STAFF at universities across Scotland have said employers are showing “a complete disregard for the wellbeing of staff and students” after negotiations over pay and working conditions broke down.
Members of the University and College Union (UCU) are taking part in a marking and assessment boycott, with many staff facing significant pay deductions as a result of their participation.
Strathclyde UCU told the Sunday National that “staff morale is at an all-time low”.
Following a series of meetings with UCU, the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) published a letter on July 31 outlining that it would be “unfair to return deducted pay to staff who had already participated in the boycott”.
On the issue of a pay increase, UCEA claimed that employers could not “afford” this and therefore would not reconsider pay for the 2023-24 pay round.
UCU reported that the higher education sector in the UK had a £2.6 billion surplus in the last financial year, which it said would be enough to give all members a 10% pay rise “with hundreds of millions to spare”.
Local union branches across Scotland have expressed anger at the announcement.
Aberdeen UCU said that the breakdown of talks showed “the employers’ intransigence and contempt for staff”, while Edinburgh UCU called it “counterproductive”.
Strathclyde UCU is “bitterly disappointed” that the UCEA has “refused to listen”.
Union branches expressed further frustration that the UCEA committed to acknowledging “the pre-booked leave arrangements of staff” which are already legally in place.
St Andrews UCU said: “UCEA has come back with an ‘offer’ that amounts to nothing more than recognising already codified rights that members have, such as their annual leave. This isn’t a serious offer.”
The marking and assessment boycott started on April 20 at 145 universities across the UK.
The only Scottish institution left unaffected by the boycott is the Scottish Association for Marine Science at the University of the Highlands and Islands.
UCU’s Higher Education Committee – responsible for calling ballots and strike action – is next scheduled to meet in “early September”, where a decision on a re-ballot and future strike action will be made.
Staff have been urged to continue the boycott in the meantime, despite the fact the current mandate for strike action is set to expire soon, meaning staff taking part in the boycott will no longer be legally protected.
Local union branches have expressed uneasiness at this, with Aberdeen UCU calling it a “cause for concern”.
Aberdeen UCU continued: “It raises the prospect of members being asked to complete all outstanding marking when the mandate runs out, without legal protection for action short of a strike.
“Aberdeen would support a call for the re-ballot to be moved forward as a matter of urgency.”
On Wednesday, UCU general secretary Dr Jo Grady announced she had requested to call an emergency Higher Education Committee meeting that would take place earlier. Glasgow UCU also joined calls for an earlier summer ballot.
Members across universities in Scotland have been impacted by pay deductions as a result of their participation in the marking and assessment boycott.
Staff at Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt, St Andrews, Stirling and Strathclyde have had 50% of their pay deducted.
At the University of Glasgow and Glasgow Caledonian University, staff have faced pay deductions of 30% – although staff at the latter have come to an agreement with senior management whereby staff will give three days’ notice before participating, and will instead undertake “reasonable student support work”.
Meanwhile, staff at the University of Dundee have had 100% of their pay deducted for each day they participate in the boycott.
Union members at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh also faced 100% deductions before this was eventually reversed by senior management.
