Email to staff 3 March 2022

Dear colleague 

As you will know, the University and College Union (UCU) called on its members to take both strike action and action short of a strike following ballots on the USS and on pay and conditions. 

You will appreciate that we do not know which of our employees are members of UCU and therefore it is necessary to write to all staff.

If you took part in strike action 

If you participated in strike action and have not already notified us, you are required to do so by completing the online form by Friday 11 March 2022. As a reminder, the strike dates were:

• Monday 14 to Friday 18 February 2022 (5 days)
• Monday 21 and Tuesday 22 February 2022 (2 days)
• Monday 28 February, Tuesday 1 March and Wednesday 2 March (3 days).

You will be asked whether you wish to continue to make pension contributions in respect of days when you were on strike. I would also advise you to refer to the information on pension contributions and pension benefits on the staff web pages.

Consequences of taking part in industrial action

In accordance with University policy, we will withhold a day's pay (1/365th of salary) for each day you participate in strike action. 

Pay will be withheld for strike action in the March payroll. For colleagues that notified us of strike participation by Friday 18 February, deductions have been split over the February and March payroll.

Action short of a strike

UCU also called for continuous action short of a strike (ASOS) from Wednesday 1 December 2021, in the form of working to contracted hours and duties and not volunteering to do more. Further forms of ASOS have since been confirmed by UCU:

• Not rescheduling classes and lectures cancelled due to strike action (from Tuesday 21 December)
• Not covering for absent colleagues (from Wednesday 5 January)
• Removing uploaded materials related to, and/or not sharing materials related to, lectures or classes that will be or have been cancelled as a result of strike action (from Wednesday 5 January).

If your actions do not constitute a breach of contract, then your pay will not be affected. However, the University does not accept partial performance, and we expect staff who are at work to prioritise essential work and comply with the obligation to work in an efficient manner. We will monitor the nature of action being taken and, if we consider that there is a failure to undertake reasonable duties, we reserve the right to withhold pay. The exact response to any level of action, including the right to withhold pay and the amount of pay that may be withheld, will be considered when the specific detail and likely impact are known. 

You can find more information and FAQs on the industrial action web pages but if you have any questions, please contact us at hr-enquiries@york.ac.uk.  

With best wishes, 

Sophie Thompson

Interim Head of HR Operations