What happens after the strike day?
UCU is calling on all members in higher education to begin working to contract and working to rule from 1 November 2013. This means that we’re asking you to abide strictly by the terms of your contract, so the first thing to do is to dig out your contract of employment and refer to that when reading this advice. We’ve put together this advice to help you to understand the kinds of things you should and should not be doing.
In brief, members should
- to work no more than their contracted hours where those hours are expressly stated, or where they are stipulated in a workload agreement and in any event not to exceed the maximum number of hours per week stipulated in the Working Time Regulations (48 hours a week)
- to perform no additional voluntary duties, such as out of hours cover, or covering for colleagues (unless such cover is contractually required)
- to set and mark no work beyond that work which they are contractually obliged to set and/or mark
- to attend no meetings where such attendance is voluntary on the part of the members
- to undertake no duties that breach health and safety policies or other significant employer’s policies
Some of it sounds simple and basic but we know from experience that Universities run on significant amounts on unpaid labour and goodwill. This is what we are withdrawing in this action.
There is a comprehensive Q&A section on the UCU website that provides further guidance on working to contract.