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1/ As an early career researcher from a ānon-traditionalā HE background, the first in my family to go to uni enrolling on a degree at my local ex-poly in my 20s, it might not surprise you that Iāve experienced exploitative forms of casualisation in a number of different unis.
2/ But thereās one experience that will always stand out. I was made to believe it would help me ābreakā into academia and having the experience on my CV would lead to a āsecureā position!
3/ A few years ago, an academic acquaintance on a permanent contract was asked to cover another academicās module while they were on sabbatical. This academic, themselves overworked and possibly trying to help, offered me the āopportunityā to run the module.
4/ However, I wouldnāt be paid by the university; instead, my payment for the teaching and marking would come out of the unspent funds from a project the academic had been working on. At the time I was slightly reluctant to take on the job as I was already working another job
5/ but as the role was presented to me as one day a week, essential for building my CV, and as I was crippled by financial debt after moving to my fourth city within five years, I decided I would take it.
6/ The following week I went to the university to meet the person who had offered me the job and to sign the contract. The contract was placed in front of me. I was informed at that point that because I wasnāt being paid by the university, but from unspent project funds
7/ I would receive the same money based on seven months of teaching and marking but I would be paid this over the first three months of the position, meaning I would be working five months without receiving an income.
8/ I felt like crying, but not wanting to disappoint my acquaintance and looking at the total amount on the contract, knowing that it was just enough to clear my debt, I picked up the pen, without having the chance to see the module guide, and signed the contract.
9/ The teaching wasnāt due to start for another month, but within that month my partner, also on a fixed term contract at another uni, found a job in another city. With one monthās notice on our flat and his employment contract, I found myself moving once again at short notice.
10/ Now working two jobs, moving flat again while facing a number of personal family issues including bereavement, I contacted the person whoād offered me the job.
11/ I explained my moving situation & ensured them that I would be settled within a week of starting teaching and the Moodle site going live & that I would be taking a week off from my other job when I would upload all the reading material and seminar activities.
12/ However, over the next three weeks while moving, I received repeated emails and texts asking me when I was going to edit the Moodle, and how much my acquaintance was suffering from stress as the university had become concerned about my reliability and was harassing her.
13/ Needless to say, as Iād said, everything was up and running when the site when live and I started the teaching. Regrettably, it was during the editing of the Moodle that I then realised just exactly what Iād signed up for.
14/ This was a PG course in which I was expected to regularly monitor and respond to forum discussions. There was no assignment question; instead, I was to guide over 27 PGs to write a 7,000-word journal article on a topic of their choice & provide extensive feedback on drafts.
15/ But I convinced myself it would be worth it to have it on my CV, that it would be over by the beginning of October and that my other job would supplement my income while I worked for five months not receiving a monthly wage for teaching.
Come back tomorrow for part 2! (Spoiler alert... well, actually, you can probably guess how it ends...) #PrecarityStory #UCUstrike #UCUstrikesback
Time for part 2! Today's #PrecarityStory continues below... @WarwickAntiCas @NuAntiCas @UCUAnti_Cas @ucu @PrecariousAcad1 @PrecariousUni @UoK_Precariat @PrecariousBrum @CasualsRhul
16/ Due to extensions in assessment submissions for a large number of students, I ended up marking & supplying pastoral & academic support until December, meaning I worked some 7 months without receiving an income.
17/ I raised the issue with the university as I would be working beyond my contract date as a fixed-term lecturer. I said that, for additional payment, I would be happy to continue to teach and support those students who had been given an extension.
18/ I was informed that I did not need to do any more and that they would find a permanent lecture to do this ā coincidentally, the person whoād offered me the position.
19/ Not wanting to abandon the students and give an already overworked and stressed academic more work, I continued to mark and support the remaining students.
20/ Now, although this is anonymous, I don't want to mispresent the situation or the people & uni involved. I really do believe that this academic was trying to help me. The university itself gave some of the best admin support Iāve ever experienced & I loved the students.
21/ But the situation itself was exploitative and unfair to both me and the students. I decided to write about this experience because it illustrates so many examples of the unexpected consequences of casualisation.
22/ Often the results of casualisation are levelled at an individual basis towards those who continue to engage with the working conditions. Some senior academics might call me naĆÆve and stupid, asking why I didnāt insist on seeing the module guide before I signed the contract.
23/ Why would I have taken such a job, why didnāt I try to spread the initial payments over the next 5 months, why didnāt I walk away when offered the chance? This fails to recognise the continuous insecurity and fear that many early career researchers experience on a daily basis
24/ The guilt to support students under an increasingly hostile and toxic higher education system. The desperate yearning to secure a permanent position, with a secure wage, so we can teach and research what we love.
25/ Iāve been told in other jobs that if I speak out about working conditions Iāll never work in academia again. Iāve been told repeatedly when I raise concerns about casualisation that Iām being self-sabotaging. Iāve been told that my precariousness is my own fault.
26/ I watch from afar, seeing those academics that feed and maintain these toxic working conditions standing on the picket line.
27/ I understand why they do because itās a system that pits people against each another and pits students against lecturers who are continually reminded by managers of their disposability and insecurity.
28/ But I also watch from afar with hope as I see a new strengthened movement happening, challenging casualisation, led by a reinforced political @UCU...
29/ and I have faith that, although itās probably too late for me, at least the strike action is trying to improve conditions for remaining and incoming people. #PrecarityStory #UCUstrike #UCUStrikesBack
