Bristol UCU Newsflash, 5th July: University of Bristol Wall of Shame – Bristol UCU Members’ Meeting, Tuesday, 11th July; Updates: HPT/TSR Pay Deductions, Leave While MAB-ing, Marking Reallocated: Still Deemed MAB-ing?; UCU Financial Support

1) University of Bristol Wall of Shame: Bristol UCU Members’ Meeting, Tuesday, 11th July, 13:00-14:00, Microsoft Teams

Join Bristol UCU members next Tuesday lunchtime for the launch of our University of Bristol Wall of Shame:

Unless our Bristol temporary academic regulations are revoked, and unless the University mitigates its approach to punitive pay docking, the branch will not flinch from publicizing every ‘outrage’, every exam board cancelled at the last minute, every parent exam board’s overruling of the board below, every interpolated proxy mark, every mark given by an untrained strike-breaking marker, every unclassified degree pending a mark, every dissertation that goes unmoderated, every skewing of a final classification because of the non-counting of marks affected by industrial action, every degree that is not a degree

To share with students, stakeholders, politicians, policymakers and Bristolians.

If members wish to report any ‘outrages’, please email bristolucuoffice@gmail.com.

To join on Tuesday, click on the link below:

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MDk1NjdhZjAtOTBjNS00NzE0LWE0NDQtNDMyODNhY2E3ZTc4%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22b2e47f30-cd7d-4a4e-a5da-b18cf1a4151b%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2284bed226-036c-4d6a-8636-53c81afae48a%22%7d

2) Updates: HPT/TSR Pay Deductions, Leave While MAB-ing, Marking Reallocated: Still Deemed MAB-ing?

A welcome revision to pay deductions policy for HPTs/TSRs with heavy assessment loads: Hourly-Paid Teachers/TSRs will be able to claim for their outstanding assessment hours even though they are boycotting marking. Payroll will make a pay deduction, capped at the equivalent of 10 days*0.5 before July 3rd.

Time is tight. HPTs/TSRs can put in a claim by tomorrow, 6th July, and Payroll will make the above deduction.

If you are taking annual leave, maternity leave, or on sickness absence, you may wish to complete the online reporting form so as to ensure that this period is not counted as a period over which any pay can be withheld. As you are on leave, you cannot be considered participating in industrial action as is.

Note: Research/Study Leave is not leave i.e a stoppage of labour.

Please also note: Bristol UCU believes that members cannot be deemed to be participating in the marking and assessment boycott if they have no assigned work to mark or they are not refusing to mark following a request to mark.

Line managers will still need to ascertain whether members are participating in the boycott through a direct, individual question.

3) Financial Support for Colleagues Undertaking the MAB

A recapitulation:

Staff can apply to both local and national funds.

Our Bristol UCU Local Hardship Fund:

HPTs can claim for up to 14 hours of lost marking and assessment activity.
Salaried staff on Grades J and below, or on Grade K and above earning £30,000 pa or less, can claim for net deductions up to £75 for your first two days of MAB deductions. Assuming deductions of 50% of daily pay, a member who faces 4 x 0.5 days of deductions will receive the full two days of strike pay.

Details of how to claim are available from: https://www.ucubristol.org.uk/files/2023/06/hardshipguide-2023-mab.pdf and claims should be sent to ucu-hardship@bristol.ac.uk

National Fighting Fund

For action taken after 1 May 2023, where the employer has deducted between 50% and 99% of daily pay for partial performance, the Fund will pay the following to all staff:

£30 for each day of ASOS taken by members earning £30,000 gross or more per annum; or,
Up to £45 for each day of ASOS taken by members earning less than £30,000 gross per annum.

This is subject to a cap of 9 days. Details of how to claim are available from: https://my.ucu.org.uk/app/answers/detail/a_id/543

To donate to our Local Hardship Fund:

https://www.ucubristol.org.uk/2021/11/27/bristol-ucu-hardship-fund/