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From the University of Manchester& #39;s advice to staff on the upcoming industrial action...
It& #39;s interesting, really, because **that is exactly the problem**. Following the same logic, what& #39;s to prevent the university from giving me a contract that is just for the exact number of hours that I& #39;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& #39;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& #39;t acknowledge all of the work that actually has to get done. (And this isn& #39;t even getting into how non-academic, academic-related, etc. staff are treated.) So...
The university is proud of this system, thinks it& #39;s totally reasonable to send out a communication that effectively tells us that it doesn& #39;t matter how many hours we& #39;re supposed to work, because our contract is that we& #39;re just supposed to work any and all hours to get it done...
If you& #39;re eligible, join the @ucu ( https://ucu.org.uk/join ).">https://ucu.org.uk/join"... Participate in the action if you& #39;re able (ask your local about strike pay if you& #39;re worried, and support in other ways if that& #39;s not enough help).
Stand up for reasonable contracts and fair workplace expectations. #UCUstrikesback
