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).

Really sorry to hear this @GCAcademic and @aridapricot . HoD is an awful job and it's been so much harder for the last few years. I think very few academic staff understand how difficult it is. The last few months with MAB have been particularly brutal.

@GCAcademic so so sorry to read this.There but for the grace of god go many of us. When I was HoD in one institution, I used to fantasise about getting some sort of illness - serious enough that I had to take 6 months of no work whatsoever, but not serious enough to do me permanent harm.

I hope you can find your way to return to doing what starts us all in this profession - our love of research and (for me, to a lesser extent) teaching.

I had enormous misgivings about the HoD role (I even wrote a thread about it here) before I took it on last year. And to be fair for about 9 months it wasn't 100% the torture I expected it to be (while challenging and unrewarding)... until MAB started.

Another HoD here. So sorry it has driven you to this point @aridapricot and @GCAcademic . I hate the job. I have another two years ago. I am three shitty emails away from telling them I won’t do it any more. There’s quite a payrise with it now, but it isn’t wor5h it. Sick of coming home in tears.

Interesting article in The Critic although I have trouble believing this was written by a student (unless it's a mature student, or an extremely articulate 20-year old): https://thecritic.co.uk/a-floundering-academic-culture/

This I found particularly resonated:
"Despite the undeniable reality of substandard working conditions, and UCU’s attempt to alleviate “levels of stress and ill health”, the pathological shift of responsibility onto students and a megalith of executives evades the intellectual void at the heart of English. Whilst the strikes protest the marketisation of universities, it is hard to forget that the commercialisation and dumbing-down of the discipline is undertaken from within. Lecturers and module convenors themselves are the reason why Shakespeare, Austen and Dickens face content warnings and bans. Mediaeval and Early Modern studies are either replaced by hyper-contemporary modules, or restrictively analysed through the lens of post-80s radical politics. This reveals an active effort to misunderstand the moral and metaphysical characteristics of the societies in which Spenser, Dekker and Chaucer lived. Instead, the modern English degree seeks to train its disciples in corporate managerial culture and current affairs. As several universities plan to cease teaching English altogether, Bentley-Astor’s <a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=thecritic.co.uk/the-grim-side-of-graduation/&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1689981773116618&usg=AOvVaw2EolCosxHMzC_YM-7svr8g" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">quip rings true: “the project of mutual enlightenment is a long-faded dream”.

Is this really the big Monday announcement UCU were promising last week? https://twitter.com/ucu/status/1683505198348619777?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

A campus protest when virtually all the staff aren’t around and hardly any of the students will be either? I’m struggling to see how this is any kind of strategic move. Where is the analysis of the state of play?

It's a complete nonsense. Students have left. Academics are either attending conferences or WFH (or even on holiday). Like a bunch of schoolchildren excited about the latest wheeze.

I'd really love an update on negotiation progress. I'm not sure it's worth waiting for pay restoration. I'd prefer to just get a deal made. But then I'm not a trained negotiator, so may be too much of a pushover.

I’m assuming UCEA has no jurisdiction to mandate the return of pay deducted for MAB participation, given that each university had its own policy on deductions.

UCU seem to have wilful blindness about what is possible and what is not so the outcome is entirely predictable.

Anyone who takes part in this is off their head. Members are embarrassing themselves - and losing thousands of pounds to boot. Who can sustain that unless they have serious savings and or a high earning partner?

I supported at the beginning then lost faith when the first internet vote thing was sent out. As I said before, it’s all very well someone on the GS’ salary continuing on what has turned out to the an absolute fares but the rest of us, well we have bills to pay.

An ‘emergency day of protest’ on campus on 26 July? Are they serious? Maybe some summer school students or caretakers will notice … bit of a long shot, though.

As for restoring pay deducted for MAB participation, I find that a bit tricky. I’m not in UCU and so did not participate in the MAB but it has caused considerable costs in terms of professional service staff time, HoD time, workplace relations (see GC’s earlier post), potential lawsuits from students … are employers really supposed to absorb all this?

As for the bad behaviour, I’m not surprised that some academics have used the MAB to let their Id a bit loose. It’s often not the ones who have much reason to feel aggrieved, in my experience.

Another thought. As we have noticed on previous threads, academics who take industrial action don’t always declare it to their employers. It’s hard for employers to police this. This, however, is different for a marking boycott, as markers are usually easily identifiable. Universities could also turn up the temperature by going after those who have failed to declare. Lots of UCU members wouldn’t blame them, I think.

As for the bad behaviour, I’m not surprised that some academics have used the MAB to let their Id a bit loose. It’s often not the ones who have much reason to feel aggrieved, in my experience.

Ha, completely agreed @ExUCU !

Another thought. As we have noticed on previous threads, academics who take industrial action don’t always declare it to their employers. It’s hard for employers to police this. This, however, is different for a marking boycott, as markers are usually easily identifiable. Universities could also turn up the temperature by going after those who have failed to declare. Lots of UCU members wouldn’t blame them, I think.

Going by what I see on social media, some places are already doing this. Particularly, I wouldn't appreciate it, and I am sure other non-MABBERS are the same, if I got an e-mail from HR to the effect of: PLEASE CONFIRM THAT YOU'VE DONE ALL YOUR MARKING BY TOMORROW AT 01:23AM OR WE'LL DOCK YOUR PAY. Some people might have failed to declare because they're on research leave, or have no marking responsibilities, etc.

I also find the request to restore pay tricky. Surely there's a basic understanding, so to speak, that in industrial action one side has the power of withdrawing their labour, and the other side has the power to dock pay? I see people acting shocked that the universities are docking pay or refusing to restore, although I think that 100%, 50% or even 30% is excessive.

@aridapricot I agree absolutely with your points about member surprise at pay docking for ASOS and the MAB. What were they expecting? It’s an industrial dispute, not a tea party. And it will definitely stoke the flames of division; why should colleagues who MABbed get their docked pay restored (presumably in full) when they didn’t do their marking? I had to do my marking!

I’m sure my institution will muster up some protestors for Wednesday. From what I can gather on social media and other fora, the local branch definitely inclines to the UCU Left.

Going by what I see on social media, some places are already doing this. Particularly, I wouldn't appreciate it, and I am sure other non-MABBERS are the same, if I got an e-mail from HR to the effect of: PLEASE CONFIRM THAT YOU'VE DONE ALL YOUR MARKING BY TOMORROW AT 01:23AM OR WE'LL DOCK YOUR PAY. Some people might have failed to declare because they're on research leave, or have no marking responsibilities, etc.

I received something like that back in June. It was outrageous, claiming I hadn’t done my marking, and my pay would be docked 50%. They’d made an error, but were offensive about the whole thing.

Wrote a highly offended email back to the named HR Director over whose name the email was sent out, and got a half-arsed excuse - no apology - and a veiled suggestion I’d cocked up by not informing a PVC (who is not my line manager) that I wasn’t undertaking the MAB.

As far as I understand it, I had no obligation to inform anyone who was not my line manager. Especially as I’ve left the UCU (and now quite glad I did, although it was for feminist reasons, but this strike is a disaster).

See, that’s the problem. UCU are disorganised and ham-fisted but university management can be even worse. Sending threatening emails to non-MABbers is just unnecessary and daft. You would need to go after the undeclared MABbers at the Department or School/Faculty level. You check which marks are missing in a Department and whether the number of declarations matches the number of markers who have not done their marking. If there is a significant discrepancy, you write a polite email to the relevant colleagues asking about it. If it turns out there is no good reason (sickness etc. - but has sickness leave been taken?), then you can become a bit more hardline.

I’m tired of colleagues for whom industrial action is principally a way to grandstand and show off their progressive political credentials. Quite a few of my colleagues know that I’m not in the union and some of them just love to hold forth on social media about ‘scabs’. They know full well I can see it (what they don’t know is how little I care). I do respect principled union members who are focused on what they want to achieve.

We went through a much milder MAB last year. I was involved with assessments and it certainly created costs and extra work even then. The markers did do their work in the end and had their pay restored. The local UCU secured improved conditions for all staff, so we all benefitted. But this time, I can’t see how the University can possibly restore pay. The many hours of extra work, mitigations for students, the work that will never get done, colleagues signed off sick - who will pay for this?

Part of me does not want my MABbing colleagues to lose their pay forever, I think this would be akin to wanting to set an example and punish people for the sake of it. I also don't minimise the stress colleagues will have gone through - even if you eventually get your money, going without it for a while will have been extremely challenging.
But part of me also feels, in a situation in which salary is restored, it will be people like me who will be punished? I have - after a lot of misgivings - complted myself some of the marking my colleagues were supposed to do, as little as possible as I could get away with. So some of my colleagues wouldn't be doing the marking and getting their money back instead - and I know this is going to sound extremely petty, but the time I spent marking and dealing with the fall out from exam boards is time I could have spent doing things more conducive to promotion and advancement.
Or maybe I deserve it for being a scab...

You're not a scab. Just doing your duty by our poor students who are being used as collateral in this impossible fight.

Thanks. I have to say that, perhaps more so than students, I was moved towards doing the marking by seeing what our professional services staff had to face, and how me refusing to do the work (not so much the marking but the coordinating and convening) would make their lives so much more difficult.
The students... after we managed to graduate all of them, and give actual degree classifications to a majority, many of them seem very unhappy that they still have some missing marks. On social media, however, they sing of their solidarity with striking lecturers, while me and the professional services staff - the ones who made it possible for them to graduate - are the target of their wrath. In truth they are a minority, but it grates a bit.

Absolutely. Our professional services colleagues are at breaking point.

These are awful choices. Added to the mess is that many MABers have undoubtedly already done the marking assuming it would be needed, and have lost pay whilst working ft.

@calyxx yes you’re right, I’d forgot that some people might have opted to “mark and park”. What a shambles. On all fronts.

On all fronts indeed. Compared to strikes, it's remarkable to me here how unhappy, uncomfortable, anxious and/or conflicted everyone is. Those who are MABbing, those who could be MABbing but are not, those who are not called to participate in MAB but are involved with the assessment process anyway, the students, the parents. I would like to think that some of this dissatisfaction is trickling up to senior management but I'm not holding my breath.

Absolutely hideous times to be HoD, and I hope your departments appreciate you. Slightly off topic but does anyone know what's happened with the pay offer- is the August part of it going to be imposed anyway?

Whichever side of the argument you stand on, this is one of the most divisive things I've ever seen happen in HE. And I've seen a lot.

One thing I'd never do under any pretext is to undermine others' action by marking their work for them. But, just as much, I would never do what I've seen fellow union members do in terms of shaming those colleagues on social media, dropping broad hints as to their conduct but without actually naming them directly. Nor I would I ever call those who did capitulate to the pressure to mark others' work - at my instutition this was considerable; I know as I was on the receiving end of it - 'scabs'. People have their own pressures to contend with and they have made this decision - a difficult one by any reckoning - according to their concsciences just as I've had the liberty to do the same.

This undermining of the MAB has been done to me. I'm not remotely happy about it, and am not inclined to pretend I am. If the colleague concerned asked me about it, I'd answer frankly to this effect. But lack of future trust aside, I would not treat that colleague with anything other than the utmost professionalism, because I'm an adult.

I'm sorry to the HoDs who have suffered so much as a result of this never-ending dispute. If we are angry with anyone, it should not be colleagues who have suffered alongside us, or Branch, who have tried to support us. The people who should earn our disdain are for me, my university's horribly draconian senior management - we really are up their with the worst of the sector in terms of their contemptuous treatment of staff - UCEA, and in no small part Jo Grady for her inept handling of the whole situation.

I can't see a resolution at the next round of talks. The last three months alone have cost me into the thousands; we are well into sunk costs fallacy here. It seems everyone is suffering but senior management.

I don't know how I'd vote in another ballot, or know what, now we're so deep into the mire, is the best way out of it. What a badly handled mess this is.

Our branch have firmly advised us not to mark and park.

If the marking's been done, the university can require this to be handed over or individual staff can face disciplinary action.

We've also been advised - again by branch - not to risk further punitive deductions by leaving students who have resits to struggle without guidance, nor to avoid marking the very few referred assessments that have come in for the summer resit boards. This could also leave some students unable to graduate.

I've taken them under advisement and marked the resits. I've lost in excess of £2k across May, June and July, even though I've taken no action since 8th June. It's a ridiculous amount to sacrifice. But I'm grateful to Branch for the steer, given the way my own action has been undermined to the point that the (large) losses have hardly been worth it.

Our university is one of the ones making 100% deductions for around 1% of our workplans. Moderation has no work plan hours whatsoever devoted to it, this is expected under general academic duties.

MAB is not a decision any of us have taken lightly. It's entailed significant hardship for a great many.