Marking & Assessment Boycott

[aridapricot]

So how do you think this will pan out this time? Are you taking part? How do you think things will go in your university/department?
My uni is docking 30% pay. Also in my department (where the spirit tends to be "yes we'll do whatever UCU asks us to do but we'll also go out of our way to cause any inconvenience to students") people are already talking about mitigations... 🙄I am not a UCU member and won't be taking part but I also fear that at some point I will be asked to cover colleague's marking or (even worse) redistribute it (given that I'm HoD).

I am utterly sick of all of this. Part of me hopes that they won't get the numbers in the ballot, but I'm also aware that that leaves members v vulnerable as management will know that the union is weakened. The whole thing has been appallingly mismanaged. In the meantime the people I feel sorry for are the students. I had a message from an international student saying that without the last grade from their year abroad with us, they cannot graduate from their home university and will be liable for another year's tuition fees. I think it's just disgusting to keep putting students through this.

If there is no resolution, I think the most sensible thing we can all do is say "no" to all those extra tasks that aren't workloaded. I don't mean little things, but major (supposedly "leadership" roles). Just no. They are not entitled to take any more of my free time/family time (delete as appropriate).

Anyone working in senior university management who doesn’t see how weakened UCU is … not very perceptive. The damage is already done.

I’ve also found academia very stressful since the strikes began in 2018 and just wish it would all go away. I don’t enjoy conflict and it’s been an opportunity for some colleagues to demonstrate some unpleasant behaviour ranging from zealous smugness to aggressive threats.

I’m sure there are some people who relish the “fight” and have loved every minute but as your typical introverted academic with a preference for calm and solitude, it’s been so detrimental to my work wellbeing.

It's interesting what you all say. In my case, I've been increasingly unhappy in academia since 2018 (when I was only about 6 years into my proper full-time career). Certainly there were issues from my early years contributing to this, but I had never considered that the strikes could be a further factor - but really, thinking about it, half of my career has been dominated by this dispute, it's like something that most of the time is there in the background and I know is not going away.
In my department there's always been this very strong union facade, like striking enthusiastically is the done thing and people didn't even ask you whether you were going to strike every time action was called, they just assumed you would.
Currently as HoD I am realizing it's not the case that everyone takes part, some people don't but kind of try to fly under the radar so that no one knows they are not participating. Thinking about it, I think this situation did certainly contribute for me to a feeling of groupthink, that there are certain opinions and beliefs that I have to keep to myself, and this certainly one of the reasons for my dissatisfaction.

If there is no resolution, I think the most sensible thing we can all do is say "no" to all those extra tasks that aren't workloaded. I don't mean little things, but major (supposedly "leadership" roles).

This is not likely to have significant effect on the senior management. Workload allocation sits with departments. A well run department will have a comprehensive workload model that does take into account all workload - the little things can be wrapped up into an overall allocation of time. Poor workload allocation usually results from poor local leadership.

What you are saying, aridapricot, really resonates with me, and the weird omertà around union membership and participation or non-participation in industrial action is the reason why I’m quite open about not being in UCU. At my workplace, it’s certainly not a disadvantage being a union member, it means you are a good person, ‘solid’, ‘also politically’ which is a criterion some use to assess a colleague’s worth as a human being. Is it any wonder I’m jaded …?

I think this was tried for a while at some point in the dispute under the guise of "working to contract"? I think it's something that could perhaps work if people stuck to it and coordinated within a department to show how, if we all worked to contract, we would only have time to do the really essential things and not a lot of the "optionals" the university wants us to do (apart from being your students' tutor, you should also be their counsellor, their time management coach, their job coach, and their parent). In my department some people were very proudly proclaiming they were "working to contract" at that point, but they kept churning out publications and grant applications lol.

I didn't mean a formal work to contract, and I didn't think it would necessarily have an institutional impact. Just a renewed commitment to setting personal boundaries to avoid resentment building too much.There are a lot of 'extras' we are asked to do at my place that carry no workload - some involve major time commitments. These are not usually filtered via line manager.

Could it be, KittyBurrito, that the line management at your place of work is lacking? Unaccounted for duties that are not recorded anywhere inevitably mean that some colleagues end up working a lot harder than others. I have many hard-working colleagues but there are significant variations.

Honestly, I don't really know what's going on @ExUCU ...

Just a quick update, we got an email last week asking us to vote on whether the MAB should be called off now, or allowed to expire on 30th Sept as planned. Indications are that no further action could take place until mid Nov.

Surely the only sensible thing to do is to stop now? Otherwise MABbers will continue to lose pay until the end of September and then have to do their marking over October (assuming someone else hasn’t done it). Better to do the marking before the new AY kicks in and get full salary at the same time. It seems clear to me that UCEA isn’t coming back to the table anytime soon.

I read on Twitter that one of the options is to MAB unsupported by UCU in the unmandated six weeks. Who the hell would do that?! Also interesting that the UCL branch have partially broken the MAB by voting to mark resits and the like.

Although this is quite interesting to observe as an outsider, it must be exhausting to be at the sharp end of this.

If you withdraw your labour without a mandate for industrial action, you risk your job.

I really hope UCU members see sense and stop the MAB now.

I've just left UCU - I can't bear to support them any longer.

I think that people will come off it at a time that works for them, regardless of what the consultation says. I will be starting my outstanding marking at the end of this week although will mark and park until it is all done. I suppose one argument for keeping it going is that for people that are not able to start marking til October, they would have the protection of the mandate if they needed it?

On the other hand, coming off might look like a gesture of goodwill towards the students.

So the Warwick branch have now voted to collectively exit the MAB with immediate effect.

No idea what this means for their participation in the national vote which ends on Friday or its outcomes.

Does it end on Friday?? I thought it was end of September

@blackpear The consultation vote on the next steps for the MAB ends on Friday.

Ah - OK. God I hope it ends. Twenty long weeks.

I hope it ends too.

Does anyone know what’s happening with the consultation?

I can't do this any more. I'm haemorrhaging thousands. My pay slips for 2023 make seriously concerning reading. They just had other staff do the marking anyway, thus completely undermining my action (I shall never again trust those colleagues). It's been a divisive, depressing exercise and from my perspective, completely ineffective. What is the point?

I want this to be over (but don't trust Grady to deliver). What I shan't do under any pretext is undermine others' action by marking their stuff, as has been done to me.

Sorry to hear this, SerafinasGoose. Hope you can claim money from the strike fund.

But if a colleague isn’t in the union and their line manager directs them to mark students’ work, then I don’t see how they can refuse?

So sorry it's tough for you, @SerafinasGoose I left the UCU in January, as I just couldn't see the efficacy of the industrial action, and I couldn't in all conscience remain in the unon but not take action. I'd voted against strike & MAB action, but accepted that if the maority voted for , I should suck it up. But when it came down to it, I find the current UCU Executive to be posturing like the undergraduate Spart/Trots that dominated the students' union when I was an undergrad. The innefficacy of the suggested strike action, plus the shameful support of MRAs rather than women like Kathleen Stock & Jo Phoenix made me realise I couldn't stay a member any more. I realised I had to give up any protection that UCU may have offered me.

So good for you for being so loyal and tenacious