Upcoming strike action

08 Sep 2023

UCU announce additional days of strike action in September as part of their current mandate

Earlier this week, we wrote to colleagues to confirm that the University and College Union (UCU) had announced an early end to the Marking and Assessment Boycott (MAB) that has been taking place across 140 Universities nationally since April 2023.

Unfortunately, we have also now received confirmation that national UCU will be taking further industrial action, in the form of 5 days of strike action, in relation to ongoing national disputes about pay and working conditions. This is as part of their current mandate running until 30 September.

Local update

In addition to the national strike days, executives for the local branch of UCU (UMUCU) have informed us of additional strike action, which is a response to the University’s local pay withholding position with the MAB. The action is due to take place Tuesday, 19 to Friday, 22 September and Monday, 25 to Friday, 29 September.

We are disappointed with this further action and potential disruption to students, in particular UCU’s local decision, as our mitigations during the recent MAB were consistent and in line with that of other HEI’s and we made a significant concession in relation to withholding yesterday. We will continue to take active steps during this upcoming period to ensure we minimise any further disruption to our students, colleagues, and wider community. Now that the MAB has concluded, our effort must remain on ensuring that any outstanding marks and assessments are completed for our 2022/23 graduating and progressing students, and we minimise any further delays to these individuals.  

All colleagues returning from MAB will be required to prioritise (over non-teaching duties) and complete all their outstanding marking and assessment duties, including but not limited to posting, releasing, uploading marks feedback and/ or moderation duties (where moderation duties are still available to fulfil) within a maximum of 2 weeks (not including any formal period of approved leave - annual leave, parental leave etc.)

Communication with students

Later today we will be informing students of the upcoming industrial action and will advise that throughout this period the University will remain open, and our aim is for all Welcome activities and campus facilities to run as normal. We will acknowledge that there may be a small impact to teaching and/or research supervision during these days, but we will aim where possible to keep this to a minimum.

Thank you in advance to all colleagues that will continue to work in the interest of our students. We will do everything we can to reduce any impact of this latest strike action and will keep you updated with any further developments or information as we receive it.

Reporting participation in Industrial Action

MAB Participation: UMUCU have now confirmed that their current policy will align with national UCU guidance and not discourage colleagues from reporting their participation in industrial action.

In response to this clarified position, we have agreed that all colleagues who reported their participation in MAB after 9 June and whose pay has currently been withheld at 100% from 12 June, will now move to have their pay withheld at 50% in line with colleagues who reported by 9 June.  We have also agreed that any pay withheld at 100% between 12 June to date will be restored to 50% and the necessary pay adjustments will be made in September payroll.

For any colleagues that have not yet reported their participation in MAB, please report your participation by Friday 15 September 2023 by emailing your Line Manager, cc’ing in the relevant faculty MAB e-mail address (mab-hums@manchester.ac.uk/mab-fbmh@manchester.ac.uk/mab-fse@manchester.ac.uk).

Strike Reporting for Local Strike Days: We have agreed with UMUCU that we will discuss and seek to agree the means of reporting for any further disputes, and any agreement would be formalised. Once these discussions have taken place, all updated guidance and FAQs will be shared on StaffNet and made available on our industrial action hub.