCU) and am currently working to contract in protest at compulsory redundancies proposed by the Executive Board of the University of Leicester. This may cause some delay in email correspondence.
Since 4 May UCU has instituted ‘Action Short of a Strike’. Such actions include:
For more about the reasons for our action, please see Redundancies | University of Leicester UCU (uculeicester.org.uk).
Email signature
Dr. A.S.O.S. Strike-Action Ph.D., MA.
Lecturer in …Department of….
University of Leicester
As a member of UCU I am currently working to contract, in protest at proposed redundancies proposed by the Executive Board of the University of Leicester. This may cause some delay in email correspondence.
For more about the reasons for our action, please see Redundancies | University of Leicester UCU (uculeicester.org.uk)
Other guidance:
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