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From the University of Manchester's advice to staff on the upcoming industrial action...
It's interesting, really, because **that is exactly the problem**. Following the same logic, what's to prevent the university from giving me a contract that is just for the exact number of hours that I'm in the classroom each week... (bear with me)
...and then announcing that those numbers are "just notional" (a phrase we hear a lot) and that I'm expected (obviously) to do all of the admin, prep, student contact, marking, etc. that goes along with it?...
...such that my x hours a week turn into 2x or 3x hours a week in practice? Now imagine that this is in fact true for many staff, and hey presto! you have reality. Permanent staff on full-time contracts with notional (and endlessly flexible) hours...
Temporary teaching staff, GTAs, etc. on minimal contracts that don't acknowledge all of the work that actually has to get done. (And this isn't even getting into how non-academic, academic-related, etc. staff are treated.) So...
The university is proud of this system, thinks it's totally reasonable to send out a communication that effectively tells us that it doesn't matter how many hours we're supposed to work, because our contract is that we're just supposed to work any and all hours to get it done...
If you're eligible, join the @ucu ( https://ucu.org.uk/join ). Participate in the action if you're able (ask your local about strike pay if you're worried, and support in other ways if that's not enough help).
Stand up for reasonable contracts and fair workplace expectations. #UCUstrikesback
