Wednesday 24-11-2021 - 09:22

The University and College Union (UCU) have voted to strike from Wednesday 1 December to Friday 3 December at universities across the UK, including Manchester Met. Also, from Wednesday 1 December, staff will work strictly to contract.

 

What is the strike action about?

The UCU are the largest trade union for academic staff in the UK. They have organised their objectives into the four fights campaign focusing on pay, job security, workload and equality.

152 member institutions were balloted over a combination of pay, working conditions and pensions. At Manchester Met, UCU members were only balloted over pay and working conditions.

 

How might students be affected?

The most obvious impact will be loss of some lectures and seminars scheduled between Wednesday 1 December and Friday 3 December. This may also delay any marking of assessments or feedback that would normally have happened on the three strike days. Other duties such as personal tutoring sessions, may also be stopped during the period. In short – if a UCU member is on strike, they are not at work and won’t be getting paid for it.

It is unlikely that support services such as counselling, security or library services will be significantly affected by the industrial action but we will let you know if this changes.

 

What is the students’ union doing to support students?

We know you have had a really tough eighteen months – that is why we are focusing our energy and resources to find ways to limit the impact of the dispute on you. Our officers are talking to the University leaders about how they are going to protect students learning during the strikes.

This includes:

• Ensuring there are systems in place that identify and record all lost classes and materials due to industrial action.
• Assurance that learning objectives for every course will be met. Ideally by rescheduling of any face to face cancelled lecture, or finding suitable replacement of any lost learning.
• Ensuring any mitigation puts students back on track as soon as possible after Friday 3 December, including releasing any delayed publication of results or assessment.
• Ensuring students are not penalised for non-attendance or loss of specific learning. This is especially important in the cases of students on professional courses with attendance requirements, post graduates, international students with visa requirements around attendance or students with limited contact days.
• A guarantee of access to university building for any student who wants access on strike days.
• Clarification of how students can use existing mechanisms, such as the exceptional factors process, to implement any form of safety net, in cases where learning cannot be recovered or severe hardship has arisen as a result of the strike action.
• Using any associated staff salary savings to support students affected by the action, such as reimbursing students for unnecessary travel or caring expenses for cancelled classes, or for topping up the hardship funds.
• Publication ahead of the strike about what services and spaces will be available for students on planned strike days including library services and technician availability.

Update: Wednesday 1 December 2021: The University have released a webpage with FAQs which cover a lot of our queries raised above. We'd encourage any students affected to read the FAQs and let us know if you have any questions left unanswered.

 

Update Friday 10 December 2021: Throughout the process we have continued conversations with the University. During the strike action, 170 hours of lectures were lost and, as of today, only 50 hours of teaching have yet to be replaced. We’re working on making sure these are recovered as soon as possible for affected students.

If you have been affected by the strikes or have any questions about the work that’s been done behind-the-scenes, you can contact your Education Officer, Hanifa.

If you’re struggling, need advice or feel you’ve been negatively impacted by the strike action, please contact our Advice Centre for free and confidential support.

 

What can you do?

If you want more information on the dispute, please read the University’s response as well as the UCU statement.

If you require support for anything resulting from the industrial action please contact our Advice Centre. This may be for guidance on the exceptional factors process, submitting a complaint to the University or whether you feel you have been mistreated by either side of the dispute.

Keep an eye on your university email for updates on how it will affect you.

We will keep you updated on our progress with the University. As always, you can let us know your thoughts, feelings and experiences and we’ll make sure your voice is heard.