Post from email sent to branch members from branch president Chloe Wallace around 4pm Friday 23 June 2023

As many of you are aware, we held a further meeting with senior management this lunchtime. The meeting was productive and they have made an offer, the text of which is at the end of this email. It is for members in our General Meeting on Monday at 4pm to decide whether this offer is sufficient. However, because we do not wish to keep you on strike longer than necessary, and as a sign of goodwill after what was a really constructive meeting, Committee has decided to suspend our indefinite strike action with immediate effect in order to consider the offer. At the meeting on Monday we will collectively decide whether we accept this offer.

Offers of this nature are necessarily generally phrased and somewhat formal and there are a lot of details about individuals that will need ironing out. The headline, however, is that (a) there will be a maximum level of deductions of 21 working days and (b) that management have confirmed that deductions will end if the marking is no longer required, either because someone else has done it or because the student has been progressed or classified, meaning that some people may get lower levels of deduction or even no deductions at all. Many, maybe most, of us will have less than 21 days of deduction and it should be clear after exam boards what everyone’s level of deduction will be. Management have a complicated job working out who will be deducted what and, should members agree to this offer, we will seek clarification as to when deductions can be expected to be made given this complexity and the overlap with strike deductions. This may lead to an unevenness of deductions – some losing more pay than others – and, should we agree this offer, we will need to band together through wage sharing to ensure that those who are worst hit will be compensated.

I want to be clear about two things.

Firstly, the national dispute remains live and the marking and assessment boycott continues. Our strike has contributed to the struggle, not only by making it easier for members who are boycotting to stick with it, but also by bringing us together and drawing attention to our wider dispute as well as the crisis we all face in HE. We have emphasised to senior management the vital importance of pressuring UCEA to come back to the negotiating table and our strike has pushed that further. 

Secondly, the strike made a major difference and is a huge achievement for our branch. As I always, I am immensely proud of us all.

Please plan to bring your questions and comments to the meeting on Monday if you can and make your view known. We will circulate more information over the next days as well, as we get it. 

I hope this news is positive and that it takes you into a good weekend!

In solidarity

Chloe

See email sent to members for the text of the offer.

This page was last updated on 26 June 2023