Email to staff 18 April 2023

Dear colleague,

Following Charlie's emails to staff and to PGRs earlier today, UCU has notified the University of York that it is calling on its members to participate in a marking and assessment boycott in addition to the previously notified 'action short of a strike'.

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 in preparation for this action. We will also be sending regular reminders of the process below.

Action short of a strike (ASOS)

UCU is calling on its members to undertake a marking and assessment boycott from Thursday, 20 April 2023.

The University of York expects staff to continue to comply with their contracts of employment during the period of industrial action short of a strike, apart from where they take other ASOS instructed by UCU, namely:

• A marking and assessment boycott (from 20 April 2023).
• Working to contractual duties and not undertaking any voluntary activities.
• Not covering for absent colleagues.
• Not rescheduling classes and lectures cancelled due to strike action.
• 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.

Management of industrial action

The University of York's Management of industrial action policy explains the University's position on withholding the pay of staff who participate in industrial action that amounts to a breach of contract.

The University does not accept the partial performance of the contract of any member of staff. This will include the terms that may have been implied through custom and practice and the duties of cooperation and faithful service that are implied in all contracts. This means that if you do not fulfil all the requirements of your contract, for example, by not carrying out marking and assessment duties that are expected of your role; covering for absent colleagues or not rescheduling lectures cancelled due to strike action; or 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, you will consequently not be entitled to your contractual pay.

Should you decide only partially to tender your services, those services you do provide, whether in the University, at home, or elsewhere, will be voluntary on your part and we reserve the right to withhold full pay from when it becomes evident that you have breached your contract.

You are also expected to perform your duties in an efficient manner, without seeking to disrupt the institution. Our expectation is that members of staff will therefore continue to work normally and efficiently.

Withdrawal of pay

For the avoidance of any doubt, the University will be withdrawing pay where it is believed that an employee is participating in the marking and assessment boycott. All pay will be withdrawn for the period of participation and a discretionary payment equivalent to 50% of pay will be provided back to compensate the employee. The details of how the University will be handling the boycott is outlined below.

We reserve the right to increase or decrease this discretionary payment as we assess the impact of the boycott.

Marking and assessment boycott

With regard to the marking and assessment boycott, pay will be withheld for the period (starting no earlier than Thursday, 20 April 2023) from which you are required to undertake marking and/or assessment work but refuse to do so. Pay will no longer be withheld once you resume normal working, or UCU ends this form of ASOS, or there is no further marking or assessment work expected of you. If you do intend to participate in the marking and assessment boycott you can, if you wish to do so, complete the marking and assessment boycott participation form and refer to step 5 onwards below. However, if you do not wish to do this then the process to be followed is outlined below:

1. Employees will be allocated marking/assessment by a department contact. They will be asked to complete an online form to declare that either 'I intend to carry out this marking/assessment' or 'I will not be carrying out this marking/assessment because I am participating in the marking and assessment boycott'.
2. The employee will have a 72 hour window to complete the online form starting from the point that the marking/assessment was provided to them.
3. Should the employee not respond within the window, they will be sent a chaser email and asked to respond as a matter of urgency.
4. Should the employee still not respond the marking/assessment will be reallocated and HR will contact the employee.
5. As soon as possible after a declaration has been made by an employee confirming that they are participating in the boycott, HR will send an email to the employee to confirm. The email will outline that salary equivalent to 50% will be withheld commencing from the day after the marking/assessment was (or would have been in the case of advanced 'Self-Declaration') provided to the employee by the department.
6. Staff can withdraw from the boycott at any time by choosing the relevant option in the marking and assessment boycott participation form. By doing so you will be notifying the University of the date that you will be resuming your full contractual duties.
7. Salary will continue to be withheld until UCU ends this form of ASOS, the employee notifies the University of their withdrawal from the boycott, or HR is made aware that there is no longer any marking/assessment available for an employee to complete.

Important: UCU has advised their members that 'If you are asked directly whether you participated in ASOS in the past or are participating in it now (whatever the time frame, be it last week, yesterday, or today) you should respond truthfully'.

We regret having to write to you in these terms, but we do wish to ensure that all staff members are clear on the University of York's policy. We do hope that staff members will consider carefully before following UCU's current course of action.

I do realise that many staff will not wish to participate in this action and we deeply regret having to write to staff who do not intend to take part to confirm their intentions. However, the actions of UCU require us to make plans to mitigate any impact on students and to ensure that we have fully communicated the University's position to all staff, and we hope that you will understand why it is necessary.

The University very much hopes that you will decide not to take part in the industrial action, and that it will not be necessary to implement the above policy on pay in your case.

If you have any queries about this letter please contact hr-enquiries@york.ac.uk.

Yours sincerely,

Rachael Millhouse
Director, Human Resources